Coconut Custard Pie

 

“Claudia passes me a slice of pie. I’m too full. I politely refuse, she insists I taste. When I come to, having no idea that I am lying on the floor with a huge smile on my face, Claudia is beaming.”

~  Andrew Zimmern

I love coconut custard pie, but I've never made it because I've been afraid nothing will live up to my childhood memories of my mother's pie.  But Andrew Zimmern's comment gave me the encouragement I needed to try this recipe.  Not realizing a crust recipe came with the pie recipe, I used an old standard instead, swapping out the shortening for butter.  (They were pretty similar anyway.)  Then I blended it with the dough remnants from this Sweet Green Tomato Pie (which, of course, left me with remnants of this dough.)

As much as I love pie, I wasn't prepared to be left with a whole one, so I cut the recipe in half.  One reviewer said she always has too much filling, but once again my shell could have used more.  As with this half-sized pumpkin pie, I used an 8¼" x 1¼" Marie Callender's pie pan, but next time I'm going to use a pan that's every so slightly smaller and see if that will fill the shell without overflowing. 

Here's what I used:

Filling
par-baked pie crust (recipe below)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut (3 ounces) 

In a medium bowl, whisk the sugar with the butter, then whisk in the eggs. Add the buttermilk, vanilla, and salt and whisk until incorporated. Stir in the coconut.  Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 40 to 45 minutes 45 to 50 for a full recipe), until the custard is set and golden brown on top.  

 

Pie crust
1¼ cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter
3 - 4 tablespoons ice water

Prepare dough (for a mealy crust) and chill for at least an hour.  Preheat the oven to 375°. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Cover the rim with strips of foil and bake in the lower third of the oven for about 20 minutes, until the crust is barely set. Remove the parchment and pie weights and bake for 5 minutes longer, until the crust is just set but not brown. Poke the bottom of the crust lightly to deflate it if it is puffed. Let cool; leave the foil strips on the rim. Lower the oven temperature to 350°.  Proceed with filling directions.

Well, if nothing else, this pie will fill your house with the heavenly scent of buttery sweetness. It was near impossible waiting for it to cool! But it was worth the wait. This really is a delicious pie. Not the same as my mom's, but in the absence of hers, not a bad substitute. And so easy to make! Just blend everything in a Pyrex and pour it in to the shell. (It's really the crust that's the fussy part -- I'm not sure you could get away with not pre-baking it and having as good of flavor.)

Conclusion: Definitely a keeper! Way too easy and too tasty not to have in your repertoire. If I were to make any improvement, I might reduce the sugar slightly. For most people, and if you're having just a standard slice (and not a quarter pie as I tend to do), it's fine as is. But if you prefer desserts a little less sweet, perhaps cut the sugar back 2 - 4 tablespoons, or use unsweetened coconut. Also, even with par-baking the crust and finishing with a browned bottom, the crust seemed a little doughy on the bottom. Not sure how to remedy that-- perhaps brushing it with egg white to seal it, as I did for Cafe Pasqual's pumpkin pie. (Or making a mealy crust instead of a flaky one, which I've added to the instructions. I should have done that anyway.) Lastly, don't use salted butter -- it makes the flavor too caramelly and intense.

Recipe:  Coconut Custard Pie via Food and Wine, courtesy of  T.W. Graham & Co., McClellanville, SC; pastry for single-crust pie via Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, ninth edition, 1985

Seedy Cranberry Muffins

I'm trying to use up the rest of the buttermilk I bought to make leek and potato soup.  This recipe seemed appropriately seasonal, but I just had to change the name from "Cranberry Seed Muffins" -- at first I thought they were made with cranberry seeds, which, while probably healthy, sounded tedious.

This recipe was supposed to make 12 muffins; I halved the recipe and ended up with 8.  Here's what I used:

3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/4 cup oat or wheat bran
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/6 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/6 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated orange rind
1 egg
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons buttermilk
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup fresh cranberries
additional oat bran, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds

Set oven to 375F.  Whisk together all-purpose and whole wheat flours, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda and salt; whisk in sunflower and pumpkin seeds.  In separate bowl, whisk together granulated sugar, brown sugar, orange rind, and egg.  Add the buttermilk and butter, whisking between each addition until combined.  Stir in flour mixture in 2 additions just until nearly combined, then stir in cranberries.  Spoon into 6 to 8 greased muffin cups, then sprinkle with oat bran, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds.  Bake in 375°F oven until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool in pan on rack.

The two muffins on the left front were baked in silicone cups and are noticeably paler

 

These took longer to put together than I had expected.  With three types of grains, two types of sugar, two leavening agents, and three mix-ins (plus orange zest, plus sprinkles), this is a recipe that really benefits from mise en place.  (Not my habit.  The first thing I did was melt the butter so it would be cool, but it took me so long to put all the rest of the recipe together that by the time I needed it, it had hardened again.  So I stuck it in the microwave for a couple seconds, at which point it exploded... but that's another story.) Other than the long ingredient list, though, these came together easily.

I don't know how you'd get only 6 muffins from this recipe... I even over-filled the cups.  (I do have a muffin tin with wider but shallower cups -- perhaps I could have gotten more piled up in one of those.)  I had greased only 6 of the cups in my aluminum tin, so for the other two I pulled out my silicone muffin cups.  I don't like the idea of baking in silicone, but I love the muffin cups because the muffins always pop right out and they're SO much easier to clean.  They've always seemed to bake fine, but side-by-side I noticed a big difference in the results between the silicone and the aluminum.  The silicone-baked muffins were visibly paler, both on the bottoms and the tops, and consequently were lacking the caramelized edges.  They also seemed slightly underbaked, slightly gummy.  (Perhaps it had something to do with the silicone cups not fitting fully into the aluminum, so they were halfway suspended.)  The taste and texture of the aluminum-baked muffins were far superior.  Now, would the silicone-baked muffins have improved had I left them to bake for another couple minutes?  Something to consider.  Curiously, the domes that overflowed the cups and baked against ungreased metal released easily, while the base of the muffins, within the greased cup, were a little difficult to get out.

Conclusions:  These had great flavor and texture, lightly sweet, contrasting nicely with the bright cranberries.  I wasn't big on the pepitas, more the texture than the flavor, and the sunflower seeds were lost.  I think I'd skip both next time and just use walnuts-- which would make them very similar to this Cranberry Orange Quickbread-- and maybe poppy seeds.  (I wonder if I could get some cornmeal into the recipe--- that might be tasty too.)

Recipe:  Cranberry Seed Muffins via Forgotten Bread, revised slightly from Canadian Living, Sept 2010

Note:  The original recipe by Canadian Living includes both the oat bran and the wheat bran, which would change the texture of the final product.  Otherwise the recipes are identical.

Cinnamon Roll Mug Cake

So not pretty.

Why are these called "mug cakes"?  Or, if they're going to call them that, why do the recipes always direct you to use a "large" mug?  I don't make them very often, but without fail I end up with something that barely wets the bottom of my rather standard-sized mug.  These are really "cup" cakes, as in a tea or coffee cup that maxes out at about 6 ounces and most people don't even own, not the mugs we're used to using for our hot beverages that are at least 12 ounces and more.  (Okay, I just double checked the recipe and she doesn't specify a "large" mug.  Mea culpa.)  I added up the quantity of the ingredients, which came to a little over 1 cup, accounted for some rise and figured my standard mug would work nicely.  But as you can see, it fills the mug only about half way.  It's more than just a disappointment visually -- I think having so much rim above the batter affects the way it bakes.

If you truly want a mug of cake, I recommend doubling this recipe.  But I made it as is, and here's what I used:

2 tablespoons applesauce*
1 tablespoon vegetable oil clarified butter
1 tablespoon buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon (scant) salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 dash ground nutmeg (optional)

Cream Cheese Icing
1 tablespoon cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese, softened
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon milk (optional)

Combine the icing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk with a fork until smooth; set aside. 

Combine the applesauce, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and brown sugar in a mug and whisk or stir together until combined.  Add the dry ingredients and combine well.  Microwave mixture on high power for 1 minute, then check cake for doneness.  If it is not fully cooked, microwave for an additional 15 seconds.  Serve warm, topped with Cream Cheese Icing.

*I didn't have applesauce, so I peeled and chopped a small apple and microwaved until very soft, then mashed with a fork.  I added a little water to loosen it up, but it still wasn't as wet as commercial applesauce.  

My oil smelled a little off, so I melted clarified butter to use instead.  (Oil makes for a moister standard cake than butter.)  I didn't use the nutmeg because I've never put nutmeg in a cinnamon roll.  I had only two tablespoons of liquid, plus the apple, when I added the flour, and I ended up with a stiff paste.  I made the mistake of adding a little more liquid; I should have waited, because it loosened up considerably after I stirred in the sugar.  I've rearranged the directions so you have all the liquids together before adding the dry ingredients.  (It also makes it easier to mix completely when the liquid is on the bottom.)  And yes, you do need all that cinnamon.  However, unless you want to swirl a fancy design with the icing like the creator did, you might not need the milk in the icing.  (Mine turned out runny.)

Conclusion:  The flavor on this was really good, but the texture was terrible:  thick, heavy, and gummy.  I blame myself for not following the recipe properly and for not baking it long enough.  (The skewer came out clean, but it turned out it was because I had a thick gum that was solidifying.)  I very likely had too much liquid, and I might have fussed with it for too long after the baking powder went in.  (I'm not sure how much of a problem that might have caused.)  One of the best things about mug cakes, though, is that it's so easy to try again.

Recipe:  Cinnamon Roll Mug Cake via Cooking Classy

Día de Muertos! Pan de Muerto

 

In spite of my recipes from New Mexico and from international cookbooks, I have only one recipe in my collection for Pan de Muerto.  It's in the November 2004 issue of New Mexico magazine, but reprinted from Kippy Nigh's A Taste of Mexico.  I had concerns about the recipe, particularly the amount of liquid and the high quantity of rich ingredients.  In addition, many reviews of the cookbook stated that measurements were way off, furthering my concern with quantities.  I looked up a few more recipes on line to compare, but in the end decided to work my way through the recipe I already had.  (What's the point of keeping all these books and magazines if I'm just going to go on-line all the time?)

My first concern was she listed no sugar other than what's used to proof the yeast.  The second was she uses no salt.  Then there was the large amount of eggs, cream, milk, and butter, although I could see she compensated with a large quantity of yeast.  (Still, it sounded way too wet.)  I proceeded with caution and made a few adjustments along the way.  For starters, I cut her recipe in half and adjusted her odd measurements (1/2 quart of milk?) to more common measurements.  Here's what I used, with my changes in italics and strikeout:

1 scant tablespoon dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 tablespoon teaspoon brown sugar
4½ - 5 cups all purpose flour
3/8 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cream or full-fat yogurt
2 eggs, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature
grated zest of 1/2 one orange (about 1 tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon anise seed
1 1/4 cup warm milk, approximately
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water
pinch of salt
butter and sugar for decorating (optional)

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with the teaspoon of sugar and allow to proof.  In a mixing bowl, combine 4½ cups of flour, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, yogurt, eggs, egg yolk, orange zest, anise seed, and the proofed yeast mixture; mix well either with your hands or a kneading hook, adding milk or more flour as necessary to bring the mixture to a soft dough consistency.  Knead until the dough has become somewhat springy, then add in the butter 1 - 2 tablespoons at a time, kneading well between each addition.  Continue to knead the dough until it's smooth and can be shaped into a tight ball, about 15 minutes.  Place the ball of dough in an oiled bowl and allow to rise, covered, in a warm place until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.  Turn out onto a board and knead briefly to release the excess gas.

To shape the loaves, divide the dough in half.  Using one of the halves, cut off about 3-4 tablespoons of dough and shape into a small ball.  Cut off about another 1/3 cup to roll out two logs for "bones", shaping them as desired.  Shape the remaining dough into a tight ball and place on a greased baking sheet.  (Be sure to leave room for the dough to rise.)  Mix the beaten egg with the tablespoon of water and brush the larger dough ball with a cross, then place the "bones" where you've placed the egg wash.  Brush the top of the loaf where the bones cross and place the small dough ball there.  Repeat with the second half of the dough.  Cover lightly and allow to rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.  Preheat the oven to 350F.  When the loaves have nearly doubled in size, about 15 minutes later, add the pinch of salt to the egg wash and brush the loaves all over.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, checking after 20 minutes, until golden brown.  Cool completely on a rack.  If desired, brush the cooled loaves with softened butter, then sprinkle with sugar.

This turned out well; I was happy with
the flavor and the texture.  The dough was

very soft, but not sticky as long as I didn't fool with it too long.  But still, a bit difficult to work with, and ended up being so soft that my loaves slid sideways a bit.  The recipe could probably do with a little less dairy.  None of the other recipes used cream or yogurt and most didn't use milk.  However, a comment on the recipe from Mexico in My Kitchen asked about using all butter instead of lard or vegetable shortening; the author responded that it was fine to do, but the bread might not be as soft.  Since I didn't want to use lard or vegetable shortening either, I knew the milk products would help produce a soft loaf.

Conclusion:  I was happy with the results, but I can't recommend this recipe because it required too many adjustments.  Next time I'll try a different one.

Recipes:  Pan de Muerto from A Taste of Mexico by Kippy Nigh, with tips on technique from Mexico in My Kitchen.  Also referenced, the recipes from The Spruce Eats and allrecipes.