Little D.'s Big Idea

I love when my kids take an interest in the food they eat. And no, I don't mean when they request to eat pizza and noodles every night. I mean when they stop and think "Hey, this will taste good together!" This is exactly what happened last week, when  Little D, and I hit the local Costco. We always buy bananas there because they are awesomely cheap. I noticed Little D. was deep in thought

 (as deep as you can be at the ripe old age of 4 1/2.) 

He turned to me and pipes up "Ma, can you make me a banana pie?"

Awww...just warmed my heart. Not only does he take the time to think if bananas will be good in a pie, but he has complete faith in his Ma that I can make him a banana pie. Warmed my heart to a golden brown ☺

Chocolate Banana Cream Pie


One recipe Pat A Pie Crust

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup water, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup whipping cream or Rich's Whip, whipped

3 ripe bananas, sliced in circles
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 cup whipping cream or Rich's Whip, whipped


Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare pie crust according to instructions. Pat into pie pan, and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool while you prepare the chocolate cream. 
In a microwave or double boiler, heat chocolate, 1/4 cup water and butter/margarine until the chocolate and butter are melted. Cool for 10 minutes. In a small heavy saucepan, whisk egg yolks, sugar and remaining water. Cook and stir over low heat until mixture reaches 160°F, about 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat; whisk in chocolate mixture. Allow to cool. Fold in whipped cream. Spoon into the pie crust.  Put in freezer to set, approximately a half hour. When set, arrange sliced bananas on surface of the pie. Microwave the peanut butter for 60 seconds. Drizzle over bananas. ( It doesn't have to be perfectly spread, just drizzled over the top.)  Spread remaining whipped cream over peanut butter. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Garnish with chocolate sprinkles or chocolate syrup. 

And yes.....it passed the test. Little D. licked his plate clean. Phew!

.....Now Z-Monkey has started brainstorming....stay tuned for his great idea!

 ( Not to be confused with Z-Monkeys birthday cake debut which will be posted next week. Can you believe its been a whole year since his Lego cake?! We are planning on topping that one, so stay tuned- it should be fun!!)

Pie Cake

Alot of times people ask me " Do you always bake desserts like what you post on your blog?" or " Is that seriously how you serve dinner?" So, I'll let you in on a little secret...NO! Of course not. We have regular throw- together dinners, just like everyone else. And no, I don't serve every single dessert topped with fudge sauce and whip cream. Well ok, maybe lots of them, but not every dessert I make requires 20 bowls plus one. Anyways, here's a dessert that I don't serve when I am trying to impress someone.Its one I save just for us. Its really basic, and basically yummy.

Pie Cake

1 whole 9-inch Pie Crust (store Bought Or Pat-a-Pie recipe from here)
_____
FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE:
2 ounces, Unsweetened Chocolate
½ cups Water
⅔ cups Granulated Sugar
¼ cups Butter or margarine
½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract
_____
FOR THE CAKE:
¼ cups Shortening
¾ cups Granulated Sugar
1 whole Egg
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
½ cups Milk
½ teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350°. With the tines of a fork, poke holes about every inch or so on the bottom and sides of the pie crust. Partially bake the pie crust for 5 minutes. Combine all chocolate sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add the egg and blend well. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Then stir in milk and vanilla. Pour the cake mixture into the pie shell. Then gently pour chocolate sauce over the top of the cake. Bake at 350° for 40 minutes.


Tastes best when served warm, topped with whip cream. ACK- I can't help it! Ok fine, it tastes good without whipped cream too....

Brownie Fudge Pie with Caramel Sauce

This is not to be confused with Fudgy Chocolate Cream Pie. I just wanted to make that clear, you know. Every chocolate pie deserves it's own fifteen minutes of fame, and this one is no different! In all seriousness though, (since chocolate is quite a serious topic for most of us) this pie is made for serious brownie lovers, and chocolate fanatics alike. Its so ridiculously easy to make, its a pity not to! I never try just one recipe, purely for scientific purposes, of course. So I made two different recipes with essentially the same ingredients,but different measurements. The first one I made was from the Betty Crocker website. Then I tried a recipe from Allrecipes. They both rocked my world, although in slightly different ways. Betty Crocker's is a very rich, dense chocolate pie. It has a great texture with a strong chocolate flavor. The peanut butter caramel sauce offset the chocolateyness (how in heavens name do you spell that?!) perfectly. The recipe from Allrecipes was delicious as well. The chocolate wasn't quite as strong, but the fudgey texture just blew my mind. Although they were both heavenly, if I had to pick one to make again, I would pick the one from allrecipes. Since I like my readers to come to their own educated decisions, it would only be fair to post both recipes. Let me know which one you make and how you liked it! So, here ya go:

Fudgy Brownie Pie 

(adapted from Betty Crocker)

One recipe Pat-A-Pie Crust or graham cracker pie crust

1	cup butter or margarine
2	cups sugar
2	teaspoons vanilla
4	eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2	cups all-purpose flour
3/4	cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/4	teaspoon salt
1	cup chocolate chips
1	cup chopped pecans (optional)

1           tablespoon flour


Heat oven to 350°F. Prepare pie crust according to instructions. In a 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over low heat; remove from heat. Stir in sugar, vanilla and eggs until well blended. Stir in flour, cocoa and salt until smooth. Pour chocolate chips into a ziploc bag. Add flour and shake well. Stir into batter. Spread evenly in pie crust.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Cool 1 hour.




Fudge Pie
One recipe Pat-A-Pie Crust or graham cracker crust

• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (not optional!)
• 1 tablespoon flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). In a medium saucepan, melt butter or margarine. Stir in sugar,eggs and vanilla extract. Add  flour and cocoa powder and mix until well combined. Pour chocolate chips into a ziploc bag. Add flour and shake well. Stir into batter. Spread evenly in pie crust.
Bake in preheated oven for 40-50 minutes. 

Serve either pie warm with warm Peanut Butter Caramel Sauce (an absolute must! You can make it early and refrigerate it until needed, but whatever you do, don't skip the caramel sauce!!) and whip cream. For serious chocolate lovers, you can drizzle on warmed basic chocolate glaze.

For my very observant readers, you may have noticed that the pictures posted here are all of the same pie (Betty Crocker's) Where is the other pie you may ask? How dare I post a recipe without a sneak preview of what you shall be eating? Well, um, so, you see, um, if I were to take a picture, it would kinda look like this...

Yeah....it was that good.

Fudgy Chocolate Cream Pie

*WARNING*

 Do not leave this pie hanging around.Actually, its best to serve this pie when you have exactly 12 people to feed. 12 polite people who never ask for seconds. Oh yeah, also DO NOT ever attempt to taste the chocolate cream while you are making it. Why, you ask? There may not be a pie to speak of when you are done. 

So, moral of the story is.....

make this pie today, and you'll be happy you did!

Fudgy Chocolate Cream Pie

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked (recipe to follow)
• 1 1/4 cups white sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk or soy milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 
  

In medium saucepan, combine sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. In a medium bowl, beat milk and egg yolks until smooth. Gradually stir into sugar mixture. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture thickens and comes to a full boil. Boil and stir for one minute.
Remove from heat and stir in chocolate, butter and vanilla. Stir until melted.
Pour into pie shell. Place plastic wrap over filling to prevent skin from forming and chill for several hours. Top with meringue or whipped cream and chocolate curls if so desired. Pie can be frozen, just make sure to defrost for at least 20 minutes before serving. 

Pat-a-pie Crust

1 cup flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 stick margarine, melted

Mix everything together, and pat into a 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool completely before filling.

Blueberry Pie- all for you!

One of the best purchases I ever made for baking was ramekins. Ramekins are little ceramic dishes, just the right size for a personal size pie or soufflé. They can go straight from the oven to the table, and are dishwasher safe. How much better can it get, right?? Anyways, I bought these ramekins last year, and I have used them so many times, I lost count! From apple crisp to molten chocolate cakes, they are perfect for dessert. You see, the problem that I have with desserts is that there is a whole pie. Meaning, after all is said and done, and you finished your piece of pie, there is 3/4 of a pie staring at you in the face, just begging to be eaten. These ramekins neatly solve the problem, and with blueberry pie inside, they are really delicious!

This recipe is really part of my childhood memories. Anytime we went blueberry picking, you can rest assured that  a blueberry pie wouldn't be long in coming. Serve it warm, topped with whipped cream, and you will understand why it needs to be made in individual sized dishes!

Blueberry Pie

Crust

1 stick margarine, melted

1 cup flour

2 tbl. sugar

Crumb Topping

2/3 cup brown sgar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup instant oats

1/3 cup margarine

3/4 tsp cinnamon

Filling

3 cups fresh blueberries

6 tbl sugar

1/4 cup flour

dash cinnamon

Mix crust ingredients together to form soft dough. Divide into 8 ramekins, and pat down to cover the bottom. Combine all the filling ingredients, and gently mix. Pour into ramekins. Mix crumb topping well, and sprinkle over blueberries. Line the bottom rack of the oven with foil in case the pies drip. Bake at 350, for about 40 minutes, until blueberries bubble around the sides. This pie can also be made in a 8 inch square, or 9 inch circle pan. Follow instructions above, but double the filling ingredients. You can also freeze these raw, and bake them as you need them. 

Now go dig in!