You Want Pies With That? – Football Pie

“Fight ’em till hell freezes over, then fight ’em on the ice.” – Leo “Dutch” Meyer, TCU Head Football Coach 1934-1952

Ahhh, College Football. How I’ve missed you. It’s been a long nine months, but it’s so good to see you once again. I even have season tickets to celebrate our reunion. Nice of me, huh?

Admit it. You knew this was coming. There have been sports reports and interviews, emails and polls… heck, even facebook updates. It’s always inevitable. Fittingly, my good friend Amy, of Sing For Your Supper, chose this fine American tradition as this month’s You Want Pies With That? theme.

And since it’s become quite obvious that I’m a big TCU supporter (Class of ’05, baby!! My nickname is ‘Hornedfroggy’, after all.), this theme is perfect. The pie wasn’t too shabby, either. 😉

Riff Ram Pie
Source: My Baking Heart

4 c sliced fresh plums
1/4 c Splenda for Baking
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 (9″) unbaked deep dish pie shell

Topping:
1/4 c Splenda for Baking
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/3 tsp ground nutmeg
3 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, carefully combine the first six ingredients, then pour into the pie shell. For the topping, whisk Splenda, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg together in a small bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle topping over the filling, then bake for 50-60 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Cover the edges of the crust during the last 20 minutes to prevent burning. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

~

It’s unimaginable, but I know some of you are unfamiliar with our fine traditions. 🙂 So, for those of you out of the loop, here’s our most popular chant (and the inspiration for this lovely pie):

Riff Ram, Bah Zoo
Lickety Lickety, Zoo Zoo
Hoo Wah, Wah Hoo
GIVE ‘EM HELL, TCU!!

See, even SuperFrog likes it…

 

Tuesdays With Dorie – Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

These are seriously, seriously good cookies. I took them to work on Friday as a treat for the ‘going-away’ spread we were having for one of our customer service reps and they were gone within 20 minutes. See what I mean? Just pair them with a good, hot cup of java and you’re good to go.

You can prepare the dough up to two days in advance, then cut ’em up and pop ’em in the oven whenever you’re ready – so easy it’s not funny. 🙂

A big ‘thank you’ to Donna of Life’s Too Short Not to Eat Dessert First for this week’s pick – they were amazing!! The recipe is on Donna’s blog (make these TODAY!) and the other TWD bakers hang out here – check ’em out!

Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies (pg. 125)
Source: Baking – From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

 

Tuesdays With Dorie – Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

One of the things I love about C’s mom, D – she’s a bread connoisseur, such as myself. So, when I saw that this week’s recipe was bread, how could I not make it with her in mind? She was the lucky recipient of this loaf (which we sampled after chips & queso, margaritas and chicken tacos). 🙂 No nuts or fruit add-ins but lots of yummy brown sugar & cinnamon topping – give me a spoon and a bowl of that alone and I’d be one happy girl.

Natalie of Oven Love is this week’s hostess – check her blog for this fabulous recipe and make it immediately!! It’s lovely on it’s own, but it’s even better toasted in the morning with a cappuccino! I’m sure it makes fabulous French Toast, too!!

Oatmeal Breakfast Bread (pg. 44)
Source: Baking – From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

 

Sweet Melissa Sundays – Chocolate Chip Almond Granola

I’ve had an obsession with chocolate chip granola for the last month. Every morning for breakfast, with the exception of a few days, I’ve added in 1/4 cup into my yogurt. It was never really something I liked until I found a few flavors at Market Street made by Feed. So it was obviously fate when I ran out of the stuff this past Friday morning – now it’s on to making my own batches of granola!

To the SMS’ers: you’ve probably noticed that I changed the title and left out the cherries and other fruits. I’ve gotta have my chocolate! 🙂

Major thanks to Wendy of Pink Stripes who has this wonderful recipe on her blog – check it out and the other SMS bakers here!

Chocolate Chip Almond Granola (pg. 34)
Source: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

 

You Want Pies With That? – Personality Pie

What do you say when someone asks you to describe yourself? It’s hard isn’t it? You’ll take all kinds of suggestions from others, but when you have to toot your own horn… it’s overwhelming. At least for me, it is. So, when Branny decided that this month’s YWPWT? theme would be about our beautiful personalities, I was stumped.

My first thought was that I’m sweet. Well, geez, that could be any pie in the world, right (obviously excluding those savory ones)? I also think I’m nice, honest and a good friend. Great! How do you make a pie fitting those attributes?? You can’t. I thought about it for almost a month. I did, however, find something that fit the bill of ‘quick & easy’ (which is always a good thing). I figured if I couldn’t make something that screamed ‘nice’, it could scream ‘chocolate’. 🙂

Chocolate Overload Pie
Adapted from: CakeSpy

1 pre-baked Pie Shell
1 pkg (5.9 oz) instant fat-free, sugar-free chocolate pudding
2 c melted Dorie’s Dark Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream
Whipped cream (for topping)

Beat pudding mix and ice cream with a whisk until fully combined (about 2 minutes). Spoon mixture into pie shell and with an offset spatula, smooth the top so that the mixture is evenly distributed. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours or until set. If desired, top with a dollop of whipped cream before serving.

There ya go… quick & easy. 😉

 

Tuesdays With Dorie – Dark Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream

Chocolate ganache… how I love thee. It’s rich and decadent and oh-so-good. But, to turn it into ice cream? In late summer, 100+ degree heat?? That’s totally pushing it over the top. And top or not, I’ll definitely take it… any time of the year. 🙂

Katrina of Baking and Boys (love her!) has this week’s smooth recipe on her blog. I’m sure she’s jazzed it up quite a bit… she’s such a whiz at doing that! Check her out and the other TWD bakers here!

Dark Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream (pg. 430)
Source: Baking – From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

 

Tuesdays With Dorie – Gingered Carrot Cookies

You know the feeling. The one you get when you’re first trying something, taking that one and only first-impression bite. You dig in, waiting for something fantastic… and you get… something totally unexpected.

This was me on Sunday afternoon. For some reason, I was wanting those warm, rich, spicy notes of a carrot cake. But after I took a bite of these cookies, I didn’t get that. The taste wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t amazing, either. I omitted the coconut, but filled them with double the raisins and walnuts (I’m out of pecans at the moment!) that Dorie called for… hoping that Momma G would take care of the whole plate for me! She wasn’t in love with the raisins, so I don’t think she’ll be taking these home. Maybe I can pawn them off to the order department at work instead. 🙂

Many thanks to Natalia of gatti fili e farina – find the recipe on her blog and check out the other TWD’ers here!

Gingered Carrot Cookies (pg. 162)
Source: Baking – From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

 

Sweet Melissa Sundays – Orange Blueberry Muffins with Pecan Crumble

A little late, but better than never! This week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday (yes, on a Tuesday) is the Orange Blueberry Muffin with Pecan Crumble, chosen by Chaya of My Sweet and Savory.

I loved, loved, loved these. The sweet orange was really prominent, and when layered with the blueberries, it made for an impressive muffin. My favorite was the pecan crumble. I could plop down on the couch with a bowl of that right now – just hand me a spoon & a glass of milk and I’m there! Funny thing, though… I halved the 12-muffin recipe (expecting 6) and I ended up with 12 muffins. Not exactly sure how that happened, but I guess it’s a good thing since these are so delicious! Want to see how the other bakers fared? Visit their blogs by clicking here!

I’m heading to Germany tomorrow (yes, tomorrow, and no, I’m not even close to being packed) with my trusty MacBook in tow. Hopefully, I’ll be updating fairly often with pics of yummy spätzle, sauerbraten, wienerschnitzel, sauerkraut, pommes frites, and those fresh-out-of-the-oven soft pretzels. It is Spargelzeit (White Asparagus season) after all!

And guess what? There are BIG changes in store for ‘My Baking Heart’, so I’d love it if you hung around!!

Orange Blueberry Muffins (pgs. 6-7) with Pecan Crumble (pg. 160)
Source: The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

And finally, I just had to show you the newest addition to my kitchen. For the past seven or eight months, I’ve been helping out with C’s sister’s wedding. Tying ribbons, addressing invitations, shopping for flowers and bringing it all together this past weekend. After all of D and C’s late nights, everything went off without a hitch – it was absolutely gorgeous. So as a token of appreciation, C’s mom, D, gave me this to hold my cookbooks open.

I’m absolutely in love with it (I even cried when I opened the box). Not only is the piece vintage, it’s even more special since she had ‘My Baking Heart’ stamped onto it. If you’d like one of your own, head on over to SpoonerZ on etsy and check them out!

Oh! One last picture before I leave you. It’s from the wedding this past Saturday… barring the raccoon eyes from that afternoon’s round of golf, aren’t we pretty? C definitely cleans up well. 😉

 

You Want Pies With That? – Pizza Pies

Happy Cinco de Mayo, y’all! This month’s ‘You Want Pies With That?’ theme is Pizza Pies, chosen by the lovely Erin of Milk & Honey. And what better way to celebrate Cinco de Mayo than with a Mexican Pizza?! A couple of slices of this paired with a Coconut Margarita and you’re good to go! 🙂

‘Cinco de Mayo’ Mexican Pizza
Adapted from: Gourmet Magazine (dough) & TLC

Dough
2 to 2-1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 ounce package fast-acting yeast
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl whisk together 3/4 cup of flour, yeast, sugar, and 2/3 cup hot water (130 dgrees F). Stir in the oil, 1-1/4 cups of the remaining flour, and the salt and blend the mixture until it forms a dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface, incorporating as much of the remaining 1/4 cup flour as necessary to prevent the dough from sticking, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until it is smooth and elastic.

Alternatively, the dough may be made in a food processor. In a food processor combine 3/4 cup of the flour, yeast, and sugar. With the motor running, add 2/3 cup hot water, and turn the motor off. Add the oil, 1-1/4 cups of the remaining flour, and the salt and process the mixture until it forms a ball, adding more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, if it is too dry, or more flour, 1 tablespoon at time, if it is too wet. Knead the dough by processing it for 15 seconds.

The dough, prepared by either method, may be used immediately, but for better flavor it is best to let it rise once. Put the dough in an oiled bowl and turn it to coat it with the oil. Let the dough rise, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm place for 30 minutes, or until it is double in bulk, and punch it down. This dough may be used instead of the basic pizza dough.

Pizza
Pizza Crust (recipe above)
Nonstick cooking spray
1/2 small white onion, diced
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 can reduced-sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 can diced green chilies
1 can fat-free refried beans
1 c shredded Mexican-blend cheese
3/4 c diced tomatoes
1/2 c frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
1/2 can sliced ripe black olives, drained
Salsa (optional)
Fat-free sour cream (optional)

Prepare pizza crust. Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Spray 2-3 quart saucepan with cooking spray. Place over medium heat. Add onion, chili powder, cumin, cinnamon and 1 tbsp water; stir. Cover and cook 3-4 minutes or until onion is crisp-tender. Stir in black beans and chilies.

Roll dough into a 14″ circle. Transfer dough to pizza pan or stone. Spread refried beans over crust, leaving about an inch around the sides. Top with half the cheese, black bean mixture, tomatoes, corn and olives. Top with remaining cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is a deep golden brown. Let stand a few minutes before slicing. Serve with salsa and sour cream, if desired.

 

Tuesdays With Dorie – Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

Whoa. This is such a fab, fab ice cream… especially when you mix in chunks of chocolate and top it with Brown Sugar-Cinnamon Hot Fudge Sauce. Two thumbs up, I tell ya. There’s a bit of a problem with the caramel seizing up on you when the milk is added, but it eventually smoothes right out. This is definitely one recipe that will be made again (and again and again and again…)

Props to Becky of Project Domestication for this week’s choice! The recipe’s on her blog (plus an amazing amount of gorgeous photography!) and the other TWD bakers will be partying here, so check ’em both out! 🙂

Burnt Sugar Ice Cream (pg. 432)
Source: Baking – From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan