Pie

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

by Koko on April 13, 2012 · 4 comments

in Baking, Pie, Recipe

For our last night cooking together in Alaska, I wanted to make a fun dessert to celebrate. I didn’t want anything too time intensive since I wanted to spend more time hanging out with Q than in the kitchen, so I decided on this no bake pie. We LOVED it. Easy, no frills, and the perfect treat.

This comes together easily with 2 steps. Since I started putting it together at 6PM and it needed 4 hours in the fridge, I popped it in the freezer for 2 hours instead and it was totally fine. We stored it in the fridge and I’m pretty sure Q is still snacking on it up there. The recipe calls for peanut butter cups chopped and placed on top of the pie. I thought that they would make the already rich pie a little too sweet, so I omitted them, but for a party I think they would be a fun addition.

 

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

Makes 1 pie (6-8 servings)

Ingredients:

  • 2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 2/3 cup whipped topping (like Cool Whip)
  • 1 9-inch chocolate crumb crust (I used oreo)
  • 14 Peanut butter cups, chopped (optional)

Directions:

  1. Using either a stand or hand mixer, cream together cream cheese, sugar and peanut butter until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Using a large spatula, fold in whipped topping.
  2. Spoon mixture into crust and add peanut butter cups on top. Refrigerate for 4 hours or if you are in a rush, put it in the freezer for 2.

Adapted from Mommy’s Kitchen.

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Key Lime Pie

by Koko on June 2, 2011 · 5 comments

in Baking, Pie, Recipe

My mom and I decided to tackle homemade Key Lime Pie last night. We combined a few recipes to create our very own. It’s not hard (at all), but is a little labor intensive, since it takes hand squeezing all of these:

Keylimes Before

The end result:

Squeezed!

It took 10 minutes just cutting the limes in half and squeezing them to give us enough juice for the pie.

Key limes are very special and hard to find (we had to get ours sent in from Florida. I know… we have good friends! They didn’t even get a bite!). I wasn’t aware quite how small key limes were until I saw them.

This is what your everyday Mexican lime looks like next to key limes (it’s almost 3 times the size!):

Mexican Lime vs. Key Limes

Minus the squeezing, the rest of the recipe was easy. The only major change we made was baking our pie instead of freezing it. This seems safer since it has raw egg.

I brought it into work today (we can’t keep things like this in our house or else we would eat it all)

So yummy!

 

 

Key Lime Pie 

Makes 1

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (10 crackers) (We put them in the Cusinart to make crumbs)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

  • 6 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 tablespoons grated lime zest
  • 3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (25 key limes, we cut them in half and then hand squeezed them. Koko hint: make sure there isn’t any pulp or seeds in the juice or it will be bitter.)

For the whipped topping:

  • 1 cup cold heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 lime wedge

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl. Press into a 9-inch pyrex pie pan, making sure the sides and the bottom are an even thickness. We use the bottom of a cup to press the crust in evenly. Bake for 10 minutes until firm and golden. Allow to cool completely.

For the filling, beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until thick. (This feels like a really long time, but just start juicing your limes during this time.) With the mixer on medium speed, add the condensed milk, lime zest, and lime juice. Pour into the baked pie shell and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Once the pie cools a bit, put it in the fridge overnight.

The next morning make the topping. Beat the heavy cream on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until firm. Spoon onto the pie and decorate with a lime.

We adapted this recipe from The Barefoot Contessa.

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Momofuku’s Crack Pie

by Koko on May 25, 2011 · 9 comments

in Baking, Pie, Recipe

Crack Pie

This pie may not photograph well, but people just die for it. This is the number one thing I bake that gets the most requests. The last time I made this pie was about a year ago and I have gotten asks for it every month since then. I promise you it is worth trying.

The actual baking of the pie is interesting since you actually bake out a large cookie first which then crumbles up to make the crust.

Making the cookie

Baked cookie

Once you crumble the cookie, add butter and make your crust, you add your filling. Beware, there is a LOT of butter used in this pie. It got to the point that I looked at my mom and I said “This can’t be right…” and she said “This is why it tastes so darn good.”

It tastes like caramel, it is very sweet and the texture is soft (it’s pretty hard to cut a good piece, so I usually end up using a spoon).


The recipe makes two pies and I brought them  both to work since I knew if they stayed in my house I would eat them both by myself. The pies were gone within an hour and people were raving about them.

 

 

Crack Pie

Based on this recipe from The Boston Foodie and The Martha Stewart Show

Makes two 10-inch pies (*Koko Hint: We used 9-inch pie plates and everything was the same)

• FOR THE OAT COOKIE

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

• 1/2 cup light-brown sugar

• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/3 cup old-fashioned oats

• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• FOR THE CRUST

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

• 1 tablespoon light-brown sugar

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• FOR THE FILLING

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

• 3/4 cup light-brown sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons milk powder

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

• 3/4 cup heavy cream

• 1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 8 large egg yolks

• Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions

1. Make the oat cookie: Preheat oven to 350 degrees; line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together all oat cookie ingredients until well combined. Spread cookie mixture in an even layer on prepared baking sheet. Transfer to oven and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly on a wire rack. (Koko Hint: We cooked out our cookie for 20 minutes until extra crispy.)

3. Make the crust: Using your hands, crumble oat cookie into a large bowl. Add butter, brown sugar, and salt; using your hands, toss until crumbly and well combined.

4. Divide mixture evenly between two 10-inch pie plates; pat into bottom and up sides. Set aside.

5. Make the filling: Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, salt, and milk powder, breaking up any lumps. Whisk in butter, heavy cream, and vanilla until well combined. Whisk in yolks until just combined.

6. Pour filling into prepared pie crusts. Transfer pies to oven and bake until filling is set, about 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 315 degrees and continue baking until top of pie is golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Transfer to refrigerator and refrigerate until cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar just before serving.

 

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