Pie Baking Class: Apple Pie, Mermaid Pie & Cheesecake!

At my office I am known as one of the few resident bakers. Many times, I will bring in one of my confections & my coworkers will make comments like “wow, I wish I could do that”…and I thought “you know, it’s not really that hard & I love showing people how to bake…”

Thus was born my first official baking class! I have recently been hired to do a few baking classes at the Boston Center for Adult education (first one in December!) so this was a great opportunity to get some practice in.

The reason for the pie theme was the time of year! I wanted to show my coworkers how to make a classic home made pie crust, an apple pie, and then a few other fun desserts!

The menu ended up being two pies: Apple & Mermaid (from the movie The Waitress) as well as a decadent New York Style Cheesecake! The experience was a huge success, they each took home some delicious slices of pie that they made & the confidence to try it out this holiday season :).

The apple pie was the same recipe I shared with you from my friend Alexa. You can find that recipe here or by navigating through previous posts.

I highly recommend these other two recipes as well – they’re really easy & fun to make. The Mermaid pie is perfect if you’re baking with kids! The filling actually tastes quite a bit like chocolate chip ice cream! For the cheesecake, we ended up making a sort of raspberry sauce that was perfect on top!

Without further adieu, I give you Mermaid Pie & New York Style Cheesecake!

Marshmallow Mermaid Pie
(from the movie “The Waitress”)

9 graham crackers
1/2 C. sweetened, flaked coconut, toasted
5 Tbs. butter or margarine, melted
34 lg. marshmallows (8 oz.)
1/2 C. whole milk
1 1/2 C. heavy or whipping cream
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, grated

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine coconut and graham crackers in food processor until coarse crumbs form.

2. Combine crumbs and butter with fork. Press to bottom and side of 9-inch pie plate. Bake 10 minutes and cool on wire rack.

3. Heat marshmallows and milk in 3-qt. saucepan over low heat until smooth, stirring constantly. Remove saucepan from heat. Cool completely (30 minutes.)

4. In large bowl with mixer at medium speed, beat cream until stiff peaks form. Fold marshmallow mixture into whipped cream with grated chocolate. Spoon filling into cooled crust. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours or overnight.

5. Top with mini marshmallows and rainbow sprinkles. (Maraschino Cherries optional)

Serves 8. **The next time I make this, I may toast the marshmallows before serving so that they stick a bit better to the rest of the pie.

NEW YORK STYLE CHEESECAKE

1/4 c. butter
1 c. graham cracker crumbs
1/4 c. sugar
4 (8 oz.) cream cheese (Philadelphia)
1/2 c. flour
4 eggs
1 (14 oz.) condensed milk
1 tbsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Melt butter. Stir in crumbs and sugar. Pat firmly on bottom of buttered 9-inch springform pan or pie pan.

In large bowl, heat cheese until fluffy.

Beat in flour and eggs; mix well.

Add condensed milk, and vanilla.

Pour into pan over crumbs.

Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. This ended up being a little too long for my oven. I would start at 40 minutes & start testing the cake every five minutes. It should still be a little giggly like pumpkin pie is when you take it out – refrigerate for it to finish congealing to the correct consistency.

Cool to room temperature. Garnish as desired. I mashed up some fresh raspberries & added about 2 tbsp sugar for garnish. This was perfect – fresh & sweet!

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5 Tips to Healthify Your Pizza Cravings

Pizza and “healthy” don’t often go hand in hand. So what are you supposed to do if you love the cheesy cuisine but are a health conscious person?

There are actually many ways that you can alter your pizza recipe to make it healthier. And, to be perfectly honest, I think it makes your pizza meal heartier, tastier, and more satisfying.

1.) The Crust

To create a healthier crust, the first step is to actually make it from scratch. The greatest thing about “from scratch” is that you know exactly what you’ll be eating. You can alter any recipe to your taste. You can find a great, easy to make, crust recipe here.

You also want to choose ingredients for your crust that are high in fiber. Using whole wheat flour & whole wheat yeast creates a very hearty, filling crust. The dough takes slightly longer to rise, but it’s completely worth it. Whole wheat flour has more than 4x the fiber of white flour.

When you’re using a recipe, you can also either half the recipe or create a bigger pizza by rolling your dough very thin. This process gives you less crust per slice, cutting down on the number of bread calories & carbohydrates that you’re ingesting.

2.) The Sauce

Again, creating a “from scratch” sauce allows you to control the amount of sugar in your pizza sauce. You can also great gourmet sauces at home from veggies other than a tomato (which is actually a fruit, by the way). Using gourds and squashes to make your pizza sauce adds even more fiber & filling power to your pizza. Plus, it creates a gourmet taste to “wow” your friends & family. I recommend acorn & butternut squash for this process, though I’m sure pumpkin would be interesting as well!

3.) The Cheese

Choosing a part-skim mozzarella, or other light, cheese is essential to “healthifying” your pizza cravings. It is also important, when cooking with cheese, to measure out how much you’re using so that you know exactly what you’re putting into your meal. I’m not one to skimp on cheese, but I do like to know the quantity that I’m using so that I can regulate my caloric intake throughout the rest of the day.

Using pungent cheeses, like goat cheese, is also a great way to “healthify” your pizza. Why? Well, these cheese are very strong, so a little goes a long way. Therefore, you can use a smaller portion of these cheeses to satisfy your pizza craving while maintaining a stellar tasting meal.

4.) The Toppings

Using tons of veggies on your pizza adds additional fiber to your pizza. You may be wondering why I keep mentioning the benefit of adding fiber to your pizza. Fiber has many health benefits that include helping to prevent diabetes, heart disease, cancer & weight gain! (Learn more here)

If you’re a meat lover, adding turkey sausage or ground turkey instead of traditional sausage & hamburger to your pizza will really lighten up your meal. If you’re a pepperoni person, there are many substitutes that are better for you and just as delicious as the typical pepperoni. For example, Hormel makes a great turkey pepperoni!

5.) Serve on a Smaller Plate

Often people feel unsatisfied with pizza because it is not filling enough. Though I promise that if you follow the suggestions above you will feel full after a serving, here is a tip to avoid the “eyes are bigger than your stomach” syndrome.

Serving meals on smaller plates tricks your mind into thinking that you’re eating more than you actually are. Because of this, you may eat more slowly & feel fuller faster.

Pizza is not your enemy. You just have to mold it into the healthy meal that you desire 🙂

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When Gourmet and Home Made Combine…

…their forced become one heck of an affordable meal!

I am lucky in that two of my very best girlfriends from college, Alexa and Libby, live within 3 blocks of me here in Boston. Though it is a relatively small city, nothing beats having close, amazing friends near by. We try to cook together as often as possible, and now that we all live in the same three block radius, we’ll be able to do so more often!

A series of email exchanges lead us to the idea of making pizza for this week’s dinner together. Libby had dinner at a Boston restaurant featuring gourmet pizzas. From this restaurant she got the idea for a pizza with goat cheese, sauteed onions, parmesan cheese, and a sauce made from squash. The result? Amaaaaaazing gourmet pizza! Below is the recipe. I have to tell you, this is one of the best recipes I’ve tried. It’s not too hard to make…you have GOT to try this one.

Goat Cheese Acorn Squash Pizza
By Alexa, Jen & Libby

For the Crust
1/3 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 2/3 cups White Flour
1/2 packet Whole Wheat Yeast
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups room temperature water
2 TBSP Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
For the Toppings
1/2 Acorn Squash
1 TBSP Blue Bonnet Butter
1/2 cup Skim Milk
Salt
Pepper
6 oz Goat Cheese
2/3 cup Parmesan Cheese
2 small Onions

Combine the yeast & 1/2 cup 110 degree water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes (it should expand). Add rest of water & oil to this mixture. Combine with flour & salt. Knead dough 7-8 minutes. Spray a bowl with cooking spray & place dough into bowl. Cover with plastic wrap & allow to rise 75 minutes (until double in size). Once finished rising, spread out on baking pan in whatever shape you desire.

While the dough is rising, cut acorn squash into chunks and bake at 400 degrees until squash is cooked & you can work with it. Place squash into a food processor & work for about a minute. Add blue bonnet, milk, and salt & pepper (to taste). Continue in the food processor until you have the consistency of pizza sauce.

Chop the onions so that they are in rings. Saute them in a pan until they are caramelized by their natural sugars.

Spread your acorn squash sauce across uncooked pizza crust. Evenly spread the caramelized onions across your pizza. Next, place goat cheese, in chunks, all over pizza. Add some salt & pepper. Lastly, sprinkle parmesan cheese across the top of your pizza.

Bake pizza at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes, depending on your oven. Remove & enjoy. This serves four people.

I am going to be including recipes from my weekly girls dinner. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do! And, of course, no girls dinner would be complete without wine and dessert! For the dessert recipe, keep checking in this week :).

***The squash, goat cheese & onions were all bought at the Copley Farmer’s Market in Back Bay, Boston. Please support your local farmers! It’s good for the economy 🙂

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What Do You Do with those Extra Egg Yolks?

Many baking recipes call for egg whites. So what do you do with the left over yolks?? Here is a great recipe for such a situation.

Bearnaise Sauce

2 TBSP Tarragon Vinegar
2 TBSP white wine or cooking sherry
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 sticks Salted Butter (cold)
1 1/2 sticks Unsalted Butter (cold)
2 tsp Dried Tarragon

Cut all butter into about 1/2 inch slices. Set aside.

Whisk vinegar & wine into egg yolks in sauce pan. Place over low heat.

Add 2 slices of butter to mixture, stirring constantly. When the butter is just about melted, add 2 more TBSP butter. Continue this process until all the butter is added. Important: Adding the butter slowly, waiting for each of the 2 pieces to melt, keeps you from heating & cooking your sauce too quickly. The slower you add the butter/cook at this stage, the thicker your sauce will be. Moderate the heat according to how quickly (and how thick) you want your sauce to be.

Remove from stove & add dried Tarragon. Serve hot over fillet, asparagus, or whatever your heart desires!

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