Sourdough Discard Pie Crust and Vegetable Quiche

 If you've known me for a while, or read this blog for a while, you know we do a murder mystery party near Halloween each year in honor of our friend's birthday. This year's theme was A Knight of Murder, and my character was Poor Pearl, the peasant baker.  So I decided to bake up a "vegetable tarte" for our feast, using sourdough discard in the crust.

I used Little Spoon Farm's pie crust recipe; unfortunately I think I overworked the dough because the crust ended up slumping when I did the pre-bake.

Pre-slump.

For the filling, I used:

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 white onion
• 4 oz mushrooms, sliced
• 1 Tbsp garlic
• 4-5 eggs
• 1/2 cup half & half
• 1/2 Tbsp of Adjika Georgian seasoning
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup cheese of your choice (I used shredded smoked gouda)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Par bake the crust for 15 minutes at 425F, then remove.
2. On the stovetop, sauté onions, garlic & mushrooms in the butter until soft, then place in the pie crust. Add cheese, then peas to the crust.
3. Mix the eggs, half & half, and Georgian seasoning in a medium bowl and whisk until beaten. Pour over the vegetables & cheese.
4. Bake at 350F for 40-50 minutes or until eggs are set.

Serve with many other amazing Medieval themed dishes whilst among friends dressed in period-appropriate garb.

Lord Taylor & Lady Gwendolyn, our fair hosts for the evening's festivities. (They literally have the BEST basement for hosting events like this.)

Many good times were had by all, and The Hubs & I were neither murdered nor the murderers.  And everything was DELICIOUS. Huzzah!

Poor Pearl the Peasant & Sir Cameron the Red Knight

Sourdough Pop-Tart Toaster Pastries

 I realize I just said in my last post that we needed to make fewer sweets with the sourdough discard...but I was craving pie crust, yet we didn't have enough eggs for a quiche or other savory option.  So...pop-tarts* it is. 

*I don't think I can get sued by Kellogg's, right?  Fine..."toaster pastries".  

I used Little Spoon Farm's recipe, with minor modifications:

• we made a double batch because I needed to use up a lot of discard 
• I used lemon juice in place of the vinegar (because we apparently don't own white vinegar)
• No icing--I was running out of time so we just put cinnamon sugar on top after the egg wash
• Filling: the double batch made 8 pastries, so we put strawberry jam in 2, peach jam in 3, and a mix of brown sugar & mini chocolate chips in the last 3.  The chocolate ones were the only pastries that didn't leak and weren't messy to eat, so if I did these again, I might make them all chocolate, possibly with marshmallow bits too.

Heads up--because the dough needs time to chill, DO NOT wake up at 7am and think you'll be able to make this in time before church at 9am.  I should have read the instructions better and made the dough the night before.  Learn from my mistakes. 

"S" for strawberry.

 These reheat in the toaster really well, though a few of them were almost too big--they wouldn't fit on their side and when put in the toaster vertically, the top inch or so still stuck out.  Aside from that minor issue, this was a pretty easy recipe and a good way to use up some discard, especially if you're craving pie crust. The original recipe calls for 25-30 minutes, but I found that 35-40 minutes in our oven got the best amount of crisp bottom and edges (had to bake them in two batches). I also recommend lining your cookie sheet with foil or parchment because the jam DOES leak out the edges.

Homemade Strawberry Pie

I love the springtime/early summer.  Flowers are blooming, weather is warming up, the sun is shining…ice cream is selling like crazy…

…and of course, the pollen is everywhere, and the grass (and weeds) are growing so fast that we can’t keep up with the mowing…

But on the up side, strawberries are on sale!!!  Ninety-nine cents a pound! 

So I stocked up.  There’s a nice big bag in the freezer for smoothies, and then…well…

Yup.  Fresh strawberry pie.  It’s one of my faves, right up there with cherry pie…apparently I have a thing for red fruit pies.  Though, for this particular pie, I used 2/5 cranberries because I had some to use up.

Moar red fruitz.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pie crust (homemade or store-bought), baked according to the package

egg wash

5 cups strawberries (or 4c strawberries & 1c cranberries), washed & sliced

1/4 cup corn starch

2/3 to 3/4 cups sugar, based on how sweet your strawberries are

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 tbsp lemon juice (I also added the juice of half an orange, because cranberry & orange go well together)

whipped cream

 

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-bake the pie crust (be sure to poke plenty of holes in the crust with a fork to keep it from puffing up).  During the last 5-7 minutes of the baking, lightly coat the pie shell with the egg wash to get a golden crust.  Let crust cool completely.

While that’s cooking, in a large pot combine 2 cups of the strawberries (NOTE: if you try the strawberry/cranberry combo, give the berries a quick chop in a food processor or blender), cornstarch, sugar, salt, extracts, and lemon juice over medium heat.  Stir until sugar is dissolved & the glaze has thickened (3-5 minutes; you may have to go a bit longer with cranberries to make sure they’re softened).  Let glaze cool completely.

Once the glaze is cool, fold in the rest of the strawberries and mix gently until the berries are well coated with the glaze; then pour into the pie shell & spread evenly.

Top with the whipped cream and decorate the top with a few extra strawberries.  Let chill for 2 hours to give the filling time to fully set.  Then….DEVOUR!!!!

Makes 8 delectable servings!

NutriFacts:

Calories 242.6

  Total Fat 7.4 g

  Saturated Fat 3.5 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.2 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g

  Cholesterol 0.0 mg

  Sodium 121.3 mg

  Potassium 162.5 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 43.2 g

  Dietary Fiber 2.2 g

  Sugars 24.6 g

  Protein 1.6 g

Oreo Coconut Cream French Silk Pie (Quick, No Bake)

Yeah.  It would be hard to cram much more awesomeness into a single pie.  This was originally concocted by the amazing Miss Dorothy over at Crazy for Crust.  She made hers from scratch, but I saw in this the potential for a quick & easy and UH-MAZING dessert to bring with me for one of our Thanksgiving family dinners.  We had to bring two or three things to EACH of the family dinners we were going to, so quick & easy was an absolute MUST on my list.  But all the same…as a food blogger, people always want to know what new recipes you’ve been trying out.  So you sorta HAVE to show off a LEETLE bit.

After a crazy short week at work and with only last minute time allowance for “cooking”, this fit the bill perfectly.  So Dorothy, I hope I did your pie justice, because even with all the shortcuts, it was AMAZING!

In the words of my brother in law, “the only problem I have with it is that you didn’t make enough.”

It was SO true.  We downed that pie in under 30 minutes.  I think the next time I make it, I’ll make the Oreo crust from scratch using Dorothy’s recipe, but in a 9 x 13 pan.

 

INGREDIENTS:

2 pre-made Oreo pie crusts

1 box sugar free chocolate pudding mix

1 box coconut cream pudding mix

28 ounces low-fat milk, divided (14 oz per pudding mix)

1 cup coconut + 2 tbsp coconut for toasting

1 container fat free Cool Whip

 

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat your oven to 350F.  When heated, spread the 2 tbsp of coconut on a small cookie sheet, and then bake for 10-15 minutes, checking on it every 5 minutes to make sure it doesn’t burn. Once it’s a light golden, remove from oven & let cool. (FYI—feel free to toast a bit extra.  Toasted coconut is delicious on/in SO many things.)

Using a stand or hand mixer, blend the coconut cream pudding mix & 14 oz of milk for 2-3 minutes (depending on your box directions).  Then mix in the 1 cup of coconut.  Pour 1/2 of the coconut mixture into each Oreo pie shell & smooth out evenly. 

 

Then rinse your bowl (so we don’t dirty too many dishes), and make your chocolate pudding mix w/ the other 14 oz of milk (whip for about 1 minute, then let rest for 3-5 minutes to set).  Pour that over the coconut cream layer, & spread evenly.

Don’t mix up these steps—your coconut cream filling is more dense than the chocolate, so you want to have the lighter filling on top.

When you’re ready to serve, spread the Cool Whip on top, and sprinkle with the toasted coconut.

Cut into 8 slices, serve, and then sit back, and watch the compliments roll in.

Not as perfect a cross-section as I would have liked, but you get the idea!

Seriously…how can you resist that???

NutriFacts: (makes 2 pies, 8 servings each)

Calories 190.5

  Total Fat 8.0 g

  Saturated Fat 4.6 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 0.5 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 2.1 g

  Cholesterol 1.3 mg

  Sodium 258.1 mg

  Potassium 121.3 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 22.1 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.0 g

  Sugars 13.4 g

  Protein 3.4 g

Cranberry Pie: cherry pie’s evil (but gorgeous) stepsister.

Thanksgiving is upon us!  This year, we’ll be having a couple family dinners: we meet up with my side of the family this weekend, and then the Hubs’ family on actual Turkey Day.  Huzzah for two sessions of gorging, amirightmyfriends?

If you’re in need of a quick dessert recipe for your holiday feastings, look no further.  This delicious pie is both sweet and tart… like the wicked doppelganger* of the more traditional cheery cherry pie. (*Yes, I’ve been watching to much Vampire Diaries.)

And…I got to practice my crust decorating skills.

In true Louisiana fashion, we have the fleur de lis!  Not bad for hand drawn/cut, eh?  I’m a little proud, if you can’t tell.

Ingredients:

2 pre-made refrigerated pie crusts
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup Splenda
1/3 cup flour
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
12 oz fresh cranberries
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
2 teaspoons light butter

Directions:

Heat oven to 425F.

In a large saucepan, combine the sugars, flour, cornstarch, salt, and water.  Bring to boil and cook, stirring constantly until thick & smooth.  Add the cranberries, orange juice, and spices.  Cook another 5-10 minutes until the berries pop. Remove from heat, and add the butter.  Stir until melted & combined.

Place one crust in a pie plate.  Then add the filling.

Roll your other crust (the top) onto a sheet of wax paper or a flexible cutting mat so that you can cut your vents—whether you choose to be artistic or purely practical is entirely up to you, though I of course recommend the former.

(For this, I just made small cuts with a knife close together---the lines aren’t actually connected, lest the whole pattern fall out while cooking.)

Place the top crust onto the pie, and then pinch the edges.

If you have one, add a pie crust protector to the edge of the pan to prevent the lip of the crust from over baking & getting too brown. 

(If you don’t have one, I highly recommend adding it to your Christmas list for Santa this year.)

Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the crust protector and bake another 10 minutes until the crust is a lovely brown.

Allow to cool fully before serving, so the filling can fully congeal.

Buttery, flaky crust, fresh fruit filling, deliciously sweet & tart with a homey tinge of orange & holiday spices.

Life gets no better, my friends!

 

NutriFacts:

Calories 233.3

  Total Fat 8.8 g

  Saturated Fat 2.8 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.3 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 4.1 g

  Cholesterol 0.0 mg

  Sodium 230.6 mg

  Potassium 67.7 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 38.1 g

  Dietary Fiber 2.0 g

  Sugars 24.2 g

  Protein 1.3 g