Sweet Treat of the Week: Classic Key Lime Pie

Ahh, Key Lime Pie.  How do I love thee?  Let me count the ways...

Well, folks, I have to admit a few things when it comes to making a "classic" Key Lime Pie.  The "classic" version is made with key limes, which are the size of a kumquat and are a bear to squeeze.  I have made the pie with real key limes before, but never again!

Let's examine the size of the lime to the key lime:

This photo is borrowed from the blog Taste and Tell.  It's a blog I ran across and am in love with it!

Also, traditional key lime pies are not baked.  The egg yolks are "cooked" by the acidity of the lime.  I have made the "unbaked" version with success before, but much prefer to just pop the pie in the oven for a few minutes to let the custard set.  Many foodies would say baking a key lime pie is a "no-no" but I say it gets you to the end product in a quicker and safer way, so let 'er rip!

So here's the classic Key Lime Pie recipe:

11 graham crackers, crushed with rolling pin or in food processor
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup fresh lime juice (12 to 15 key limes or 3 to 4 common limes)

4 teaspoons grated lime zest
4 egg yolks
1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

Crust:
Preheat oven to 325.
Combine first three ingredients and press into a standard pie plate.
Bake crust 10-15 minutes, or until it appears to have become a cohesive crust.

Whisk the egg yolks and lime zest together in a bowl until tinted light green. This takes about 2 minutes. (Save your arms by doing this in your stand mixer!)  Beat in condensed milk, then juice and set aside at room temperature till it thickens. 

Pour the lime filling into crust, spread evenly, and then bake for 15 minutes until the center sets, but still wiggles when shaken.  How's that for a technical term?
Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
Refrigerate for at least three hours until well chilled.

Some people use the leftover egg whites to put a meringue on the top of the pie.  I don't really prefer to do that but it is a good use of the egg whites.  I'll probably turn the egg whites into an egg-white omelet for the little Junebug.  A dollop of lightly sweetened freshly whipped cream is a great addition, though in my opinion it's totally unnecessary.  I'm a minimalist.

And yes, I had Key Lime Pie for breakfast this morning.  Watcha gonna do about it--call the food police?! 

Sweet treat of the week: Cinnamon Rolls

Homemade cinnamon rolls are amazing, and this recipe, from the book Miserly Moms: Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy is by far my favorite version.  Let's get down to business.  Pop on an apron and roll up your sleeves 'cause things are about to get messy.

Oh, and one more thing.  This recipe requires quite a bit of butter.  Please, use real butter!  Julia Child loved butter and lived to be 91.  Butter is best!

For the dough you'll need:

1 Tbsp. instant yeast (not active dry)

1 cup warm milk

1/3 cup white granulated sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm milk.  Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well (I use the dough hook on my trusty KitchenAid Artisan Mixer).  Knead into a ball.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 to 2 hours.

Here's the dough ball:

I took advantage of the hot Florida sun and let the dough rise in the sticky, moist heat outdoors (after wrapping tightly with plastic wrap, of course).  The AC is running a lot to keep the house cool so there are cold drafts in the kitchen--which can really impede the rising process.  Be sure to find a nice, warm, draft-free place for your dough to rise.

And here's what it looks like after rising:

But don't forget about your dough, or you'll come back to this: 

Ooops! Luckily yeast dough is pretty forgiving!

Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a clean and dry floured surface. 

Roll into a rectangle until dough is about 1/4 inch thick.  You're ready for your filling now! 

For the filling you'll need:

1/4 softened butter

1 cup brown sugar

3 Tbsp. cinnamon

Spread butter on dough evenly.  Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon over dough evenly.  Roll dough up.  Slice roll into 1.5 inch slices. (I made a dozen rolls, and discarded the ends of the dough roll because they do not get very much of the cinnamon swirl throughout.)

 

Place in a greased 13x9 metal or glass baking pan.

Let rise again until doubled--this took about an hour for me. 

Look how pretty they are when they're ready to bake:

Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes. 

While the rolls are baking, you'll want to make the delicious frosting! 

For the frosting you'll need:

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup cream cheese, softened (1/2 brick)

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Beat all ingredients together until fluffy.  Set aside.  Just after you remove the hot cinnamon rolls from the oven, you'll want to spread all that delicious frosting over the top.

Eat 'em as soon as they're not so hot that they'll burn your mouth. 

Tip:  You can make these the night before they're needed.  Skip the final rising step and let rise overnight in the refrigerator.  Bake as directed in the morning.  What a way to impress overnight company! 

So, who's gonna make cinnamon rolls this weekend??

Sweet treat of the week: Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Doesn't everyone love chocolate chip cookies?  I know I do!  I like the thick and chewy kid--not the hard kind.  And never the packaged kind.  I'm picky like that!  This recipe includes a few technical details, but baking is science and if you keep this in mind and follow the specific instructions, you're sure to be pleased with the results.

Here is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe-courtesy of America's Test Kitchen.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 Tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 c brown sugar, packed
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I prefer Ghiradelli 60% dark chocolate chips)

Directions:

Adjust oven racks to upper & lower -middle positions and heat oven to 325. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.  (Or if you have Silpat, this is the perfect time to use it).

Whisk dry ingredients together; set aside.

With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter & sugars until thoroughly combined.

Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined.

Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips.

Roll 1 1/2 T dough into ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving ample room between each ball.  (This ensures that you'll have a bumpy, textured top, not the rounded tops where you can't see the chocolate chip goodness hiding below...)

Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft & puffy (about 13-14 minutes in my oven).

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking and place on wire rack to cool.

Makes about 30 cookies.  I normally make 18 cookies when I make the dough (two cookie sheets with 9 cookies each) and freeze enough dough for another dozen cookies to bake another day.  Here's how:

Portion dough just as you would before baking and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Instead of baking, just pop those suckers in the freezer for as little as 2 hours or as long as overnight. 

Once frozen, move the dough balls into a Ziploc bag, seal, and mark with baking instructions.  (Baking instructions remain the same for the frozen dough but you'll want to add 2-3 extra minutes of baking time.) 

The frozen dough will last up to 2 months in the freezer, but I can guarantee it won't stay in there that long!

My husband chops up the frozen cookie dough balls and adds it to vanilla ice cream for a homemade version on cookie-dough ice cream.  Because the dough is frozen, there's no risk of food-borne illness due to raw egg.  Personally, I don't understand the popularity of cookie-dough ice cream--it doesn't appeal to me--but plain ol' chocolate chip cookies?  Oh yeah, I "get" it!

Cranberry-Orange Scones

I have always had a love affair with "tea".  Sweet tea is a drink I grew up on and still enjoy and I find the concept of an afternoon tea to be absolutely charming.  As a child I went to England and was fascinated by the Brits--well, really, Europeans in general--and when I traveled back as an adult I fell in love.  In addition to a few other places, James and I stayed at a bed and breakfast called The Ounce House in Bury St Edmunds, England.  The B&B was cozy and intimate and the town was so warm and inviting.   I had my fill of tea and "drank in" the entire experience.

Lucky for me, I have friends who share my adoration of afternoon tea and we planned one for this week at my house in conjunction with our Friday devotion.  My contribution, besides a *somewhat* clean home, is Cranberry-Orange Scones.  I thought I'd share the recipe.

Please note:  This recipe is adapted and scaled down from Ina Garten's recipe, located here.

2 cups plus 2 T all-purpose flour

2 T sugar, plus additional for sprinkling

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon grated orange zest

6 T cold unsalted butter, diced (I put it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to get it extra cold)

2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold heavy cream

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix 2 cups of flour,  2 T sugar, the baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the cold butter and mix at the lowest speed until the butter is the size of peas. Combine the eggs and heavy cream and, with the mixer on low speed, slowly pour into the flour and butter mixture. Mix until just blended. The dough will look lumpy! Combine the dried cranberries and 2 T of flour, add to the dough, and mix on low speed until blended.

Dump the dough onto a well-floured surface and knead it into a ball. Flour your hands press into a 10" round on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or SILPAT.  Score as shown below. 

Sprinkle with sugar if desired.  Bake 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

If you prefer biscuit shaped scones, then please follow the link above to Ina Garten's original recipe.  Her recipe makes twice the yield as my adaptation and she makes the scones in a biscuit shape and adds an orange glaze.  I prefer the rustic shape of baking the scones as a "whole".  (I just imagine that if they're biscuit-shaped, the men in our lives will say "why does this biscuit have fruit in it?" so I prefer to make a real distinction when I make scones, lol!)

I have made these same scones with equally delicious results by replacing the cranberries and orange zest with dried blueberries and lemon zest.  Let your imagination run wild!

And be sure to make some Devonshire Cream to go along with those delicious scones!