Chocolate Cream Pie (Pie Week Day 5!!!)

(Disclaimer: all recipes being shared here were recipes I learned in my baking class. Just sharing my own notes, they're not of my own invention)



Wow. Chocolate Cream Pie.. I mean, seriously, how can you say no to that?

P.s. - Remember to check out the recipe for the crust here, if you haven't yet!

CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE

Yield: 3 Pies, 9 in. (22 cm) each

• Brown sugar -                                               14 oz.
• Milk -                                                              2 qt.
• Cocoa powder -                                             1 oz.
• Egg yolks -                                    4.8 oz. (8 yolks)
• Cornstarch -                                                   3 oz.
• Bittersweet chocolate (64% cacao) -             14 oz.
• Unsalted butter -                                             4 oz.
• Vanilla extract -                                           1 fl. oz. 
• Flaky or sweet tart dough pie shells, baked - 3 shells
• Crème Chantilly -                                     as needed
• Chocolate Shavings -                               as needed

1. In a heavy saucepan, dissolve 7 ounces (210 grams) of the brown sugar in the milk. Add the cocoa powder and bring to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar until smooth. Whisk in the cornstarch until smooth.
3. Temper the egg mixture with approximately one-fourth of the boiling milk. Stir the warmed egg mixture back into the remaining milk and return to a boil, whisking constantly.
4. Whisking constantly and vigorously, allow the cream to boil until thick, approximately 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate, butter and vanilla. Stir until the ingredients are melted and incorporated.
5. Pour the cream into the pie shells and place in a refrigerator.
6. Top the pies with Crème Chantilly once the filling is very cold. Decorate the pies with chocolate shavings. 

*NOTE - As you can see, this recipe calls for pre-baked shells! There are different ways you can blind bake a shell. What I've learned & recommend is to put some saran wrap and fill it with either baking beans, or pennies, or rice... But fill it pretty much all the way, and wrap it in saran wrap like a little baggie. This is a good idea, because after the pie is cooked through you can re-use the 'baggie' for other crusts :) The blind baking is needed like this so the sides of the pie won't fall in during the cooking process! 

LOVE the chocolate shavings on top. Such a nice touch!

If you don't have creme chantilly (basically whipped cream ;D) here's a nifty recipe to make your own!

CRÈME CHANTILLY (CHANTILLY CREAM)

Yield: 2–2½ qt. (2–2½ lt)

• Heavy cream, chilled - 1 qt.
• Powdered sugar - 3 oz.
• Vanilla extract - 0.3 fl. oz. (2 tsp.)

1. Place the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Using a balloon whisk, whisk the cream until slightly thickened.
2. Add the sugar and vanilla and continue whisking to the desired consistency. The cream should be smooth and light, not grainy. Do not overwhip.
3. Crème Chantilly may be stored in the refrigerator several hours. If the cream begins to soften, gently rewhip as necessary. 

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for our last pie of the week, Lemon Merengue Pie! :)

Pecan Pie (Pie Week Day 4!!!)

(Disclaimer: all recipes being shared here were recipes I learned in my baking class. Just sharing my own notes, they're not of my own invention)


Okay so for day 4 of this series, I bring to youuuu... Pecan pie! Now I know, some people LOVE this, some people don't, but I actually really thought it was pretty yummy :) This recipe is also SUPER easy!! So I hope you guys enjoy it! If you try making it, let me know how it turned out! :)


P.s. - Remember to check out the recipe for the crust here, if you haven't yet!

PECAN PIE

Yield: 4 Pies, 9 in. (22 cm) each

• Eggs -                                         16 oz. (10 eggs)
• Brown sugar -                                            10 oz.
• Unsalted butter, melted  -                             8 oz.
• Vanilla extract -                                     0.5 fl. oz. 
• Salt -                                             0.2 oz. (1 tsp.)
• Maple syrup or dark corn syrup -           16 fl. oz.
• Glucose or light corn syrup -                   16 fl. oz.
• Pecan halves and pieces -                   1 lb. 12 oz.
• Mealy dough pie shells, unbaked -            4 shells

1. Whisk together the eggs, brown sugar and melted butter. Add the vanilla and salt. Whisk in the maple syrup and glucose until well combined.
2. Evenly divide the pecans among the pie shells. Pour the egg-and-syrup mixture evenly over the pecans in each pie shell.
3. Bake at 325°F (160°C) until the center of the pies have set, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. 

The second time I tried (Forgot to take pics!) I chopped all the pecans
except for 8 of them, and put them each in one part of the pie, so that when you
would go & cut the slice, it would have like the one whole piece in the crust. Looked
pretty awesome. Which I'd taken a picture though :(

Come back tomorrow for some Chocolate Cream Pie! :)

Apple Pie (Pie Week Day 3!!)

(Disclaimer: all recipes being shared here were recipes I learned in my baking class. Just sharing my own notes, they're not of my own invention)



YUM! Apple pie! By far my favorite type of pie :) I actually LOVED this recipe & it was gone like in seconds at work ;)

P.s. - Remember to check out the recipe for the crust here, if you haven't yet!

APPLE CRUMB PIE

Yield: 1 Pie, 9 in. (22 cm)

• Basic Pie Dough -                                                 1
• Golden Delicious apples, peeled and cored -     2 lb.
• Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored -       1.5 lb.
• Granulated sugar -                                           9 oz.
• Lemon juice -                            0.5 fl. oz. (1 Tbsp.)
• Vanilla extract -                         0.5 fl. oz. (1 Tbsp.)
• Pastry or all-purpose flour -                             1 oz.
• Cinnamon, ground -                  0.3 oz. (1 1/2Tbsp.)
• Unsalted butter, diced fine -                             2 oz.
• Streusel Topping  -                                          7 oz.

1. Roll out 11 ounces (330 grams) of the pie dough into a circle ⅛ inch (3 millimeters) thick and line a 9-inch (22-centimeter) pie pan with the dough. Set aside.
2. Cut the apples into 12 uniform wedges each. Toss the apple wedges in a large bowl with the sugar, lemon juice and vanilla.
3. Sift together the pastry flour and cinnamon. Stir the mixture into the apples.
4. Fill the crust with the apple filling. Dot with the butter. Sprinkle the surface evenly with the Streusel Topping.
5. Bake the pie at 375°F (190°C) until the filling is bubbling and looks like thick honey, approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Just looking at this I'm wishing I had just made another one.
YUM! YUM! YUM! :)

I just so happen to not have the recipe for the streusel topping I used handy :( I know I know, this is not good.. BUT I can share with you the recipe my book had.. My chef didn't like it as much as the other one he taught us, but it's still good :)

STREUSEL TOPPING

Yield: 2 lb. 5.5 oz. (1.125 kg)

• All-purpose flour -                      1 lb.
• Cinnamon, ground -    0.7 oz. (1 tsp.)
• Salt -                          0.2 oz. (1 tsp.)
• Brown sugar -                         5.5 oz.
• Granulated sugar -                      4 oz.
• Whole butter, cold -                 12 oz.

1. Combine the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse and crumbly.
2. Sprinkle on top of muffins or other baking goods prior to baking. Streusel topping will keep for several weeks under refrigeration and may be frozen for longer storage. There is no need to thaw before use. 

Come back tomorrow for some yummy Pecan Pie! :)

The all american... Cherry Pie! :) (Pie Week Day 2!)

(Disclaimer: all recipes being shared here were recipes I learned in my baking class. Just sharing my own notes, they're not of my own invention)

Okay so since today is 4th of July.. What better pie to share than the All-American CHERRY PIE? :)

Hope you guys enjoy, and if you try making it, leave me a comment & let me know how it came out! :)

P.s. - Remember to check out the recipe for the crust here, if you haven't yet!

CHERRY PIE

Yield: 2 Pies, 9 in. (22 cm) each

• Tapioca -                                                                         1.5 oz.
• Salt 0.03 oz. -                                                               (1 pinch)
• Granulated sugar -                                                               1 lb.
• Almond extract -                                           0.08 fl. oz. (½ tsp.)
• Canned pitted cherries, drained, liquid reserved -                 3 lb.
• Mealy dough pie shells, unbaked -                                  2 shells
• Unsalted butter -                                                                1 oz.
• Egg wash -                                                                as needed

1. Stir the tapioca, salt and granulated sugar together. Add the almond extract and cherries.
2. Stir in up to 8 fluid ounces (240 milliliters) of the liquid drained from the cherries, adding enough liquid to moisten the mixture thoroughly.
3. Allow the filling to stand 30 minutes. Then stir gently and place the filling in the unbaked pie shells.
4. Cut the butter into small pieces. Dot the filling with the butter.
5. Place a top crust over the filling; seal and flute the edges. Cut several slits in the dough to allow steam to escape. Brush the top crust with egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar. (I did not do this. Check picture!!)
6. Place on a preheated sheet pan and bake at 400°F (200°C) 50 to 60 minutes 

Instead of covering it whole, I cut my pie crust into strips & made a lattice top.
Even though it takes a little longer to arrange them on top, I love the look! :) 

Come back tomorrow for some delicious Apple Pie recipe! :)

Blueberry Pie! (Pie Week Day 1!!)

(Disclaimer: all recipes being shared here were recipes I learned in my baking class. Just sharing my own notes, they're not of my own invention)

Okay so we're going to start this pie week with one of my new favorites!! :) I wasn't even always a big blueberry fan, but lately I've been loving me some blueberries! YUM :) Hope you guys enjoy it, and if you try & make it, let me know in the comments how it turned out!! :)

P.s. - Remember to check out the recipe for the crust here, if you haven't yet!

BLUEBERRY PIE FILLING

Yield: 8 lb. (3.6 kg) - (About 4 pies)

• Canned blueberries, #10 can, unsweetened -      1
• Granulated sugar -                              1 lb. 12 oz.
• Cornstarch -                                              4.5 oz.
• Water -                                                    8 fl. oz.
• Cinnamon, ground -                    0.04 oz. (½ tsp.)
• Lemon juice -                                           1 fl. oz.
• Lemon zest, grated fine -             0.2 oz. (1 Tbsp.)

1. Drain the juice from the canned blueberries, reserving both the fruit and the juice.
2. Measure the juice and, if necessary, add enough water to provide 1 quart (1 liter) of liquid. Bring to a boil, add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
3. Dissolve the cornstarch in 8 fluid ounces (240 milliliters) of water.
4. Add the cornstarch to the boiling juice and return to a boil. Cook until the mixture thickens and clears. Remove from the heat.
5. Add the cinnamon, lemon juice, lemon zest and reserved blueberries. Stir gently to coat the fruit with the glaze.
6. Allow the filling to cool to room temperature, then use it to fill prebaked pie shells or other pastry items. 

*NOTE - As you can see, this recipe calls for pre-baked shells! There are different ways you can blind bake a shell. What I've learned & recommend is to put some saran wrap and fill it with either baking beans, or pennies, or rice... But fill it pretty much all the way, and wrap it in saran wrap like a little baggie. This is a good idea, because after the pie is cooked through you can re-use the 'baggie' for other crusts :) The blind baking is needed like this so the sides of the pie won't fall in during the cooking process! 

I chose to top it with a lattice top & cook for a little longer. That
caused the blueberry filling to cook and kind of overflow it. The lattice
top is NOT needed though, so you can just fill it and not mess it up like me ;)

Come back tomorrow for an all-american Cherry Pie, specially for 4th of July! :)

Life is.. well, complicated. Plus - what's coming this week! :)

A while ago I shared with all of you (or any of you.. Whoever actually reads these lol) that I was making some big changes in my life.. That's still true. I've been crazy busy here in Cali being full time student & full time worker...

To make it worse, I'm in culinary school & we're not allowed to have our nails done! AHH! I've been going crazy. I have actually many times spent hours doing my nails to have to take it out in the morning, just to relax myself. Buuut, it made blogging & such almost impossible.

I'm trying to get back a little, and this week I decided I am going to post a pie-a-day, with a recipe & pic for you guys :)

Since I'm in Baking & Pastry, my passion REALLY is my baking & I figured I could share some of that with you guys since nails lately are kinda hard to keep up with :)

Anyways, today, I'm going to give you the recipe for the pie crust I'll be using in all the next posts!

Hope you enjoy!

Basic Pie Dough

Yield: 2 lb. 10 oz. (1200 g), 3 shells

• Unsalted butter, chilled -                         1 lb.
• Pastry flour -                                  1 lb. 5 oz.
• Buttermilk or water -                          4 fl. oz.
• Salt -                                       0.4 oz. (2 tsp.)
• Granulated sugar -                               0.5 oz.
• Vanilla extract (optional) - 0.5 fl. oz. (1 Tbsp.)

1. Cut the butter into medium dice ⅜ inch (9 millimeters) square. Sift the flour onto a work surface or into a large bowl.
2. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until the desired consistency (flaky or mealy) is reached.
3. Combine the buttermilk, salt, sugar and vanilla in a bowl with a whisk. Gradually add the buttermilk to the flour mixture. Mix gently until the dough holds together. Do not overmix or add too much liquid.
4. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill thoroughly before using.

To make the border, pinch dough, put a finger in the side,
and pinch it again, one finger apart at a time :)

(Disclaimer: all recipes being shared here were recipes I learned in my baking class. Just sharing my own notes, they're not of my own invention)




Come back later today for the first pie in the series, Blueberry Pie :)

Black & Red :)

Okay, so the morning after my last post, I woke up, looked at the red nails, and hated them. I don't know why but I just wasn't feeling it!

So what did I do? I followed Chloe's Nails tape mani suggestions, and had some fun with it :)

First time I tried this cat nail type look, and while it's not my favorite mani ever, I gotta say I loved it!

The rhinestones I got from ebay! They were super cheap & came in all different colors :)

Have a nice day everyone <3

Ross, Oh How I love Thee! :) - (Part 2 - Pic heavy...)

Hey lovely people! :)

First off - The Hunger Games premiere was SO awesome!!!!!!!! AHHH! I want to read the next two books SO bad, just waiting to buy them soon :) I devoured the first book like no one's business and I actually liked the adaptation to the big screen. OF COURSE there were TONS of things I wish they would've included in the movie, and little details that I just couldn't understand WHY they would omit... But still, as far as adaptations go, this was actually pretty faithful to most of it.

Now, to the second kit I swatched from Ross.. This brand is called "Believe Beauty" and I had never seen it before BUT I thought they looked SO cute! :) Ready for pics? :)

5 Nail Polish bottles in this kit!

...for 5.99? OK, YESS! :)

 First, this adorable pink called "Cupcake". And I can TOTALLY see this as cupcake! :)

A little out of focus but the color shows through ;)

Love this pink! :) And guess what?

This beauty its two coats only! :)

Next one is a GORGEOUS blue called "Indigo":

Seriously, HOW BEAUTIFUL is that?? I'm in LOVE with this blue!

This was also only 2 coats!! No Top coat either!

The third one is a light blue shimmer called "Curacao"! LOVE this glittery shimmer on this one!

This one was a bit sheer, so this is 3 coats!

Next one is a nice yellow called "Key Lime Pie". I think it's a nice shade. Not SUPER bright, but still bright enough :)

This was also 3 coats :)

The last one is a red, called "Hot Tamale". This is a red with some orange-ish undertone.

Also 3 coats and a coat of SV on this one!

I had to add this pic.. For some reason my pointer finger showed REALLY orange-y on this pic. It doesn't REALLY look like that, but that's kind of what I meant with the orange undertone.

That's it loveys! Hope you all have a marvelous & blessed day, week, month... ;)

Apple pie in an apple anyone? :)

Okay, so since this week I already have tons of finals, guess what I'm not having a lot of time for? That's right, my nails :(

BUT, I have something I've been DYING to share with you guys!

About a month ago, I went to one of the most amazing friend's house, Bridget. She lives about an hour away from me, which is NOTHING considering we both met in JERSEY and somehow ended up close together in CALI! :) Oh, AND, she has an AMAZING blog that she's just recently started, but I can already tell it will go FAR! Check it out here!

Anyways, when I get there, she tells me we are trying out something from pinterest, and we did.. This awesome Apple pie baked INSIDE an apple. It's too amazing for words! It was quick, easy, and oh-so-delicious! We used the left over pie crust & filling and made another tiny apple pie in a little glass container. So cute! :)

That night had some other unforeseen events, but I'll leave all that excitement for later :P

Now let me shut up & get to some pics! :)

We used the mix for the pie crust, since none of us really knows how to make pie crust :)

The filling was basically cut up apples with some sugar and cinnamon.
Now, if you notice here, the apples were carved out. That was awesome fun &
yet nerve-wrecking to do! I kept getting scared I would rip the skin on the apple
LOL :)

We wanted it to look like a real pie & did a little basket weave with the pie crust!

We probably could've left it in the oven a little longer, so it would be a bit more golden, the crust,
BUT it still looked prett great!

One for me, one for Brie, and one for her hubby, Kyle!

Of course, what's apple pie without her best friend Ice cream? :)

And our little pie, with a little heart on it :) This one was cooked a bit more, and you can totally tell! :)

And now for the extra excitement.... So Brie's glass table SUDDENLY exploded. And I mean EXPLODED. Like into a thousand little pieces. Out of the blue. Nothing fell on it or anything. It was super scary and you get to see a pic! AHHH!

Thank Goodness we were NOT sitting nearby it!

Now, this would not be enough would it? So even though I was sitting a bit far from the table, some pieces flew where we were at, and a piece went straight into my leg :( So I need to thank Kyle for being so great & cleaning the blood I dripped on their carpet. Such a marine, that one! :)

Of course that Brie being an amazing nurse helped too! She got me all cleaned up & bandaged up in no time! :)

And I even managed to find one of the culprits.. Yep, one of them, since I had about 3 different cuts! Ouchie!
So we googled this and turns out there have been quite a bit of occasions where glass table tops exploded. Apparently most of them are linked to the martha stewart patio furniture, BUT we have no idea where this table was from since they got it from previous owners..

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed the apple pies and please go ahead & try them out! It's AWESOME & SO easy :)

Don't forget to stop by Brie's blog too <3

Ross, Oh How I love Thee! :) - (Part 1 - Pic heavy!)

Ok so first things first - I feel like a broken record saying sorry for being away for so long, but.... I am sorry :(
I got a job, which is AWESOME news!! I had been SOOO worried about that, and getting this job was such a relief! I totally didn't realize how little time I would have left though LOL.

I was hired as a part time because of the fact that I'm full time in school but I'm still being scheduled for about 30-40 hours every week, which combined with school, projects, homeworks & life, has left me with almost no free time :(

But I promise, even if it's not every day I will do my best to continue posting every chance I get :)

For today, I have the first part of a haul from Ross! YES, ROSS!! I found all these cute little kits there all for such great price!!!

Today's kit is from Prisma - Luminous Color, the pastel collection :)

I surprisingly enough loved the application on most of them. Pure creamy deliciousness ;)

Enjoy guys <3

I'm going to name them from 1 to 7 in the order above when looking at the swatches :)

Yes that's right... 7 polishes for 5.99 ! YAY! :)

1 - just a plain cream white polish. But it was opaque in 2 coats, and I loved it ! 

2 - This doesn't quite capture the color.. But this was almost like a dark nude.. Application was easy & 2 coats was all it took :)

2 again... A little closer to the actual color!

3 - light cream pastel orange.. Again, application was smooth, and no big problems here!

4 - This is a weird color.. It's almost orange-y but pink. I loved how the color looked though and couldn't quite capture it in the pic.. Hnmmm, going to have to try & get it again another time..

Still 4 - this one shows a little more of the orange side of this pink :)

5 - Barbie pink! Bubblegum pink! PERFECT pinkkk :)

5 again - just LOVE how perfect this color is <3

6 - Light purple, lavender - super cute & simple :)

6 again - this purple has a little hint of pink in it too.. hnmmm.

7 - darker purple! Again, no problems with the application :)

I have to be honest... I LOVE my OPI's, CG's, or whatever.... But I also LOVEEEEE my bargain finds <3

Hope you all have a great week!