Key Lime Pie: Tasty Imperfection

We traditionally have a key lime pie for my Dad for Father's Day.  They are cool, creamy, and taste like summer.  Plus, he's a fan of limes and lime stuff and there really aren't that many standard lime-flavored desserts out there.  When I was a lot younger, my brother and I would buy pies from Baker's Square...Key Lime used to always be the flavor-of-the-month for June.  Well, times have changed in two major ways.  First, finding a Baker's Square that is still open can be a challenge. :( Second, I figured out that I could make a key lime pie really easily and it could be just as good or better than the ones we bought.    

Over the years, I have tried a number of varieties; tequila key lime pie was a notable success.  They almost always turn out beautiful looking and delicious tasting.  I say "almost" because this year was a huge exception.  I used my very-traditional, standard recipe and the pie was **super-tasty**, but it didn't look good at all.  This is due entirely to the fact that I rushed and didn't give the pie enough time to cool and set before transporting it from my place to my foks'.  Usually I make the pie the day before, but this time I tried to do it all the day of.  Lesson learned!  With a little bit of fresh lime garnish, some individual pieces didn't look *too* bad (see above), but the pie itself looked pretty sad (see below).    

Here's the recipe. This is one that I developed myself from several different sources and through trial and error, so nobody is gonna get credit on it! And let me tell you: one of the biggest secrets is the crust.  You can use store-bought graham cracker crust to cut down on time and effort and the pie will be good.  But the homemade crust is way, way better.  Trust me!  

Oh, and be sure to let everything cool and set completely before transporting!  :)

Cookie/cracker crumb crust 

(can be altered for use in a variety of pie types, depending on the crumbs used)

Ingredients:

1 1/4 to 2 cups fine cookie or graham cracker crumbs: for key lime I generally use grahams and this time I crushed up 24 two and half inch cracker squares. 

1/4 cup granulated or powdered sugar (I usually use granulated sugar)

5 1/2 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional--but honestly, not optional for a graham cracker crust. I always add the cinnamon if the crumbs are grahams.  ALWAYS.

a few shakes of Penzey's baking spice, completely optional--this was a new addition this time, but a good one

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. If you haven't made your crumbs, do that.  You can use fancy pre-made ones, but why?!  You can also use a food processor, I guess.  But I don't have one of those new-fangled gadgets.  I generally put my crackers in a gallon Ziploc bag and use a heavy rolling pin to crush them.  Don't have a rolling pin?  I used a full 2-liter bottle of root beer as a crushing tool this time.  Seriously.  It works like a charm. :)
3. Mix crumbs, sugar, and spice (and everything nice....?)
4. Pour in melted butter and mix thoroughly
5. Press into bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate/pan
6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes
7. Cool to room temp before adding key lime filling (or set the crust by refrigerating until room temp. or slightly cooler....at least 30 minutes)

Pie

Ingredients:

6 egg yolks

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14 oz., can use regular or fat free equally well)

3/4 cup lime juice (can be fancy key lime juice, but RealLime bottled juice works really well)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Separate eggs

In large bowl, beat egg yolks (or whisk by hand)

Add sweetened condensed milk, stirring constantly.

Add lime juice slowly, still mixing at low speed (or whisking gently by hand), until it thickens

Pour it into room temperature pie crust and bake for 15 minutes.

Chill in refrigerator before serving (or transporting!)

Notes on Garnish:

I like whipped cream on my key lime pie, but it doesn't usually look too fancy or neat when I add it.  Better for formal/presentation garnish are slices of fresh lime.  Just wash a lime, make some slices, and then create garnish.  Simple half or quarter slices look nice when placed on a whole pie in patterns.  The piece pictured above is garnished with a full slice that was cut half-way through on one side and then twisted.  Plop that sucker on top of a piece and any number of ills are covered up! 

Orange Dreamsicle Cake...with sprinkles!

I love that my friends and co-workers give me the opportunity to try out new recipes and experiment a bit with things that I've been wanting to try.  And that they truly seem to enjoy the results, as well!  The second experiment for the week was the cake that I made Thursday night for a Friday gathering.  When I asked what he would like me to bring, one of the hosts immediately said "orange cream cake."  I'm pretty sure that this is because I made some orange cookies some time ago that he really liked, and not just because he was being super-specific.

I experimented with combining and slightly altering two recipes that utilize jello to enhance both the flavor and color of a cake.  Both of the basic recipes are classics from Betty Crocker's Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook: the Color Vision Cake (1950s) and the Raspberry Poke Cake turned orange (the 1980s).  The recipe below is the combined version.

Ingredients: 
2 (4 serving size) packages orange geleatin (I used the Jello kind, duh.)
1 package white cake mix (I used Betty Crocker)
1 1/4 cups water
1/3 cups vegetable oil
3 egg whites
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom of a 9 x 13 inch cake pan.
2. Stir/beat/mix cake mix, water, oil, egg whites and 3 Tablespoons of dry Jello mix. Pour into cake pan.
3. Bake according to box instructions, until toothpick/cake-tester inserted in center comes out clean
4. Cool cake completely, about an hour.  Then pierce cooled cake all over with a fork (about every 1/2 inch).  
5. Stir gelatin and boiling water together until smooth.  Stir in cold water and then pour over cake.  If cake is stuck on sides, run a knife along edges to loosen.  Refrigerate cake for at least 2 hours.  (I put mine in the fridge overnight.)
6. Frost with your choice of frosting: vanilla, orange buttercream, Cool Whip, etc. Then keep stored in fridge.  It looked a little plain, and since I have sprinkles from the previously-made donuts, I added sprinkles.  

The cake turned out really good.  Moist, orangey, and delicious. Good for summer, I think.  I think lemon would be super, and also might try flavor combos in the future.  I can see raspberry or cherry lemonade cake as great combos.  

  

Sprinkles-on-the-Inside Donuts

I bought a donut pan a while ago.  And by "a while ago," I mean at least a year ago and maybe more like two.  I had good intentions to use it right away, but... well, the road to hell and all that.  I finally used it yesterday for some baked donuts that I brought to work.

Googling "baked donuts" will give you a huge selection of recipes to try.  I admit that I was drawn in by the photos, but I also considered number/expense of ingredients and difficulty level.  Ultimately I decided to try a recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction.  She calls hers Baked Funfetti Donuts, but I'm petty sure "funfetti" is trademarked.  So I renamed my version of the recipe.  Part of the inspiration for the new name is something my grandmother sometimes says when it is raining outside: "That's OK.  We'll have sunshine inside."  These donuts are sort of like that: a little boring looking on the outside, but super cheery once you bite in and really see all the colors.  

Of course, I didn't just change the name.  I also changed the original recipe a bit.  Partly on purpose and partly through a misread in directions on my part.  I think they turned out well, though, and they were easy to make.  The recipe below has my adjustments included it.  Give them a try!

Please note: The photo above is a little washed out, due to the lighting in my kitchen. (I know, I know.  "Jenny, if you were a real food blogger your photos would be prettier."  Yeah.  You're right.  They would. They also would probably not have been taken on my phone.  So....good thing I'm not a real food blogger, huh?)  Seriously, though: in reality they weren't so ghost-like in color.  

Sprinkles-on-the-Inside Donuts

Makes: 12 donuts in standard donut pan

Ingredients for Donuts:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

between 1/4 and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I used closer to 1/2 but might do more of a heaping 1/4 next time)

A few shakes of Penzey's baking spice (This is a combo of cinnamon, mace, anise, and cardamom...basically things that taste nice with nutmeg.  It could be excluded entirely or swapped for just cinnamon, I think, with semi-similar results.)

1/4 cup milk (I used skim, but you can probably use any kind)

1/4 cup yogurt (I used vanilla flavored 0% fat Greek yogurt)

1 large egg

2 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine (I used blue bonnet margarine) 

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used Penzey's double-strength vanilla)

1/3 cup rainbow sprinkles (the long, tube-shaped kind; not the small, ball-shaped kind)

       BTW: The original recipe called for 1/2 cup.  Don't get me wrong, I love me some sprinkles. But sprinkles can be expensive, so feel free to use fewer if you want to.  1/3 cup seemed like a nice amount, though.   

Ingredients for Glaze:

1/4 cup milk 

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions for the Donuts:

1) Preheat  oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a donut pan with non-stick spray. I then wiped off some of the excess spay/oil.  

2) Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and granulated sugar together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3) Whisk milk, yogurt, and egg together in a smaller bowl until smooth. Add the melted butter and vanilla, and whisk together.  

4) Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until just combined. (Do not overmix.) Fold in sprinkles gently.  The sprinkles I used were purchased at Target and are pictured below. This particular container DID NOT have blue sprinkles included, a fact that makes me incredibly happy!!    

5) Spoon batter into a quart sized ziploc bag, cut a corner off the bag, and pipe batter into the donut pan.  (I did the filling of the quart bag twice)  

6) Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the edges are light brown.  Allow donuts to cool for a few minutes before removing them from the pan.

7) Cool donuts fully before glazing.

Directions for Glaze and Glazing:

1) Put the 3 glaze ingredients in a medium saucepan and heat on medium, stirring until smooth.  (I kept the heat on warm/low after this, but you might want to take it off the heat).  

2) Glaze donuts by dropping them into the saucepan.

3) Place donuts on a wire rack and allow the glaze to set.  (I put my rack over waxed paper to catch the drippings)

4) If desired, you can either a) glaze both sides of the donuts by flipping them over in the saucepan or b) dip the donuts in the glaze a second time.  However, you are likely to run out of glaze if you do either of these.  I started glazing both sides of my donuts, but only had enough to do this with 8.  the last 4 of the 12 had to be only glazed on one side.  

I love sprinkles!  They make everything so much more cheery!!

Night-tour in D.C. AKA: Thank you NPS!

I recently took a trip to visit a friend who lives in Washington, D.C.  Another friend drove up from the Triangle and we had an absolutely wonderful girls' weekend.  We did a bunch of stuff, but one of the highlights was a night-time tour of monuments.  If you are going to DC (or if you live there) and haven't done it, I highly recommend giving it a try!  You can do it yourself, or go with a guide.  They are beautiful either way, but we opted for a guide, mostly because we are big nerds and like to hear all info and ask questions.  Lots of companies and groups run tours of the monuments, including night tours.  But here's the thing: we didn't take just any tour, we took the National Park Service (NPS) tour.  And it was totally freakin' amazing.

First of all, it was free.  Yep, free.  Wait. I have to reiterate that, because it is really important.  IT WAS FREE!  I looked at some of the tour companies and tickets for their night monument tours cost between $35 and $75 dollars per person, with an average looking to be around $40.  Why pay $40 or more, when you could pay $0?  (Also, depending on how you look at it, you have actually already paid for the NPS tour.  I mean, your taxes are paying for that tour to exist. So take advantage of what you've already purchased!  Don't let everyone else get the free tour while you are stuck paying a bucket-load...or more.)

Second: Value-for-money.  Following the old adage "You get what you pay for," the free tour could have sucked.  Yeah, well, but it didn't.  Our tour guide was incredibly knowledgeable and friendly, and handled some difficult issues without bias and in ways that weren't cop-outs.  (For example, the issues surrounding vets, suicide, and the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial.)  He was also patient with questions, had legit answers, and did a good job with pacing the tour and making sure everyone was following--literally and figuratively.  We managed to pick up a couple of new tour members along the way, because he was so interesting.  On the other hand, I heard some of the paid-tour tour guides and they paled in comparison.  Many were horribly rehearsed and stilted.  Others were barely audible.  Also, as a history professional, I was appalled to hear tour guides making up answers to questions on the spot.  I know that they were made up because they were factually incorrect and sounded made up ("Uhhh....well...I"m pretty sure...that is....err.....").  What a waste of money to get false info on a tour!  And why do they think that is OK?  In other words: free tour = great, many $ tours = bleck!

Third: Tours allow you to be lazy in preparation.  All we had to do was show up at the right time. I didn't have to look anything up in advance or check a map to figure out how to get from place to place.  Our guide helped us navigate between sites and around crowds.  He also pointed out things along the way that weren't technically on our tour, but that were interesting, like the Washington, DC monument to World War I (see photo below).

Fourth:  Our guide was easy to see and follow, thanks to his distinctive uniform and classic Smokey the Bear hat.  (Only you can prevent forest fires, kids!)

Fifth:  This might have just been my tour, but the tour was not crowded at all.  Even with the people we picked up along the way, we only had about 12 or 15 people.  Plenty of room for everyone to gather or mill around and still hear.  For me, I appreciated that I didn't have to fight a whole bunch of tall people to see anything.  And in places that were more somber, a smaller group can be more subdued.  Some of the paid tours had groups so large that they just herded them around without making much of an effort to tell anyone anything.   Some of the places had lots of people, but I didn't ever really feel crowded.  

Sixth: You can leave if you wanna or stay later to wander more.  With the NPS tour, there is more freedom.  You get yourself to the starting place, so you aren't dependent on a tour company bus.  You also don't have to stay just to justify the $40 you spent, if you decide you aren't really into the whole thing.  

To recap, the NPS tour was great because:

1. Free
2. High Quality
3. Laziness
4. HATS!!!
5. Uncrowded
6. Freedom

Among these six things are some of the things that also make America great.  Especially the hats.  Alright, I'm just kidding about the hats.  (OK, no.  I'm not actually kidding about the hats.  Smokey the Bear hats are great things.) 

Whether you go on an organized tour or not, if you are in D.C. do visit the memorials.  Visit them up-close...and do it at night, if possible.  The Korean War monument looks like it was designed to be seen after dark, and doing so can make you feel almost like you are one of the walking figures.  The Vietnam Veterans' monument is striking, but in the dark it is a truly somber place.  The World War II monument--and the fountains within it--are nice during the day, but they are much, much more beautiful lit up (see photo above).

Last piece of advice: Be sure to wear good shoes and bring a camera!

Celebratory Scones

This week was filled with a variety of frustrations and didn't feature very much in the way of sleep.  However, it was also filled with a variety of triumphs and celebrations. Among these celebrations was one for the retirement of a colleague.  I wanted to bring something in to work on Friday to share, but I didn't have a ton of time on Thursday night that I could devote to baking and/or washing baking dishes afterward.  A quick look through my cabinet and I had the perfect solution: lemon-blueberry scones.  

Scones from scratch are pretty simple and I've made a variety of types/flavors over the years.  But the lemon-blueberry ones from this week happened to come from a mix from King Arthur Flour.  I've used their scone recipes before and would recommend them.  Especially to people who don't really like to bake from scratch (for whatever reason), but who have a lot of friends/family who claim that they *only* like things baked from scratch.  The mixes I've used from King Arthur usually require a few more ingredients than grocery store mixes, but they have always turned out really well for me.  Basically the scone mix includes everything except the salt, butter, egg, and milk.  It came together really fast and baked beautifully as drop-scones.  Hint: bake your scones on parchment paper.  They seem to bake more evenly and the bottoms are less likely to be overdone.  

I tasted the dough (pretty good stuff), but didn't get an actual finished scone.  Everyone seemed to really like them, though, so I'm counting it in the win column.  

Also, I'm thinking lemon-blueberry might be a good go-to for a summer flavor combo going forward.  Lemon tastes lighter and sunnier than many other flavors.  It isn't universally loved, but is still pretty popular.  And people who don't like lemon as much might be convinced to try something that also had blueberries in it.  I'm also thinking lemon-blueberry muffins would be a fancier, more novel, and more sophisticated take on traditional blueberry muffins.  

By the way, the blueberry muffin is the official state muffin of Minnesota.  Oh, yeah.  You read that right: we have an official state muffin.  Contemplate the awesomeness of that for a little while!

    

An Experiment in Container Gardening

I have a really nice porch that stretches across the entire back of my townhouse, and last summer I had a small table and a chair out there.  It was a great space to enjoy a cup of tea or a smoothie and read my Sunday newspaper.  This year, I decided to experiment with container gardening.  Partly because I have tons o' space on my porch, partly to see if I can grow something edible, and partly because I think flowers would make my summertime Sunday ritual even better.  

One of my co-worker's kids was selling plants from Gerten's greenhouses for a spring school fundraiser last month.  Perfect timing! I ordered two cherry tomato plants and three 6-packs of mixed-color snapdragons.  (I love, love, love snapdragons!  Pretty, amazing color, and such a cool shape.)  The plants arrived on the 16th and I got them on Monday the 19th.  They lived on the deck in their (sad) little containers until this past weekend, when I actually had some time to devote to them.  

This Sunday I went to the local Menards garden center and bought some gardening supplies, including some smallish pots, a few bamboo u-shaped stakes, a few flowers, and some potting soil.  And then I got planting. Well, OK.  You got me.  First, I finally took my Christmas lights down off my deck railing.  Immediately after that, though, I got planting!

The photo above is a panoramic shot of my brand new set o' pots.  The large tan pots are the tomatoes.  The small, square turquoise pots are pink and yellow rose moss.  The smaller tan pots are geraniums, alternating white and "star."  From what I could tell by not seeing a photo or a real version of the star geranium in full bloom, I think they will be a bright pink and white, but I'm not sure.  The round turquoise pots are the mixed snapdragons.  (In case you are wondering, the cushion for my deck chair is a turquoise-y color, which is why the pots are the color they are....)      

I'm really excited to see how everything grows and blooms, and plan to post photos as they grow.  How cool would it be to have a time lapse set of photos showing growth?  Maybe I'll start taking a photo every day or every other day when I get home from work.  And hopefully by the end of the summer I will be eating my tiny tomatoes and declaring container gardening a success that must be repeated year after year!

Chocolate Cake...Hazelnut Mocha Fudge Layer Cake, to be exact

The cake that I made for a Memorial Day weekend gathering consisted of 3 triple-fudge cake layers, separated by layers of both Nutella and hazelnut-mocha mousse, frosted with chocolate whipped cream frosting, and topped with shaved dark chocolate.  Decadent?  OK, yeah, maybe.  But actually, the mousse and whipped cream frosting are fairly airy.  Compared to a cake with regular frosting between layers and on top, this was definitely a more summer-y take on chocolate layers.

Notice that I said "airy" and "summer-y."  Those things are true, but I will not say that this cake is "light."  Calorie-wise, I'm pretty sure that this is sinful as all get-out. I will not be calculating the calorie count, because: duh.  This was called "Hazelnut Mocha Fudge Layer Cake"--and not "healthy dessert"--for a reason.

The original recipe for the cake, filling, and frosting were all from Betty Crocker's Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook, © General Mills, Inc. (2002).  Cake and filling were together and they called it Mocha Mousse Cake (no hazelnut in their version).  The recipe below includes my paraphrasing/revisions, as well as my comments and additions.  

Cake:
1 package Betty Crocker SuperMoist chocolate fudge cake mix (I used triple fudge, instead.  Why use regular fudge, when you can use triple fudge?)
1 1 /3 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon coffee liqueur or prepared coffee (I used fairly strongly brewed hazelnut coffee)
4 eggs

1. Heat oven to 350°F.  Grease and flour bottoms and sides of 3 round cake pans. I only have 2 round cake pans, so I greased and floured those.
2. Beat cake mix, water, oil, coffee, and eggs in a large bowl on low speed for 1 minute.  I stirred mine with a spoon until moistened and then used a whisk to beat it by hand for about 2 minutes.  That worked great!  
3. Pour about 1 1/2 cups of batter into each pan.  If baking only 2 pans at a time, refrigerate remaining batter until ready to use.  
4. Bake about 20 minutes or until toothpick/cake tester inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool at least 10 minutes before running knife around edges to loosen and removing cake from pans.  Then I cleaned one pan, greased/floured it, and baked the last layer using the batter in the fridge.  
5. Let layers cool COMPLETELY.

Mousse:
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream, divided (I actually used 1 cup and it turned out great--see below)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/3 coffee liqueur or prepared coffee (again, I used fairly strongly brewed hazelnut coffee)
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz is half a bag of chips, but I used slightly more.  Probably more like between 7 and 8 ounces)
2 teaspoons vanilla (I used double-strength Penzey's vanilla.  Thanks, Emily, for this delicious addition to my baking arsenal!)

1. Mix 1/4 cup cream, sugar, and coffee in a medium saucepan.  Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly, until sugar dissolved and mixture just starts to simmer.  
2. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips.  Stir until chips are melted.  
3. Add vanilla and stir.
4. Let cool to room temperature but do not refrigerate
5. Put a metal mixing bowl in the refrigerator or freezer to chill. I used the mixing bowl for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  
6. When chocolate mixture is cool, beat remaining cream (1/2 cup if you wanna follow Betty's instructions or 3/4 cup if you are me and screw up a bit) in the chilled bowl on high speed until soft peaks form.
7. Fold in chocolate mixture.  I then beat the mixture a bit more, until there soft to medium peaks formed.
8. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. 

Frosting:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 Dutch process baking cocoa (I actually used Hershey's unsweetened baking cocoa, so it probably turned out a little lighter)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla (again, I used double-strength Penzey's vanilla)

1. Chill metal mixing bowl.
2. Beat all ingredients with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.  I used my stand mixer again, and again, went for soft-to-medium peaks.  Be sure to scrape the bowl fairly often, so that the cocoa gets nicely mixed in.  
3. Refrigerate until use.

Chocolate Shavings:

1. Find a chocolate bar.  Maybe you have one in your fridge, or on your counter, or--if you are desperate--you could always buy one at a store.  I used a Scharffen Berger semi-sweet (62%) chocolate bar, because, yeah, I had one in my fridge. 
2. If the chocolate is super-cold--like if it just came out of the fridge, for example--let it come to room temperature.  
3. Use a vegetable peeler to take shavings off.  (If you want actual chocolate curls, go for it.  The chocolate will probably have to be a bit warmer/softer and it'll be easier if using a bar o' chocolate that is thicker than a standard eating bar.)

Nutella:

1. Erm....Buy a container of Nutella?  I only used about 1/3 of a small jar, so if you are person who has Nutella around your house already, you should be fine.

Assembly:

1. Place one cake layer on plate/whatever is holding the cake.
2. Spread a thin layer of Nutella on the cake layer
3. Spread a bit less than half of the Mousse on top of the Nutella
4. Place 2nd cake layer
5. Spread Nutella and most of the remaining Mousse 
6. Place 3rd cake layer
7. Frost sides and top with Whipped Cream Frosting
8. Refrigerate cake for at least 2 hours before serving
9. Sprinkle chocolate shavings on top of the cake before cutting/serving (I also think toasted, chopped hazelnuts would be awesome on top, but I didn't have any of those.  They seem sort of winter-like, anyway, though.)    
10. Store cake in the fridge.  Probably covered, if you can manage it.

So, if you were doing the math in that assembly, you noticed that I had some mousse left when I did my layers. I didn't want the mousse layers to be so thick that the cake started sliding or shifting, so I used a bit less.  But, no worries, the left-over was amazing on strawberries!

So, that's it.  Nothing was terribly hard, but I will admit that a stand mixer makes whipping cream super-easy.  The main thing with this recipe/combo of recipes seems to be time management.  The key for me was making sure everything was done in the right order, at the right time, so that the components had a chance to completely cool when appropriate.   

Questions, comments, etc.?  Let me know! 

Oh, yes.  I almost forgot the rest of the photographic evidence.  It was just slightly the worse for wear after a car trip to Savage, but I think it still looked great before it was cut.  Afterwards, the layers pretty much spoke for themselves!