Is She YOUR Cherry Pie?

Yesterday dad, the brothers, and I all went cherry picking.

Mmmm cherries!

So we are there at my dad's friend's house picking right? A beetle hiding among the leaves decides to drop into shirt as I'm working. I don't want to freak out and cause a scene so what do I do? I set down my cherry bowl and smooshed the intruder. Turns out it actually went down my bra.... Awkward moment for me. So I continued picking cherries with a dead beetle, guts hanging out, touching my skin. Gross. I'm pretty sure reading this makes you lose your appetite for delicious cherry pie right?

Wrong.

You see, if you absolutely LOVE cherry pie, you should be well aware of the sacrifices you make while picking cherries. Yes, it all has to do with the cherry picking. I walked away only to have eaten about 7 cherries, I had a dead beetle close to my heart- literally, also I had a mess of various other bugs in my hair along with parts of rotten cherries. These are just some of the things I endured to be able to create such a wonderful dessert.

All together, we probably picked around ten pounds of fruit (not counting the five pounds we all consumed). Dad decided to give some away to a lady friend last night, but we still have enough to make somewhere around 30 pies.

Okay so maybe not that many, but enough to hold us over for a while (;

I can promise you that my cherry pie is best. From the flaky pie crust, to the sweet thick cherry filling, this pie is sure to win a few ribbons- and blue ones at that! It's great topped with real whip cream that I make myself, or with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.

Everyone knows that every good pie starts with an amazing crust. That is why I am the queen of cherry pies. So here's the pie crust recipe:


Flaky Pie Crust

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon table salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (diced)
1/4 cup shortening
7 to 8 tablespoons ice water

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, mix together flour, salt, and sugar until well combined.

2. Using clean hands, add butter and toss until just coated. Rub butter between thumb and forefingers to incorporate into flour mixture until butter is lima bean sized pieces and comes together in quarter-sized clumps when squeezed in palm, about 2 minutes.

3. Add shortening, toss until just coated in flour, then rub into flour mixture until mixture forms pea sized pieces (some big chunks should remain) and comes together in fist sized clumps when squeezed, about 1 minute.

4. Drizzle in half of the ice water, and rake through mixture with fingers until just moistened. Drizzle in remaining water 1 tablespoon at a time and comb through mixture with fingers to moisten. It will go from being a shaggy mess to coming together.

****Dough is moist enough when it is moistened through but is not wet when pressed. (Do not overwork the dough or it will become tough.****

5. While rotating the bowl with 1 hand, push dough between other palm and side of bowl to gather into a ball. Turn dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, press it into a flat disk, then close in wrap. Place in coldest part of refrigerator (usually back bottom shelf) at least 30 minutes before rolling out and forming into a crust.

6. Place dough into a pie pan. Trim the edges. Poke the dough with a fork here and there. Bake at 250 degrees for 7 minutes. You do this so when you pour filling in, it won't make the dough soggy.

Now the other best part of the cherry pie is the cherry filling. I don't use canned cherry filling because honestly, it's disgusting. Instead, I spend hours working up a sweat in the hot sun picking cherries- one by one.

Actually, I only spent about an hour in nice weather picking handfuls of juicy, bright red, sweet cherries. Boy was this year's harvest a good one!!


Cherry Pie Filling

5 C. Pitted Cherries (make sure you have a ratio of 3 parts sweet ripe cherries, and 1 part sour almost ripe cherries for the sweet and the tart)
1 C. Sugar
1/4 C. Lemon Juice
Approx. 1/4 C. Water (see directions before adding)
2 Tbsp. Cornstarch for thickening

Directions:

1. Combine fruit and sugar in a pan and stir together. If cherries are soft and mushy, you won't need additional water, but if cherries are firm, add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil.

2. Mix cornstarch with some cold water (about 2 tablespoons of cold water with 2 tablespoons corn starch), whisking to remove lumps.

3. When cherries are boiling, add thickening while stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Add enough thickening to make the consistency you desire. (We like our pies fairly thick.) Stir the thickening as it bubbles, just until the juices are clear. (When the filling looks clear, it's fully cooked. Over-cooking will start to break down the filling.)

4. Pour into pie crust. Make a lattice or full top, whichever you would like. Make an egg wash by lightly beating as whole raw egg and brushing on crust. This will make it shiny, and add a nice gold color to the crust.

5. Bake pie at 425 degrees for about 30 minutes or until browned.

So there you have it. My yummy cherry pie! I swear it is the best. If you think yours is better, leave me a comment and we'll talk pie. If any of you give me a recipe that is better than mine, then I will reward you with a FREE gift and a special feature in my blog.

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Feel free to send me recipes to try or perfect. I will add them to my blog so be careful if you don't want me to unleash the secrets of your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother's chunky corn bread. Check back often to see what else I'm cookin' up!

Chocolate, Caramel, and Shortbread

Okay, so it has been a while since the last post. Truth is, I have been really busy lately and not cooking or baking much at all.

A few days ago I came across a recipe for these British yummies. Shortbread with a layer of caramel and chocolate on top. I decided right then and there I was going to make them. The recipe is fairly simple and I believe that any cook whether they be pro, or someone who only uses the microwave, can whip this up in no time.

Alright, here goes!

For the shortbread:
1/2 pound unsalted butter, softened
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar 2 cups flour
1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Make the shortbread.
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Generously grease a 9 x 9 baking pan with butter.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, salt, and sugar and whip on medium speed until the butter becomes fluffy and white - about 5 minutes.
3. Turn the mixer to low and add the flour and cornstarch. Mix to incorporate.
4. Pat the dough evenly into the pan.
5. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the edges just begin to darken. The shortbread will remain white. Set aside to cool.














For the
caramel:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Next, make the caramel.
1. In a 2 quart saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
2. Continue stirring and allow mixture to boil for another 5 minutes.
3. Remove caramel from heat and stir vigorously for a few minutes.
4. Pour over shortbread and allow to set up at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.




















For the chocolate:
1 1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate, chopped

Chocolate.
1. Simply place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 45 seconds, then stir and continue to heat and stir at 20 second intervals until chocolate is completely melted.
2. Pour chocolate over the caramel layer and spread evenly to cover.
3. Chill to set the chocolate - about 30 minutes.






When this is all said and done, you will have an amazingly yummy British treat. Have a cup of tea too! :) Be prepared for soft caramel, and hard chocolate and sort of a bitter taste from the shortbread. Together all of the flavors are something I haven't really tasted. I loved it though and can't wait to experiment with it!


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Popcorn

I absolutely love popcorn! It is one of my favorite snacks. I decided I wanted to make popcorn balls-- a simple recipe I was taught in my culinary class. So as I'm making the sugar mixture to pour over the popcorn, I think to myself, "man I don't really wanna ball up all this popcorn into equal sized balls."

So I didn't.

Instead, I poured the mixture over the popcorn, let it cool for about 30 second, and broke it all apart. It in a sense made kettle corn. Nothing fancy, just sugar coated popcorn.... Mmmm!

Here's my recipe:

Sugar Coated Popcorn

2 C. White Sugar
1 1/2 C. Water
1/2 C. Light Corn Syrup
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
5 Quarts Popped Popcorn (I like Home-style popcorn)
1/2 tsp. Salt

Directions

Popcorn
1. Pop the popcorn
2. Put in an oven safe cooking pan.
3. Place in oven at 200 degrees F to keep it warm.

Sugar Coating
1. In a sauce pan combine the sugar, water, salt, and corn syrup.
2. Cook over medium heat to the hard crack stage(test this by placing a little bit of the mixture into cold water. If hardens almost instantly, it's ready.) or 290 degrees F (use a candy thermometer).
3. Stir in the vanilla.
4. When ready, slowly pour over the popped popcorn. Stir with a wooden spoon to coat each piece.
5. Let it cool for about 30 seconds. If not too hot, break apart the pieces and place into a dry bowl.
6. Enjoy with your favorite movie :)


I have learned also 1/4 tsp of peppermint extract tastes great on your popcorn! Try experimenting with your favorite flavors, but don't get crazy as it could ruin your sugar mixture.

If you want to make popcorn balls, rub butter on your hands, pour sugar onto popcorn, stir well, then grab a handful and roll into a ball. :)

Feel free to send me recipes to try or perfect. I will add them to my blog so be careful if you don't want me to unleash the secrets of your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother's chunky corn bread. Check back often to see what else I'm cookin' up!

Almond Rocca

Every Christmas, my mom buys almond rocca. As kids we used to joke around saying it looked like cat turds. Gross I know. It is one of my favorite candies, and the only time I ever got it was during the Christmas holiday.

When I was taking my culinary class in high school, we made almond rocca. It was good, but there were no almonds due to some students being allergic to them. So we made rocca I guess you would say :) Anyways, I have taken this simple chocolate-less, almond-less recipe and have added those two key ingredients to it. Now if you are allergic to almonds, or chocolate, just don't add it to the recipe when you make it. Here it is:


Almond Rocca

1 pound butter (NOT MARGARINE)
1 pound brown sugar
1 C. finely choped almonds*
2 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips* (or dark chocolate chips)
1 piece of wax paper the size of your cookie sheet

Directions

1. Prepare a cookie sheet with Crisco (or any shortening you have). Make sure you cover the ENTIRE sheet, sides included as well as corners. Place in the oven at 200 degrees to warm up.
2. Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan on high heat. If you have an electric stove, use setting 9. Stir until completely melted.
3. Add all of the brown sugar and stir CONTINUALLY, or else it will burn.
4. Cook to hard crack stage. Test it by placing small amounts of the hot melted sugar and butter in a bowl of cold water. It has reached to the hard crack stage when the sugar breaks when bitten. If it sticks, keep cooking and repeat the process often.
5. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven.
6. Mix almonds into the sugar mixture. Carefully pour the hot sugar mixture into the middle of the cookie sheet. DO NOT SCRAPE THE BOTTOM OF THE SAUCEPAN! And burnt sugar on the bottom of the pan will ruin the candy.
7. Let it cool completely on a counter top. Do not put in the fridge. It will not set properly.

Chocolate
Make sure the almond rocca is completely cooled. This should be about an hour and a half to two hours.

1. Break the almond rocca into small pieces.
2. In a double boiler, add water to the bottom, and the chocolate chips in the top.
3. Place wax paper to your cookie sheet.
4. stir chocolate until melted.
5. One by one, dip the almond rocca into the chocolate, and place onto cookie sheet.
6. When all pieces are covered, place cookie sheet in freezer for 5 minutes.
7. Enjoy your homemade almond rocca!


Typing up this recipe makes me want to go make some :)
Instead of spending gobs of money on almond rocca during the holiday season, instead use this recipe to make the delightful treat.

Feel free to send me recipes to try or perfect. I will add them to my blog so be careful if you don't want me to unleash the secrets of your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother's chunky corn bread. Check back often to see what else I'm cookin' up!