Apple Cider Pudding

This past week, I became obsessed with Smitten Kitchen’s luxe butterscotch pudding recipe. It’s got eggs, cream, butter, and a deep caramel flavor. What’s not to love? I made it for my two kids and they went wild. I’d also been eyeing Smitten’s apple cider caramels recipe and thinking of my own bacon caramels, and imagining doing a mashup. While licking a last spoonful, my daughter declared that she wanted apple pudding next and I had a brilliant idea. Instead of making caramels that I would feel guilty having around the house, I would turn that apple cider into the butterscotch for the luxe butterscotch pudding. With the eggs and dairy, it’s almost a meal, so I’m not a horribly irresponsible parent for letting them have as much as they want, I tell myself.

Well, it came out far better than I imagined. The apple flavor is so intense and tart. The creamy custard silkily complements the whole thing. I let me daughter scrape the cooled down pot clean and she looked like some kind of rabid creature when we tried to take it away. If that’s not an endorsement, I don’t know what is.

Recipe: Apple Cider Pudding

Makes 6 servings

• 6 cups apple cider
• 3 tbs cornstarch
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 whole egg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups half and half, or 1 cup cream, 1 cup whole milk
• 2 tbs butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• dash of cinnamon (optional)

1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the apple cider to a strong simmer until reduced to a little under 1 cup. This may take about an hour.
2. In a large measuring cup, or a medium mixing bowl, separate the eggs and whisk in the cornstarch and salt thoroughly, making sure there are no lumps. To temper the eggs, ladle the hot reduced apple cider into the very slowly (you can’t go too slowly), until at least half of the cider is incorporated and the cup/bowl is warm to the touch. Whisk until smooth.
3. Slowly whisk the half and half into the egg and cider mixture.
4. Pour the entire egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the cider and bring up to a low-medium heat whisking or stirring until it reaches the desired thickness. Once it starts thickening, it should continue quickly. I like my pudding on the thicker side, so I let it thicken until it drips very slowly from the whisk and then it will thicken further as it cools.
5. Remove from heat. Whisk in the butter vigorously, then add the vanilla and cinnamon if using and give it a final mix.
6. Pour into 6 ramekins, cover with plastic and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight until set.

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Bacon Caramel Candies

The Northeast is being beaten down with what some are calling “Frankenstorm”, and it seems like Halloween plans might need to be postponed. But as long as you’ve still got power or gas, there’s no reason you can’t enjoy some candy. I’ve been in a candy making mood lately and these tend to be at the top of my list whenever I get down to it.

You may have heard of pig candy – which is made coating bacon strips in brown sugar and baking them. Like any bacon lover, I was intrigued enough to try this once. It was tasty, but not worth the mess. The unexpected mess, the grease and excess sugar that come off the bacon, however, was worth the entire experiment. The sugar had caramelized and mixed with the fat to form a deeply flavorful candy-like sauce. It was delicious enough that it inspired me to look up how caramel candies are made to see if I could somehow baconize them, and recreate the accidental candy without having to ruin good bacon in the process.

A basic caramel candy involves a fat, a sugar, and then cream or milk to soften it and make it chewy. Usually the fat is butter and the sugar is granulated white sugar, corn syrup, and maybe brown sugar. But since the bacon fat did such a great job imparting bacon-y flavor to the candy on the baking pan, I knew it would work in candies in place of butter.

How do you get the bacon fat? By cooking bacon, of course. To get the amount of bacon you’ll need for this recipe, you’ll need to have cooked about a quarter pound of bacon, which can be anywhere from 4 to 8 strips depending on the kind and thickness of the cut. Since you don’t need very much, I recommend using the best bacon you can find and afford here. It makes a big difference. And you deserve good bacon. Have yourself some bacon waffles, a bacon scallion quiche, or a deviled egg salad sandwich. Or just eat it. I don’t think I need to tell you how to enjoy bacon.

After a lot of experimenting, and many taste testers, I found that a maple flavor really helped bring out the bacon and deepened the flavor of the caramel.

Recipe: Bacon Caramel Candies

Makes about 100 candies

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup Grade B maple syrup
• 1/8 cup dark corn syrup
• 1/4 cup bacon fat
• 1/2 cup milk
• sea salt
• wax paper
• candy thermometer, if you have one

1. Line a loaf pan, or other pan with a small bottom surface area, with wax paper. 
2. If you have a candy thermometer, attach it to the side of a heavy bottomed pot. Add the sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and dark corn syrup, and set the pot on low heat. Stir until it all dissolves and forms a smooth bubbling liquid. 
3. Add the bacon fat, and keep stirring until the temperature reaches about 230 degrees Fahrenheit. If you aren’t using a thermometer, you can test by dropping bits of the caramel in a small glass of cold water. When it forms threads of sugar, it is ready. Remove from the heat. 
4. Add the milk, stir. Return to the heat and stir until the temperature reaches about 245 degrees Fahrenheit, or forms a ball that stays fairly firm if you roll it between your fingers in a water test. Remove from the heat. 
5. Pour into the wax paper in the loaf pan as quickly as possible, before the caramel starts to harden. Be careful, even though it will begin to harden immediately, it will still not be cool enough to taste. The spoon or spatula you use to get it out of the pot will be especially hot. Sprinkle sea salt on the top of the caramel. 
6. Allow to cool for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Do not refrigerate. When the caramel is cool to the touch, you can begin to cut it. Cut it into small 1 inch x 1/2 inch x 1/2 inch pieces. Wrap each piece in a small square of wax paper and twist the ends. Give them to everyone you know! 

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Syrian-style Baklava (Parade of Pies, Part 5)

**So it’s not a pie in the usual sense, but baklava is pastry stuffed with nuts, sweet syrup, and butter. The pie spirit is there. And really, who would complain about getting baklava?**

Growing up I never knew that there was more than one kind of baklava. The sticky, crispy, little diamonds with pistachio and that hint of rose water were the only ones I knew. Later, I found out that baklava comes in countless shapes and sizes, with different fillings and sweeteners. Every culture that makes it (think Mediterranean) makes it differently. Heck, every family probably makes it differently.

A few years ago, I happened upon a Turkish bakery on the East side of Manhattan that offered about a dozen varieties: baklava filled with pistachios, walnuts, even sour cherries and other dried fruits. Some were shaped like squares, others like small round nests, and still others rolled up like cigars. Jen and I bought two pieces of each to take home and slowly devoured them. They were absolutely delicious, crunchy and sticky sweet, but not the baklava I remembered from childhood.

If you think you don’t like baklava, please try these. The honey flavor that most people associate with what could be a too-sweet dessert is replaced by a lite simple syrup flavored with rose water. When you make them yourself, you can control how much syrup is used, so they don’t have to be too sweet if you don’t want them to be. When I make them, I probably use two-thirds to three-quarters of the syrup most people use. Just enough to flavor the pastry without completely saturating it. This way, they are the perfect complement to a heavy meal., and no one can eat just one.

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Sour Cherry Pie (Parade of Pies, Part 4)

Sour cherries aren’t really in season this time of year, but they can often be found jarred. They lose their characteristic bright red coloring when they are jarred (I believe the bright red “cherry pie filling” that you can find cans of has added coloring to make them look as they do when they are freshly picked). Instead, these have a darker purple coloring, which I associate with the fall and winter. These cherries are preserved in a very light sugar syrup, so they retain their natural tartness without taking on too much extra sweetness.

The tartness of the sour cherries and the lack of a top crust keeps this pie very light tasting, compared with some of the other pies I’ve posted so far. With the depth of flavor this pie packs, you’d be surprised that it is so easy to make. It’s a bit more complicated to make with fresh unpitted cherries, but we’d have to save that excursion for summer anyway.

I was worried about this pie filling having too much spread when cut, so I used some tapioca-based gelatin to make it a bit firmer. I don’t think it was entirely necessary, but it is an option if you want the filling to hold up more on its own.

 

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The Classics: Apple Pie (Parade of Pies, Part 3)

I’m very particular about my apple pie. I used to think that I didn’t like it, but it turned out that I didn’t like how soupy and sweet many apple pies can be. Then I found the joy of baking specifically with apples that could stand up to the heat and retain some firmness. To help the apples hold up, we use a lot of lemon juice and not a lot of sugar. The apples come out tender with full apple flavor, that is enhanced by the other ingredients and not hidden by them. This is an apple pie that can be eaten at any time of day, warm with ice cream or whipped cream, or cold on its own. Have it for breakfast!

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The Classics: Pumpkin Pie (Parade of Pies, Part 2)

Pumpkin pie is a classic Thanksgiving pie, but there’s no reason you can’t have it all year round. During the fall, I usually get tasty pumpkins and squashes on sale, and then I bake and puree the flesh so that I can freeze it and use it all year long. Canned pumpkin is also generally available all year round, and I think it’s a convenient way to have pumpkin, though I prefer to make my own puree when possible. Incidentally, you may have heard that canned pumpkin is sometimes made of other winter squashes like butternut. Different squashes have different flavors and some taste more “pumpkin-y” than those little orange ones we usually associate with this time of year in America. Making the puree myself means I can figure out which flavors I like best, and I have a bit more control over the process. Some squash will be sweeter than others, and some squash may be more watery or stringy, so keep that in mind when experimenting.

Many people use sugar pumpkins for pumpkin pie – these are the smaller, round, orange-skinned pumpkins, not the big jack-o-lantern ones. This year, I found local cheese pumpkins on sale for ridiculously good prices, so I couldn’t resist picking one up. These pumpkins have a very rustic look. Their skin is sort of a pale peach color and they kind of look like a wheel of cheese, which is where their name comes from. The flesh, however, is very bright orange. I’ve used cheese pumpkins before in a pumpkin challah bread recipe (which I might have to try again soon), and I loved it, so I thought it would work well here. Despite the name, it is actually a sweet and flavorful pumpkin that doesn’t taste like cheese.

To prepare a pumpkin puree, wash your pumpkin and twist off the stem if there is still one on it. Hack into manageable pieces with a good heavy knife or cleaver. I hacked my cheese pumpkin into four, but a sugar pumpkin or small squash can usually just be cut in half. Scoop out the seeds – save for roasting and eating later while your pie chills. Place cut site down on a greased baking sheet. Tent with foil and bake in a 350 degree over for 40 minutes or until the flesh can easily be pierced by a fork. Remove from the oven and allow the pumpkin to cool to the touch. Then use a large spoon to scoop the flesh out of the skins. Puree the flesh with your choice of machinery. If the pumpkin seems watery, you can squeeze through a cheese cloth to remove extra liquid, or cook the pumpkin in a sauce pan to let some of the water reduce out. This is a beautiful photo tutorial for how to do this, from a site I thoroughly enjoy.

A note about the picture above:  I had some pumpkin cookie cutters and some extra dough. I thought I’d make some little pumpkin toppers. Next time, I’ll toast them first before adding them to the top of the pie…

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The Classics: Pecan Pie (Parade of Pies, Part 1)

The first pie in the parade is pecan. This pie screams Thanksgiving to me, even more than pumpkin pie. Growing up, I remember there always being a pecan pie on the Thanksgiving dessert table. It was probably especially popular in kosher households because it’s an easy pie to make pareve, or non-dairy, so you can eat it after a feast that includes meat.

It was always one of my favorites because it was nutty and not very very sweet. I think it was probably my introduction to pecans as well (a word, incidentally, that I have extreme trouble saying correctly or consistently to this day – is it puh-kahn, pee-can, pee-kahn? My mouth can never decide in time).

Pecan pie is also one of the easiest pies to make. You can arrange each nut so that they  make a beautiful design, or you can dump the nuts in, as I tend to do. You can crimp the edges of the pie crust fancily, or you can leave torn dough edges for a rustic look. That’s about as complicated as it gets.

The recipe I’ve been using for the last few years kicks it up a notch by adding bourbon, which fits amazingly well with the flavor of the toasted nuts and the syrup. I use a lot because I want to be able to taste it, but you can adjust the amount or skip it entirely to suit your taste and the group who will be eating it. It is delicious but not integral. The original recipe that I got this one from also calls for chocolate chips, which I found wholly unnecessary for a pie that already has plenty of sweetness on its own.

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Lemon Berry Sorbet

Earlier this year, I got an ice cream maker attachment for our stand mixer and I’ve been having fun making different frozen desserts with it. I find that it is more fun to experiment with sorbet rather than ice cream as the results are more reliably edible, due to the simplicity of sorbet chemistry: adding together sugar, fruit and water creates a freezable mixture with a velvety smooth texture.

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Chain-Letter Cinnamon Bread

About six weeks ago, we were gifted a so-called “Amish Cinnamon Bread” yeast starter in a zip-top bag that came along with a somewhat cryptic-sounding recipe. Due to my affinity for baking, I decided to take charge of the project. After waiting ten days and “mushing” the bag everyday, it eventually yielded what it promised – one deliciously moist cake, and four baggies of starter batter for friends.

I couldn’t help but begin to think of this adventure in baking as an edible chain letter, and low and behold, not long after that initial baking and gifting of starters on consenting friends and family, one came back to us last week.

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Apple Pies

For me, fall means apple picking. And apple picking means apple pies! The minute the weather turned crisp, we grabbed some friends and headed upstate to pick as many apples as we could carry. Empires and Jonagolds were ripe in abundance so we filled up mostly on those. Empires have a pure white flesh and are great for eating; they are sweet and tart, and aren’t too firm. Jonagolds are very large, firm, and as the name suggests, golden. They have a starchy flavor that becomes sweet when baked. I like to mix a good baking apple, like Jonagold, with a small amount of a sweeter, softer apple, like Empire, to give my pie fillings some variety of texture.

Apple picking has made me appreciate apple pies all the more. They were never my favorite pies. I get bored of that apple & cinnamon flavor easily. Once I started making them myself, I realized they didn’t have to be sweet, but could be slightly more savory. I usually add a pinch more nutmeg or cloves to my pies and keep the sugar to a minimum.

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