Williams-Sonoma Mini Pie Maker

I love Williams-Sonoma and as always, they have their finger on the pulse of culinary trends.  Pie is the new cupcake and pie shops are popping up as fast as cupcakes shops in 2007.  I had to have one and since Christmas they have been sold out.  Well they are back in stock and my husband ordered one for me very recently as a gift and I love it!  It will take some perfecting with the crust but I think will definitely be a party pleaser.

It makes 4 mini pies in 8-15 minutes which is fabulous.  The maker comes with 2 cutters, one for the bottom crust and one for the top.  1/4 a cup of filling is all it requires and you are good to go!  One of the hassles of making pie is to have a perfect crust and this is no different.  However, making smaller pies and therefore rolling out smaller rounds of crust leave some room for error.  What is interesting is that they Breville cookbook suggest using regular pie crust for the bottom and puff pastry dough for the top.  I'm not sure exactly why that is, I believe puff pastry cooks faster than regular pie crust.  I used puff pastry for the bottom as well is some pies and I felt that combination yielded the best results.  

I made chicken pot pie, bacon mushroom pie, and quiche in this wonderful little machine and it's awesome the variety of pies one can make.  The machine is easy to clean with an easy wipe down.  I'm usually not a big fan of single use tools, but imagine all the types of pie you could try!  I highly recommend this pie maker!

Samoa Cookie Pie

There is that magical time of year when little girls so innocent and sweet offer delicious treats.  They will give a wicked little grin of victory when you succumb to temptation and hand over $4 for 15 delicious little cookies.  Is it the cookie itself or the hurried feeling of a limited time offer that make these little cookies seem so much more delicious than they are?  I can never be sure but every year I looked forward to these tables set up in front of my grocery store and every year I look for the Samoa cookie (or Carmel Delite, depending on the distributor).  It is a popular cookie and having it once a year simply isn't enough.  I decided I needed to make it, but in pie form.

My sister-in-law and I love pies.  It's the obsession du jour and we would love nothing better than to open our own pie shop out in wine country.  Until then, we are dedicated to finding ten perfect pie recipes.  This one is one we concocted ourselves.  The flavors are spot on, tasted just like the cookie, and even though we might tweak it a little as we go, this pie needless to say, is AMAZING.

Samoa Pie
Crust
1 package Lorna Doone shortbread cookies
1 stick of butter, melted
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Run these cookies through a food processor.  Crushing by hand isn't as effective because the consistency needs to be very fine in order for the crust to hold together with the butter.  Mix butter and cookie crumbs and form a crust.  Bake at 350 degrees for about half an hour.  When the crust has set and cooled, gingerly brush the melted chocolate on top of the crust.  Do this lightly and evenly as possible, some loose crumbs may stick to the brush, that's okay.

The Filling
2 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
4 large egg yolks
3 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
pinch of salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, toasted
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 tbsp confectioners sugar

Bring the coconut milk to just a boil in a medium sauce pan.  Remove from heat.

Beat sugar and egg yolk with an electric mixer until it increases three times its original volume.  Add flour, cornstarch, and salt.  Continue to mix and slowly add the coconut milk. Return the mixture to heat and cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly.  Once it begins to boil, let it thicken for another minute while continuously whisking it.  Remove from heat and add butter, 3/4 cup coconut, and 1/2 tsp vanilla.

Let the mixture become room temperature and cover with plastic wrap.  Make sure the wrap is touching the cream as to not let the cream be exposed to air and develop a film.  Refrigerate for 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Beat the confectioner sugar with the cream until soft peaks form.  Add remaining vanilla.  Fold into the cream.  Transfer the cream to the crust and smooth with a spatula.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 4 hours.

Sprinkle remaining coconut on top the the pie. Using 1/4 cup sugar,  make caramel sauce.  Drizzle the caramel over the pie.

This pie was so delicious!  The key in this is making sure the cream is a bit more thick than you'd like before you take it off the heat.  Adding the whipped cream lightens it but also thins it out.  Next time I will add thick drizzles of chocolate on top so it more closely resembles the cookie.  Try this pie, it's definitely a winner!

Snickers Pie

In celebration of my husband and the month of his birth, I made Martha Stewart's version of a Snickers Pie.  It's not technically a Snickers Pie because it doesn't have a nougat center but a peanut butter mousse.  As a lover of peanut butter and chocolate, this pie is not to be missed.  

The recipe seemed easy overall with it's cookie crust and an easy mousse.  The only part that I approached with apprehension is the caramel.  I've never made candy let alone caramel from scratch and my sister-in-law insisted I needed a thermometer even though the recipe didn't called for it.  I just sucked it up, read the recipe as carefully as I could, and began.  The recipe called for 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water.  I was to put it over medium heat until the sugar caramelized.  That sounded easy enough.  However, I did this 3 times and it just did not work!  The water evaporated and left the sugar in a hard white lump.

a slow boil

nothing but hard, dry sugar

I cooked in in medium heat, slow heat, high heat, but to no prevail.  I ended up resorting to Youtube videos of other chefs making a caramel sauce.  I found these videos to be particularly helpful: video 1, video 2, and video 3.  I noticed in these videos that it was simply sugar in the pot, no water necessary.  The sugar over low heat, will slow begin to caramelize on it's own.

Starting to melt

Just use the pan to move the sugar around, no utensil needed

wait for it...

Wait for it..

Smooth!

The only thing to be careful about is not to leave it on the stove for too long because even though it will look the right color and texture, the sugar will begin to burn and there is no way to remove the burned taste and you'll have to start all over.  Once the sugar is melted, take it off the heat and add a liquid such as cream or butter.  This will shock the sugar and harden it.  Put back over heat and the sugar will warm to a nice thick sauce.  This particular recipe added creme fraiche to the caramel and I think it lessened the sweetness and gave it an even creamier texture.

Adding the creme fraiche

After this step, I was spent and didn't have enough time to cool the pie before serving.  It takes about an hour to cool and form.  The chocolate ganache is supposed to be a thick layer on top so be sure it sets before releasing the springform.

Released the springform before the chocolate could set

Despite my lack of patience, the pie was still tasty and looked even better the next day!  I was very happy to learn a new technique and I will definitely make this pie again!