Quiche Lorraine

I've been getting nostalgic the closer I get to retirement day.

In grad school I planned all my classes so my weekend started on Friday mornings. I celebrated "French Fridays" by waking up to Quiche Lorraine, a drive to La Baguette Parisienne for pastries and coming home to watch French movies while I oil painted.

Best. Life. Ever.

It was amazing. I enjoyed months of French Fridays. On one notable day I'd finished my quiche, arrived at La Baquette Parisienne only to be told in a thick French accent:

"You come in too often. You are getting fat."

Well aren't you a peach! I laughed it off. It made me happy that she cared. I kept up French Fridays, but switched to pastries or quiche, not both. The pastries were too good to walk away from entirely.

I've made this quiche at least a hundred times. It's one of the recipes I repeat on a consistent basis. I'm fairly certain I've made it for everyone I know!

This recipe is, like most quality quiche recipes, rather indulgent in it's use of heavy cream and half and half. It is creamy, smooth and light beyond belief and that is why I love it! It's not as eggy, heavy or thick like many quiches I've had.

I truly hope you love it as much as I do!

Quiche Lorraine
serves 6

1 pie crust, prepared

3 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
5 slices cooked bacon

Preheat oven to 425.

Line a 9 inch pie pan with the pie crust. Pat onto the bottom and sides. Line with aluminum foil and fill with weights.

Bake until browned about 12-15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Reduce oven temperature to 375.

Cut the bacon into one inch pieces and scatter evenly across the pie crust.

Mix together all remaining ingredients in a bowl.

Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust.

Carefully transfer to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is puffed and lightly golden.

Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to stand for 15 minutes.

Serve warm.

Plum Pie

Few things about this weekend went according to plan. Brandon and I were supposed to leave Friday morning for Colonial Williamsburg....but then he had to work. So we pushed it to Saturday...and he still had to work. Then we thought we'd do a small day trip on Easter...and he still had work to do. We tried to take a couple hour detour to enjoy the good weather, but in short there was no parking in the arboretum, the tire swing of legend has fallen down, and all the planes were rerouted as to not fly over Gravely Point Park. We failed miserably. Even when I consoled myself that this was all fine and went to the store to buy flowers I'd been wanting for six months every. single. store. was. sold. out. I spent the rest of the weekend defeated, wrapped in big fluffy blankets, watching Despicable Me and wishing I had a freeze ray gun. I'd use that.

Since we had planned to be traveling I didn't worry about things like rolls, ham, potato salad and a tray of vegetables filled with olives for me to eat....or put on my fingers. In the wake of all this failure, with a complete lack of Easter foods I worked with what Brandon had in his kitchen: plums.

I have to say it amazes me how most fruit pies really are the exact same process. I tossed the recipe and followed my Grandma's process for making apple pie. No real measurements, no real plan, but with how this weekend went, planning probably wasn't a good idea anyway.

But you're not me. You probably executed a lovely Easter meal, had a lovely trip, enjoyed the park and planning seems to be working out beautifully for you. Congratulations. Happy Easter. For you I have put together what is my best guess for what to do for this recipe. I'm sure it will work out splendidly for you. If it did for me, it can for anyone.

Plum Pie

2 pie crusts, ready made or from your favorite recipe
3 tablespoons plus 1 cup sugar
3 tsp. Chinese five spice powder (cassia cinnamon, star anise, anise seed, ginger and cloves)

1/4 tsp. vanilla powder

2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 pounds plums, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 wedges

Preheat to 375°F. 

Transfer one pie crust to 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 1 inch. Sprinkle one tablespoon of corn starch on the bottom of the crust. Refrigerate crust while preparing filling.

Mix sugar, Chinese five spice powder, and vanilla powder together in a bowl. Add plums and toss to coat. Spoon half the filling into crust and sprinkle with second tablespoon of cornstarch. Fill with remaining fruit, mounding slightly in center.

Drape top crust over filling; trim overhang to 1 inch. Press top and bottom crust edges together. Fold edges under; crimp edges with a fork. Cut  slits in center of top crust to allow steam to escape.

Position rack in center of oven; Place foil-lined baking sheet in bottom of oven to catch any spills.

Bake pie 30 minutes. Tent pie loosely with foil to prevent overbrowning. Continue to bake until filling bubbles thickly through slits, about 1 hour longer. Cool completely on rack.

Maple Pear Pie Ice Cream

It's still my ice cream year of study so why not try out some maple pear pie ice cream as well! The maple and pears are a beautiful accent to the vanilla cream ice cream! So many wonderful flavors in each bite!

It's still 2010. I. Have. To. Make. Ice. Cream.

I just have to. Each year there is that goal I make, to make ice cream one a week. To have fifty-two ice cream recipes at the end of the year that I love, to try tons of new ice creams, and to make ice cream in fun and inventive ways. I've been very successful but the weather is getting cold and I am still down! By nearly 22 posts! AH!

Here is a simple post. I took some of the maple pear pies I made a few days ago and put a few of them into vanilla cream ice cream. WONDERFUL! The problem is not eating all the pie before making the ice cream. Not. Doable. At. All.

I hope you love one of my last ditch efforts at meeting my ice cream goal! Hopefully I can make it and pump out another 22 ice cream posts by December 31! I can do it!

Maple Pear Pie Ice Cream

*if you made the maple pear pies from the previous post, then just use two of those and skip straight to making ice cream!

1 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

1/6 cup pure maple syrup

2 tsp. arrowroot powder, corn starch, or flour

pinch kosher salt

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

pinch tsp freshly ground nutmeg

 1/2 T. unsalted butter, cut into 2 peices
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 egg
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 425.  Combine all the pie filling ingredients except the butter in a large bowl. Divide amongst 2 ramekins, topping each with a piece of butter.  Bake until bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Allow the cobbler to cool in the refrigerator as you make the ice cream. 

In a stand mixer combine the eggs and sugar. Beat for one minute until light and fluffy. Gently mix in the cream, milk and vanilla. Do not whip!

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker. When the ice cream is almost ready, pour in the cooled maple pear pie. Allow the ice cream to churn until finished and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Enjoy! 

Maple Pear Pies

We may have outdone ourselves this week! To use up the leftovers from wedding fare Butchie and I made some beautiful pear pies, cooked with pure maple syrup and cinnamon! A beautiful fall pie!

Butchie and I had such a fun time this week! Pear pies are one of my favorite things. I actually prefer them to apple pies. Up until last night, I've only made them more traditionally, using a recipe my mother and I tried out years ago for Thanksgiving that's basically identical to your standard apple pie in flavor/seasoning. I loved it and still do. But we decided it was time to mix it up a bit!

Sooooo, what could be better in a fall pie than maple syrup? Um. Nothing! Having recently gotten back from Vermont I have all too much maple love in my heart. Except maple candy. I was not impressed with the maple candy I bought. The texture was so granular. It was like sticking maple spun sugar in my mouth straight. Don't get me wrong, that tastes lovely, but....texture. Ugh. Like sand. No good. [I still wish you'd brought me some. --B.] But I did try maple fudge....that is going to happen on this blog at some point. Mark. My. Words.

Since we wanted to do mini-pies, and didn't feel like bothering with a proper crust, we thought we'd top them with leftover phyllo from the wedding. Aaaaand since the pies are tiny and left lots of phyllo still to use, we thought we'd just mess around with phyllo for like an hour after the pies were in the oven. [It's like play-doh for adult bakers! --B.] We tried out a few ideas we like for some future posts, one of which kind of resembles a birds nest made of phyllo. That's a bad description, but trust me when I say it will be a beautiful post! We also did some cut outs of maple leaves as you can see in the photos, which we sprinkled with vanilla sugar. Frankly, we loved eating those plain like chips. So delicious, though you really have to watch them like a HAWK. [That vanilla sugar caramelizes extraordinary fast, I suspect b/c the dough is so thin. But if you're the kind of person who likes to set your marshmallows on fire, maybe you should leave them in there an extra 30 seconds or so. --B.] Plus, SO CUTE!

We hope you love these as much as we did. Because, wow, we really did. Butch and I have baked so many great things together over the years, but this one really stood out.

Maple Pear Pies

5 pears, peeled, cored, and chopped

2/3 cup pure maple syrup

2 T. arrowroot powder, corn starch, or flour

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

2 T. unsalted butter, cut into 8 peices

4-6 sheets phyllo dough

4 T. unsalted butter, melted

vanilla sugar (or cinnamon sugar)

Preheat the oven to 425. Combine all the pie filling ingredients except the butter in a large bowl. Divide amongst 8 ramekins, topping each with a piece of butter. Bake until bubbly, about 20 minutes.

To make the crust, roll out phyllo dough brushing melted butter between each layer, and occasionally sprinkling vanilla sugar in between the layers. Continue this process until the phyllo dough is four to six sheet thick. Cut into rounds the same size as your ramekins, and place on top of the bubbling fruit.

Continue to bake for about 12-14 minutes, or until the phyllo has turned golden-brown. Serve warm.

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie

Pumpkin Chiffon is a light, smooth, creamy version of tradition pumpkin pie. It's my mother's favorite, and that right there says it all! :) Mama knows best, right?

For my birthday party we held a mini-pumpkin themed night. Or at least we tried to. We were going to play games like mini pumpkin bocce, capture the mini pumpkin, mini pumpkin relays, and of course, mini pumpkin pie eating contest! In the end, the weather made most of our plans impossible, and though playing in the rain can be fun....this would have been playing in a downpour. Not. So. Fun. 

We did however get to have our mini pumpkin pie eating contest and these little beauties were it! I made them in a cupcake tin! I'm not sure how it happened, but I FINISHED DEAD LAST! Everyone kept yelling at me not to be dainty. DAINTY?!?!?! Are you kidding me? I had pie across half my face! The stupid  adorable little pie kept scooting farther and farther away from me as I tried to eat it. I spent half my time trying to pull it back with my teeth so I could get another bite! Epic. Fail. My friends Tristan and Hugh won practically in a dead tie. Amazing. My favorite part had to be when someone commented "Wow. That was the best pie eating contest pie I've ever had!" ....first off, thank you, but secondly, how many of those have you had?!?! This was my first! 

In a few weeks I'm going to the Giant Pumpkin Regatta in Goffstown, NH. I hear the festival has a pumpkin pie eating contest. I hope so, because I could use a little redemption! 

I also recommend making the pumpkin chiffon filling and simply putting it into individual ramekins or hallowed out mini pumpkins as a pumpkin mousse dessert. 

Chiffon Pumpkin Pie

2 baked 9” pie shells or about 24 mini pie shells

4 tsp. gelatin

6 tsp. cold water

1 15 oz. can pumpkin

¾ cup milk

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

2 cups sugar minus 4 tablespoons

4 eggs, yolks and whites separated

To slightly beaten egg yolks, add ½ cup of the sugar, pumpkin, milk, salt, and spices.

Heat in a double broiler. Pour cold water in small bowl and sprinkle gelatin on top

of water. Once set add to hot pumpkin mixture. Mix thoroughly and cool. Beat egg

whites with remaining sugar to make a meringue. Fold into pumpkin mixture. Pour into

previously bake and cooled pie shells. Chill in refrigerator.

Phyllo Pie Shells

sugar

cinnamon

nutmeg

butter

phyllo dough

Make up a cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg mixture to your preferred ratios. Take phyllo and layer it, about four deep, brushing with melted butter in between each layer, and sprinkle the sugar mixture on every other layer. Press down into your molds and bake at 350 for a few minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool in the pan completely before trying to remove. 

No Bake Cherry Pie with Buttermilk Pie Crust

I'm starting off my countdown of red, white and blue desserts for the Fourth of July! Starting off with Cherry Pie! I’m not big on baked cherries, so I thought we’d see what happens if you make a cherry pie just like you would a fresh strawberry pie! It’s Tasty! I love the buttermilk crust. It’s becoming a favorite! As seen on Photograzing. 

My mama’s been in town and one thing my mama has wanted to do is go and pick berries. When I’d told her that Butchie and I went strawberry picking she was incredibly jealous. Since we’ve already done all the touristy things in DC, it was an easy call!

We drove out to Butler’s Orchard to go pick some strawberries. Awesomely, there were cherries and peas to pick too! I was hoping for blueberries but I’ll have a wait a few weeks for those. I’ve already started plotting.

As soon as I saw the tart cherries I thought of Butchie. Talk about a love of tart cherries! [All things tart, really. Cranberry, lemon, kiwi…. –B.] But rather than call her up and brag – though I did consider that – I decided to pick a lot more cherries for us to make a pie! [Good thing too. A gloating phone call with no promise of pie might have destroyed our friendship. –B.]

Baking was a little messy. Did I say a little? That’s a lie. It was so messy I have already blocked it from my memory. Pitting cherries had my hands so stained I felt like I was in a low budget horror film. Between that and the torrential downpour I was ready for Alfred Hitchcock to make a cameo appearance. And poor JP and Claire were on a motorcycle! But it was an interesting evening. I’m still laughing over watching the boys try to figure out how to add ingredients to the stand mixer while it was running. Nothing better than sitting back with Butchie and Claire and watching the menfolk attempt to bake on their own. [In their defense, they eventually figured it out. –B.]

Buttermilk Pie Crust

Adapted from Epicurious

2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup chilled unsalted butter, diced

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk

Combine flour, sugar and salt in large bowl. Add butter. Cut in using hands or pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. (Or you could use a stand mixer or food processor if that's your preferred method!) Add buttermilk and stir with fork until moist clumps form.

Press together to form dough. Divide dough in half. Gather dough into balls; flatten into disks. Wrap separately and chill 1 hour.

Place a piece of parchment paper inside the pie shell. Bake at 400°F for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the edge are golden brown. Remove the weights and parchment after 5 minutes of baking.

Fresh Cherries Pie

Buttermilk pie crust or your favorite!

4 cups fresh cherries, pitted

1 cup white sugar

4 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 cup water

Roll out dough and mold into either a 9 inch pie pan or a rectangular tart pan as I used. Bake as you normally would for your pie crust recipe.

Pit the cherries, then arrange most of them in the baked crust. Leave out about 1/3 cup.

Mash remaining berries, and combine with sugar in a medium saucepan. Place saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water. Gradually stir cornstarch mixture into boiling the boiling cherries. Reduce heat and simmer mixture until thickened, about 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Allow to cool slightly and then pour mixture over berries in pastry shell.

Chill for several hours before serving.

Enjoy!