Today I'm Entering My First Bake-Off: The KCRW Good Food Pie Contest

Today, for the first time ever, I am entering a pie in a bake-off. I've always wanted to enter food contests...baking ones, not eating ones (too many hot dogs or marshmallows stuffed in my mouth and I think I'd puke). But usually there is some lousy reason it doesn't work out - I find out too last minute or it's too expensive or it requires traveling or something. Actually, I did once try entering a recipe into the Pillsbury Bake-Off, but that didn't go very far, and there was no event where all applicants prepared their recipe and brought it to a judging panel to taste. That was only for the 100 finalists.

When I read that chef Evan Kleiman of Good Food on KCRW (Los Angeles's NPR radio station) was hosting a pie contest, I got really excited. I'm not even a regular pie baker, though I'm also not new to pies. The contest rules said I could enter up to 4 pies, one for each of the 4 categories: fruit and nut; cream, custard, chiffon and mousse; savory; and interpretive pie, one that "defies categorization." I didn't want to overdo my first ever bake-off experience; one pie was plenty. I called up my mom, told her about this contest that was happening on a weekend when she happened to be visiting my sister and me in LA, and we spent a couple nights devising a delicious pie recipe to co-enter! We chose the mousse category.

I won't divulge the recipe until after the contest is over (and only if the pie is not a complete failure or embarrassment to the pie-eating world), but I will say three ingredients that are featured in our pie: Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Bananas. My mom and I each made the pie in our respective kitchens and then reconvened by phone to discuss any modifications we felt were necessary. Last night, with my mom in town, together under one roof, in my Los Angeles kitchen, we prepared the official pie entry. Mother-daughter activities are the best!

A berry pie I made a few years ago. Not the recipe I'm entering in this contest!

I hear there are 150 pies entered. Holy moly that is a lot of pie for the judging panel to taste! I just hope all 150 pies aren't variations on the one my mom and I submitted, you know, with the same three featured flavors. That would be a big bummer. I'm going to think positively and remain calm!

Speaking of judges, take a look at this incredible list of judges!

• Mark Peel - Executive Chef & Owner, Campanile
• Russ Parsons - Food Editor for the LA Times
• Stefan Richter - Chef & Owner, Stefan's at LA Farm; Former Contestant on Bravo's Top Chef (Season 5)
• Eric Greenspan - Chef & Owner of The Foundry on Melrose
• Elizabeth Belkind - Executive Pastry Chef/Owner of Cake Monkey
• Amy Scattergood - Food writer, LA Weekly
• Eddie Lin - of the blog DeepEndDining.com and the book Extreme Cuisine
• Amelia Saltsman - author of The Santa Monica Farmers Market Cookbook
• Pim Techamuanvivit - Food Blogger and author of The Foodie Handbook
• Clifford Wright - Noted Chef and Cookbook Author, Co-Founder of the Venice Cooking School
  

And there you have it! I will keep you posted on my experience. I'm so excited just to take part in it! With my mom by my side co-entering, and my sister there for moral support (and to taste people's yummy pies), it's a Happy Go Marni family affair.

Wish me luck!

Chocolate Cream Dream Pie, AKA Leave Your Man at Home Pie

I recently hosted a girls' night with a couple of girlfriends. We watched Waitress, that very feminist, female-empowering (read: awesometastic) movie with creative pie recipes woven into the storyline. Main character Jenna, played by Keri Russell, makes pies for a living, but what's unique about her pies is that her life experiences often drive the kinds of pies she makes.

Here are a couple of examples:

• Jenna finds out she's pregnant and names a pie, "I Don't Want Earl's Baby" Pie. It's a pie made of egg and brie cheese with a smoked ham center.
• "Baby Screaming Its Head Off in the Middle of the Night and Ruining My Life" Pie: New York-style cheesecake, brandy-brushed and topped with pecans and nutmeg.
• "Earl Murders Me Because I'm Having an Affair" Pie: smashed blackberries and raspberries in a chocolate crust.
• "I Can't Have No Affair Because It's Wrong and I Don't Want Earl to Kill Me" Pie: Vanilla custard with banana. Hold the banana.
• "Pregnant Miserable Self-Pitying Loser" Pie: Lumpy oatmeal with fruitcake mashed in. Flambeed.

That list is probably only half the pies Jenna invents during the movie. What could be more appropriate during this pie-themed Girls' Night than for me to make a pie, too. I chose a Dorie Greenspan chocolate pudding pie recipe with a graham cracker crust. Dorie calls it "Chocolate Cream Dream" Pie. It's quite a cute name, but in honor of the film, I had to rename it "Leave Your Man at Home" Pie. After all, this is girls' night. And I wrote the word P-I-E on the top with chocolate chips, you know, in case anyone thought we were eating, um, baked alaska? It was the perfect pie to get us in Waitress mood.


Chocolate Cream Dream Pie
Recipe by Dorie Greenspan in Sweet Times

1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon pure vanilla

Bring milk and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, flour, and cornstarch together by hand until thick, smooth, and pale. Very gradually add the hot milk, whisking constantly. Pour this mixture through a strainer and back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon, until the cream thickens and one bubble comes to the top and pops, about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat and blend in the chocolate and vanilla. Scrape the cream into a clean bowl, lay a sheet of plastic wrap against the top of the cream, and chill for at least 1 hour. The cream can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator.

The Crust
1 1/3 cups graham cracker crumbs (from 11 double crackers)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons sugar (Dorie calls for 2/3 cup shredded or flaked coconut but I've replaced that with sugar)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl or a food processor, mix together the crumbs, melted butter, and sugar until uniformly moistened. Press mixture evenly into a 9-inch pie plate, bringing crust up to top of plate around the sides. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a rack. Crust can be made ahead, covered, and refrigerated for 2 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 1 month.

Topping
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whip cream until it holds soft peaks. With a rubber spatula, fold in the sugar and vanilla.

Assembly
Fill the crust with the chocolate and top with whipped cream. Refrigerate up to 3 hours.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Combine egg yolks, flour, and cornstarch...

Whisk together till light yellow and thick...

Pour the hot milk-sugar mixture into the egg mixture slowly while whisking in order to temper the eggs (you don't want omelet like I tend to do!), then strain the mixture through a sieve back into the saucepan...

Cook until the milk-egg mixture thickens, remove from heat, and add vanilla and chocolate...

When it resembles chocolate pudding, transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap directly across the surface of the pudding (to avoid a skin forming), then refrigerate...

To make the crust, blend together graham crackers, melted butter, and sugar...

Press into a pie pan and bake for 5-8 minutes at 350 degrees F...

To assemble, fill the pie crust with the pudding...

Whip up the heavy cream...

Fold in the confectioners sugar and vanilla...

Spread on top of the pudding, then refrigerate the pie until you're ready to serve...

You've got pie!

"Leave Your Man at Home" Pie!

Northern-Maple Nut Pie

My family goes nuts over maple-flavored anything. You should see my mom's eyes bug out when she spots a pie like this on a restaurant menu; she can hardly contain herself. It's as if for an instant she forgot she loved chocolate.

I was looking at various maple recipes to see where the maple flavor comes from. Some recipes simply use brown sugar, which is CHEATING!!! Some call for maple sugar, which I don't have on hand (and can get kinda pricey). Others, like this one, call for maple syrup. And come on, who doesn't have that! This pie is really simple to make and has a strong, amazing maple presence in it. But please don't use Aunt Jemima. That doesn't count!

Northern-Maple Nut Pie
Recipe by Marilyn M. Moore in The Wooden Spoon Dessert Book

The flavor of this pie comes from pure maple syrup, cooked down from the sap of northern maple trees. They say the further north the trees are grown, the better flavored the syrup.

3 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 1/4 cups coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a 9-inch pie pan with your favorite pie dough. Trim and flute the edge. Place the pastry-lined pan in the refrigerator to chill while preparing the filling.

In a mixing bowl beat the eggs. Add, in this order, beating well after each addition, the sugar, salt, butter, and maple syrup.

Remove the pie shell from the refrigerator. Place the chopped nuts in the shell.

Stir the filling once more and gently pour over the nuts. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes. Do not overbake. The filling should be just slightly soft in the very center. It will continue to firm after removal from the oven. Cool on a wire rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Perfectly Simple Dark Chocolate Tart

Did you miss me? :) I've missed you! I've been pretty busy at work and have not baked nearly as much as I'd like lately. Heck, forget baking, I haven't even had real dinners. It feels a little like my college years, feasting on cereal and milk or oatmeal. But I finally dusted off my neglected oven and re-entered the baking scene with a dark chocolate tart that is silky in texture and very rich. Take note, I don't use the word "rich" lightly. But what I really want you to take is a wild guess whose recipe this is. I dare you. Ok, you win. Lori Longbotham.


Perfectly Simple Dark Chocolate Tart
Recipe by Lori Longbotham in Luscious Chocolate Desserts
Serves 12

Crust
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup toasted walnuts, cooled
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Filling
14 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cocoa powder for dusting

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter an 11-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

To make the crust: Process the sugar and walnuts in a food processor until the walnuts are finely ground. Add the flour, cocoa, and salt and pulse just until blended. Add the butter and pulse just until the mixture begins to come together when a small amount is pressed between your fingers; do not over-process - the mixture should not form a ball. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and up the sides of the tart pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until the crust begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let cool on a wire rack while you make the filling.

To make the filling: Melt the chocolate with the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of about 1 1/2 inches of nearly simmering water, whisking until smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the eggs and sugar until well blended. Whisk in the vanilla. Transfer the filling to the warm crust.

Bake for about 12 minutes, until the filling is set around the edges but still slightly jiggly in the center; the top of the tart will look a little blistered, and that's okay. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, at least 1 1/2 hours.

To serve, remove the pan rim. Lightly dust the tart with cocoa powder and cut into wedges.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Make the dough for the crust and press into the tart pan...

Bake the crust...
Make the tart filling...
Spread the filling into the baked tart shell...
Bake the tart. Mmmmm...

Drool.

Country Plum Tart

Though this recipe has tart in the title, it's a lot heftier than the tarts I'm used to; it's really more of a pie. I baked mine in a springform pan and so the final product was the size of a cheesecake! It had quite the grand presence; I enjoyed just staring at it. :)

You may recall that I wrote a post back in May about two cookbooks that are out of print now and worth a small fortune. This Country Plum Tart comes from one of those two books: The Best of Betterbaking.com by Marcy Goldman, a veritable master baker and one of my heroes. Perhaps that makes this recipe worth a very small fortune, but alas, it can be found on Amazon in the "preview this book" section. And speaking of Amazon, you should buy this book. Just be prepared to pay upwards of $120.

The tart was fun and easy to make, and tasted great. It also involved an interesting technique for the dough I had never seen before. The dough is prepared, then divided in two, and one disk goes in the freezer, the other in the fridge. Now, I'm used to chilling my dough before rolling or pressing it into a pan, but freezing the dough? That's because the frozen half gets shredded on a box grater and then the shredded dough is scattered on top of the plum filling. I'll be the first to admit it was a little challenging to shred a really cold block of dough. But it worked, and looked neat, and put the "country" in Country Plum Tart.

Country Plum Tart
Recipe by the GREAT Marcy Goldman in The Best of Betterbaking.com
Makes 1 tart; serves 8 to 10

Tart Pastry
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (8 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup cold heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt

Filling
2 1/2 pounds small plums, quartered and pitted
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon raspberry or plum vinegar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Confectioners' sugar for dusting (optional)

Lightly grease a deep 9- or 10-inch quiche pan with a removable bottom, or a 10-inch pie pan or tart. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

For the pastry, combine the flour, butter, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, cut or rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a course meal. Make a well in the center and add the cream, sugar, and salt. Stir to make a rough mass. If the dough seems too dry, add 1 or 2 tablespoons of water. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead very gently for a few seconds to smooth out the dough. Divide the dough in half, form each half into a disk, and wrap well in plastic. Put one half in the refrigerator and the other in the freezer for at least 1 hour or as long as overnight.

For the filling, combine all ingredients and toss to blend.

Remove both doughs from the refrigerator and freezer. Roll out the refrigerated dough into a 10-inch round to fit the bottom of the pan, then roll out and press the scraps into the sides of the pan and trim the edges. Mount the filling in the pastry shell.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using the large holes of a box grater, shred the remaining dough into a bowl. If the dough is too cold to work with, let it warm for 10 to 15 minutes. Sprinkle the shredded dough over the fruit.

Place the pan on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees F and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes, or until the juices begin to bubble and the dough is lightly browned. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. If using a pan with a removable bottom, remove the pan sides and slide the tart onto a serving plate.

Before serving, dust with a generous amount of confectioners' sugar.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Warm Chocolate, Cinnamon, and Coffee Tart

I was attracted to this recipe for a variety of reasons. First, it's a Joanne Weir recipe, which inherently means good. Then, the title indicated the use of three of my favorite ingredients. And finally, upon reading the full list of ingredients, I was especially intrigued by the pine nuts. Pine nuts in a dessert? Okay! Plus, I got to pull out my bottle of Kahlua, and you know how that goes. Once it's out for baking purposes, why not have a little on the rocks, too.

This recipe is very very easy. The pastry, made in a food processor, comes together quickly and does not require rolling out; you just press it into the tart pan. If I can nitpick for a moment, I did have to use three large-ish dishes for the filling: a double boiler, a saucepan, and a mixing bowl. Oh the horror!

Warm Chocolate, Cinnamon, and Coffee Tart
Recipe from Weir Cooking in the City by Joanne Weir
Get the recipe at Leite's Culinaria