Maple bourbon pecan pie

Sorry, I know I've been MIA for...oh, six months. Had a lot happen in the last year, the biggest thing being that I'm dating someone who is wonderful. So there's that.

I don't have the time right now to do the entries I used to. But we're going to try something new: I'm just going to take a photo (probably Instagram) of what I made and post the link to the recipe. If I can ever get the time in to start writing a lot again, I will. But for now, there's this.

Maple bourbon pecan pie

Crust: Joy of Cooking's pate brisee

Filling: Food Network Magazine 

March baking: Rocky road tart, sweet & salty cookies and chocolate creme pie

I understand that I've kind of fallen off the face of the earth lately. But March was an...interesting month. So, to recap (mostly) everything, I...

 • totaled my car.

• visited two best friends from college in Denver (more pictures from that later).

• had hundreds of dollars stolen from my bank account.

• watched KU make a run all the way to the National Championship game in a "rebuilding" year (I made cake pops for this event, about 150 total, but managed to take pictures every time. That picture of Mass Street counts for that, I guess.)

And that's just a snapshot. So, forgive the absence. 

This rocky road tart jumped out at me when I first looked through Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts book. And lemme tell you, it's as rich (and awesome) as it looks. It's a graham crust filled with mini marshmallows, almonds and chocolate chunks with a chocolate ganache poured over the whole thing. So decadent.

I'm a big fan of salty-sweet, so when I saw these cookies with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and pretzels in them, I knew I wanted to make them. There was a nice combo of flavors with both chips and the pretzels gave a nice crunch.

This is another favorite from Martha's book, the chocolate creme pie. I've made it a couple times on the blog, but it's just too good to pass up. Plus, I almost always have all the ingredients I need! It's pretty darn simple and cuts beautifully.

Happy Veterans Day! Plus a chocolate pistachio tart, blueberry yogurt granola pie and homemade Oreos

I know I start every post with a food picture, and I suppose that's fitting since it's a food blog. But even more important is that today's Veterans Day. In honor of that, some very special photos:

To my Grandpa Hawley, who was in the Army Air Corps during World War II and based in Utah. I got to visit his base just a month ago. He was the next in line to be shipped out to Europe, but luckily wasn't. He mostly flew B-24s and A-25s but also flew some other planes, like the Memphis Belle.

And to my Grandpa Hofmeister, who was already in his 30s when he went to Germany and France under Gen. Patton in World War II. I always remember him as a quiet man, but he saw some crazy stuff when he was overseas. I'm so grateful to have a few records of it. This is my post from last year, that has more photos of both of them.

And finally, to my cousin Jon, who went to Iraq very soon after the U.S. went in there. Sometimes it doesn't cross my mind, but I'm lucky to be able to see him fairly easily now, especially when Aunt Betty, Uncle David and I drop sweets by at his and his fiance's house. For the longest time, we couldn't see him. So happy Veterans Day to all of them.

All right, back to the food. This is one of my most favorite desserts I've ever made. Seriously. Salty+sweet is one of my favorite things, and this chocolate pistachio tart fit the bill. Thank Martha, yet again. The crust is chocolate with chopped pistachios, and then you make the pistachio paste layer (I made a lot more than the recipe called for because it made it a lot easier to spread). Then the top layer is a basic chocolate custard. I think this might be my birthday cake (tart?) next year!

I made that tart at Aunt Betty's, and this second pie we made at her house as well. This one is a yogurt blueberry pie with granola crust. Yet another Martha recipe. The granola we used was from the Merc and it was a maple pecan one, which I think I might use in a future crust. It made for a nice crunch and some good flavor. I think this looks like breakfast, no?

And for my only non-pie-style dessert this week, homemade Oreos. I made these once but was a little too impatient with the dough, I think, and didn't roll it out as well. But I'd forgotten how good these are, and so much better than the commercial versions. The cookies themselves are almost salty, but with the filling, it works out perfectly. I don't have the patience to follow the recipe and let the filling sit for six hours (!) so I let it go for a while and then add in sifted powdered sugar, which makes a more frosting-y texture rather than the ganache, which the recipe wants. I prefer it that way. And so does everyone at work, because I'm at three requests for the recipe. Always good to know people are satisfied.

Apple pie four ways

I've been lucky enough to see two of my favorite TV personalities live in the last week. It's super cool to see people you watch on TV every week who are, in my case, incredibly personable in real life. First up: Donald Glover. If you haven't watched Community, go watch it, right now. This is a preview of Troy (Donald) and his BFF Abed, including Troy and Abed in the Morning. Anyway, Donald came to  KU, and I went to see him with my friend Jon, who started me on the show. He was hysterical, and his standup act was incredible. And he came back to do an encore, which he said he'd never done before. That was the coolest, because he answered questions from the crowd, did the biblioteca rap and even told us he'd ask if he could wear a KU shirt on the show. He's my new favorite person.

And then on Monday, I saw Bobby Flay! He is easily my favorite celebrity chef. I've been to both his Mesa Grill restaurant in Vegas and Bar Americain in NYC, twice at each. And they're both amazing. Flay came to speak about his new Bar Americain cookbook, which has some pretty awesome-looking recipes in it (I plan to make his red velvet cake for my birthday this weekend!). He was also incredibly personable, which great. He talked about how he was a high school dropout, but still succeeded in the culinary world. He told some great stories, like how his wife, who is known for her role as a ADA in Law & Order: SVU, wakes up at least three days a week craving chicken. And how he learned so much in Jonathan Waxman's kitchen in one of his early jobs. I can't wait for more episodes of Throwdown with Bobby Flay to come on! 

So for some reason, I had a huge desire to make apple pies this month. It started with this one. Apples are in season, but I've always sucked at crusts. I've made a few with Aunt Betty, but they always ended up less-than-round and falling apart. So I decided to challenge myself and make a basic Joy of Cooking apple pie, with Kelly's assistance. I made and rolled out the crust and used an apple cookie cutter, and actually got it round and flaky! Apparently all that practice helped. It was awesome. So I'm no longer afraid of pie. Which meant Aunt Betty and I decided to make three more.

This was the first of three pies I made with Aunt Betty last weekend on our most recent baking extravaganza. The original plan was to only do two, but hey, why not three? This is a cheddar-crusted apple pie courtesy of Martha, which I've always wanted to make. I'd never eaten cheddar with apple pie till Cathie, who always paired the two. They're actually a really great combo — the salty of the cheddar offsets the sweet of the apples. So in the crust, it's a perfect match. The cutout top was made with this awesome crust cutter I just got.

The second pie of the day, and third overall, was an apple crumb pie, another Martha recipe I've always wanted to make from her Baking Handbook I got for graduation. It's got an almond crumb crust and a whole bunch of apples underneath. You slice the apples so they look pretty, like you can see in the photo at the top. Interestingly enough, this sliced the nicest of all the pies. Definitely a different take on a classic.

The last pie we decided to make on a whim: apple cider pie. We used Louisburg Apple Cider, the local favorite from the mill I visited a couple weeks ago. This filling was actually my favorite, I think because the cider gave it a really tart, pronounced apple flavor. Pair this filling with the cheddar crust, and I think I'd have the perfect apple pie. I'm definitely trying it soon.

To Michigan and Mom: Chocolate cream pie, chocolate meringue kisses and raspberry lemonade cupcakes

I swear, I'm bad luck on a plane. Or more like, in the terminal waiting for a plane. I went to Michigan to visit Mom this weekend...and ended up being in Wisconsin overnight with a hotel voucher that didn't work. A fan was broken in my plane from KC, and I'm pretty sure more than half our plane missed their connections. If I'd stayed in KC and flown out the next morning, I would have left the airport at 5:45 a.m. I don't know if this is well-known (it is to all my friends), but that time only exists to me if I'm still up from the night before. So Milwaukee it was. To their credit, Frontier was very, very helpful. The woman helping us, Cat, was incredibly chill. Go Cat! Anyway, around 11, I got to the hotel and spent the evening at the bar with my fellow travelers.

This is Lacey. She greeted me when I finally got to Grand Rapids. So did my childhood cat Ziggy and Mom's newer cat, Salem. During the weekend, we went shopping to my favorite food specialty stores up there, went to New Holland Brewpub and had a taster flight of beer (Ichabod Pumpkin Ale was my favorite!) and went to my favorite restaurant there, Graydon's Crossing, which is a combo of colonial English and Indian food and one massive beer list. All in all, a fun trip.

A few fun facts about my mom: she loves chocolate, she sucks at technology and she isn't a baker. So when I visit, she likes me to bake so she can have some and share some with her friends too. First on the list was chocolate cream pie, which I'd made once before at Aunt Betty's. It's from Martha Stewart's new Pies and Tarts book, and it actually holds its shape really well, courtesy of a lot of cornstarch and gelatin. Oh, and it's got lots of chocolate.

Then, naturally, I had some leftover egg whites, so I had to use them, right? In come the chocolate meringue kisses. I've never made chocolate ones before, but I have done some other flavored ones. These honestly tasted like hot chocolate to me, and they were divine. And more chocolate for mom.

And I didn't want to do just chocolate and of course had to make cupcakes, so I did raspberry lemonade ones. It's starting to get fall-like outside, so I'm trying to get in my last summery desserts. This is a lemon cupcake soaked with a raspberry lemonade syrup with raspberry lemonade icing. On top I put a fresh raspberry and a candied lemon peel. Apparently Mom's coworkers liked them.

It was a nice weekend, although cut short because of the darn airplane. Well, here's to hoping my next trip goes better. I'm officially less than a month from visiting Keane in Salt Lake City. Woo hoo!

(Posting to Hoosier Homemade's Cupcake Tuesday.)

Slice of summer: Peach galette, Mississippi mud pie and scones

I'm not sure I've ever mentioned my love of Muppets. Disney movies, sure, but Muppets are right up there. I still remember seeing Muppets in Space in theaters with my mom as a kid, and seeing a friend from school. I think she was super sick, and I remember being really nervous I'd catch her cold. Anyway, I own all the Muppet movies on DVD, and I have always especially loved Muppet Treasure Island. A few years ago, they came out with Muppet Wizard of Oz, and honestly, it kind of sucked. So the November release of The Muppets, complete with Amy Adams, Jason Segal and a new soundtrack of covers of Muppet song, is pretty exciting. The music video for OK Go's cover of the Muppet Show theme song is outstanding. And the Fray's cover of Mahna Mahna is amazing too. So tonight, I start rewatching Muppet movies. So there, another facet of my dorkiness is revealed :)

Ever seen cinnamon chips at a grocery store? If you like them, and you do, I suggest picking up multiple bags of them, like I did this weekend. There's only one store in Lawrence I've seen that has them, and Aunt Betty and I went there for that and chocolate wafer cookies. It's worth it, though, for these cream scones. Cinnamon chips and pecans are perfect, and they aren't too heavy. Good thing I'm stocked up for future batches. This recipe was given to me by a local rep from the sheriff's office, and it's the best (and easiest) scone I've ever had.

I feel like I always want to make fruit desserts, but by the time I figure out what I want to make, the best fruit is out of season. So I was glad when Aunt Betty suggested we make this peach galette, a pretty easy dessert for how pretty it looks. Pastry is my least favorite thing in baking, I think, but luckily, with a galette, you're okay leaving it less-than-perfect. After all, a crooked crust doesn't affect the taste!


And continuing to make my way through Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts book, we decided to make Mississippi mud pie. Apparently it collapses when you take a slice, but I guess it's based off mud, right? True to form, though, every pie out of that book has been excellent so far. I'm thinking of making the chocolate cream pie over Labor Day weekend for when I visit Mom up north. That, and some very chocolate-y cupcakes. Any ideas?

Butterbeer cupcakes, fruit pie and red velvet holiday cupcakes

In the last few weeks, I've been to the lake for the Fourth of July, packed up my entire house and moved. I took a couple days off of work, and with the help of my dad, stepmom, aunt and uncle, moved to a city about an hour from where I lived. My mom and her boyfriend stayed behind to clean my old house while the rest of us loaded stuff into what looked like far too small an apartment. In fact, it is not. There's lots of nice nooks and crannies for my stuff. It's not quite put together yet, but apparently this stuff takes time. And now my commute has been cut down from one hour to about five minutes! So yes, I've been absent from here for a bit, but I promise it was for a good reason!

So that means a couple of my desserts this week were for Fourth of July celebrating, like this fruit pie. I've never made it before, but Aunt Betty suggested it. It was a basic sugar cookie dough with a topping made with cream cheese, whipped cream and sugar. Pretty basic, but very tasty, and an excellent way to use fresh fruit from the summer.

For the Fourth, I wanted to make red velvet cupcakes, but lemme tell you, these were not easy cupcakes. The thing about camp is that it's relaxed, and you don't stay there full time, so you don't have all the ingredients needed for things. We have a neighbor, Eddie Mae, who cooks a lot, and thank goodness for her. I think I went to her house three separate times for these cupcakes. I needed a cupcake tin, and then buttermilk and corn starch (to make my own cake flour!), and then more vegetable oil. Luckily, after all that, they turned out quite well!

These I made as my first cupcakes in my new apartment! I'm still learning the oven, so it's going to take lots of practice. They're butterbeer cupcakes, in honor of Harry Potter. No, I haven't seen the new movie yet. I'm rereading the whole series so I can remember the story better first, and I'm on book three. So just give me some time :) These cupcakes were wonderful, and even the non-butterscotch lovers liked them! The cake was a mix of cream soda (mmmmmm!) with vanilla and butter flavoring, and a nice butterscotch icing and butterscotch ganache.

(Posting these cupcakes on Cupcake Tuesday!)

Celebration summer: cake pops, strawberry cupcakes and pineapple pie

I've been feeling very grown up lately. There's a lot of really positive things going on that have led to that, but at the same time, I've had some harsh reminders of how quickly life changes. The nice thing is that with the bad, always comes good. And one of my latest pieces is really friggin' exciting: I'm going to be a maid of honor again! I told you a couple weeks ago that one of my best friends, Tara, got engaged, she asked me to be her maid of honor. I could NOT be more excited! She and her fiancé love each other very much, and I can't wait to see them get married. Luckily, I've got some time to prepare for it!


Most of the desserts on this post were for some sort of celebration, like Tara's wedding. Except, of course, this one. This one I just made because I'm a sucker for recipes that get tweeted, especially by a celebrity. I loved Michelle Branch as a kid, and still do. I follow her on Twitter, and she tweeted about this pineapple brown sugar pie. I love pineapple. But I will admit, this pie worried me at first. It was pretty runny when I took it out to put the crumble on top. I will also admit: I cheated on the crust. I bought it. Sue me. Anyway, it tasted great. I'm making this again. Maybe for the Fourth.

Celebration #1: Birthday cupcakes for a family member of someone at work. I've always wanted to make these strawberry cupcakes with strawberry meringue frosting from Martha Stewart. Geri at work asked me to make strawberry pink cupcakes, so I did! There are two packs of strawberries in the whole batch. Very, very tasty.

And the final celebration: birthday cake pops. My friend Nick was one of the first people I ever did a birthday sweet for. Last year I made him Fruity Pebbles cupcakes. Since last year, he has discovered cake pops and fallen in love. He requested two flavors, chocolate and yellow cake. That results in about 100 cake pops, so I took half to my new newsroom. They went over well there. And when I delivered these to Nick last night, he ate about four right away. I'd say they went over well with him, too!

(Posting this on Cupcake Tuesday!)

Chocolatey goodness: Peanut butter chocolate pie, chocolate-pistachio cookies and chocolate cake pops

Getting a new job made me feel really grown up. I bought a couch a couple weeks ago; so did that. A brand new couch! But a few things have happened in the last couple weeks that I really feel are make me feel like an adult. First, one of my best friends, Tara, got engaged. I wasn't surprised about it, but instead super excited (ask Kelly, I squealed). Tara's fiance makes her happy, and that makes me happy. The other big thing actually hasn't happened yet. It's my first friend having a baby! Sarah, who I had a baby shower for, is due to have baby David in a week! I can't believe my friends have progressed to the age where they're planning families, but it's upon me. I'm still a ways away from that stage myself, but I'm so very happy for them all!


Speaking of being happy for friends, this is Guy, my friend Nick's brother. See how happy he is? That's because for Guy's birthday, Nick had me make him chocolate cake pops. The boys at that house LOVE cake pops. I'm pretty sure they ration them so they don't eat them too fast and get sick. Either way, I like knowing they love what they're eating.

My third pie I've made from Martha Stewart's Pies and Tarts is this chocolate peanut butter pie. I love me some peanut butter, but man was this puppy rich. I loved the crust, which you make with brown sugar rather than normal sugar. It helped offset the peanut butter a bit...except maybe it shouldn't be offset at all? Either way, it was tasty.

I know these look kind of weird, but honestly, they're one of the best cookies I've had. They're pistachio chocolate, so a great salty-sweet flavor. They end up looking like a truffle, I think. They're actually piped rounds sandwiched around a chocolate filling, then covered in chocolate. They take a lot of work, but for pistachio lovers, they're totally worth it!

Lake baking: Scones, chocolate cream pie and rhubarb upside down cake

My first baking sign of spring: rhubarb! Other great things about this season include all the good stories I've got coming up, the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale (May 14, mark your calendars!), a few weddings, some shows at Starlight... I'm not sure there's anything not great about spring/summer. Except maybe allergies. Oh, yeah, and another great thing: the lake.

As you can see, Daisy enjoys a good jaunt on the boat at high speed. Despite some chilly weather, I went to the lake last weekend to spend time with dad, Cathie and grandma. I read a book, went out on the boat, watched some movies, fed my family desserts. Not sure it gets much better than that!

For breakfast, scones. I got this recipe from the public information officer for our local sheriff's, actually. It comes up fairly regularly that I like to bake a lot, and he gave me what he said was a foolproof recipe for scones. Turns out, it is perfect. I sometimes don't like scones, because they can be so heavy with all that butter, but these were made with cream and so much better. He also recommended cinnamon chips, which I'd never used before. One field trip to Checkers took care of that. These were great and easy. Definitely making again.

So, from reading this blog, you've probably gathered I love (most) Martha Stewart recipes. When her new pie cookbook was released, I bought it immediately. Chocolate cream pie was the first recipe in the book, and it looked like a darn good place to start. Lemme tell you, even as someone who's not a huge fan of chocolate, this was divine. I can't wait to make more recipes in there!

And last, but not least, rhubarb upside down cake. You know, that cake I set on fire last year? It was almost exactly a year ago! Well, no fire this time. The rhubarb was very red, so it made a beautiful cake. The cake itself has a hint of orange, and then there's a crumble base. I think rhubarb is kind of nature's sweet tart, and it makes awesome desserts. I've got some left over, so I might make strawberry-rhubarb ice cream, or something. All in all, I'd say my family was fed pretty well this weekend!

Pride and Prejudice and sweets: Cannolis, butterscotch cupcakes and lime pie

My senior year of high school, I had to do a book report on a book on the AP list. I chose "Pride and Prejudice" because I'd always heard so much about it. I still have the copy I read; it looks like it's sprouted sticky notes. I marked all these different themes in it for my paper, but I remember I also had to read it with a dictionary in the other hand. I'd never seen the word condescend used as a verb, among many other older words. The other day, I found out my new phone has a Kindle on it, and decided to read the book again. I'd forgotten how wonderful the story is! Elizabeth kicks ass, Miss Bingley is truly despicable, Mr. Darcy grows on you, Mr. Wickham's favor recedes. It bears mentioning that "Pride and Prejudice" is one of my top 3 movies, too, and it's funny that I pick up when quotes were moved to different characters. But the feeling of the story stayed the same. But I'm proud of myself; this time I don't need a dictionary! I'd forgotten why I loved the story, but I'm happy to say it's a top 3 book as well. Very satisfying.

One of my baking goals was a cannoli. After having one with my mom in NYC, and having her say she'd never seen one before (totally not true, as proven by her friend Merilee), Aunt Betty and I decided to make them soon after I got back. For these, we used a cinnamon cannoli shell recipe that we made in my pizzelle maker. It was kind of assembly-line style, with me cooking the shells and Aunt Betty holding them in the circular shape. Inside we did a ricotta-sugar mixture, with chocolate chips and pecans. They were excellent. Also, this completed one of my baking goals for this year. Woo hoo!


Another NYC-inspired dessert, one of the best sweets I had up there was a butterscotch cupcake from Crumbs. The cake was vanilla but the icing itself was flavored with butterscotch. That can be a pretty overpowering flavor, but just in the icing was perfect. For this one I used my favorite yellow cake recipe with the butterscotch icing from this cupcake recipe. It meant making butterscotch from scratch, like browned butter plus brown sugar and cream and all that. I think I might have a new frosting! (P.S. - submitted this over at Hoosier Homemade's Cupcake Tuesday!)


Then a few days ago Aunt Betty sent me a recipe for this lime pie. It was a little different, because the crust had toasted pecans in it. The filling was super easy: lime juice, lime zest, cream cheese and sugar. Lemme tell you though, I found all my hangnails squeezing those limes. Ouch! It took a while for this to set, but it was a great citrus-y pie. Even though it's cold and rainy outside, I refuse to think it's almost spring!

Daring Bakers' challenge: Crostata

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Okay, I won't lie, I don't really get crostata. Not that it's hard, but what makes it different from a normal pie or tart. Apparently it's Italian, especially the pasta frolla, which is the crust. It's pretty simple, so that was nice. Just throw some ingredients in the food processor, knead it a bit and you're done. You're supposed to make it in a tart pan, but I don't have one, so I used a pie pan.


Aunt Betty and I made this earlier this month, the same time as the pecan pie cupcakes and buckeyes. We didn't have a solid plan for a filling, but she had some cherry preserves she'd made earlier in September from their cherry trees out back. It turned out to be the perfect filling! Some of the other bakers did some crazier fillings, like a roasted beetroot and chilli chocolate crostata with a charred carrot lattice, or some savory options. I don't think I'm that adventurous with desserts.

But now it's time to start thinking of Christmas-themed desserts. I'm hoping the December challenge will fit that role. I definitely have to make pizzelles, something I make every year. My Aunt Mary K's mom Mildred makes them every year, and I miss them so much I've started making them. I might even transform them into a Christmas cannoli. On top of that, I'm starting Christmas decorating and movie-watching. Count for "White Christmas" (my Christmas movie of choice): 3. And it's not even December!