Caramellow Chiffon Pie (Or New Moon Pie)

Y’all, I know it’s tardy to just now be slip-sliding into the New Year, but last year was a rocky one. I ended 2013 in the red: down two friendships, one relationship, and one job for which I had blindly relocated from a beloved city to a new (though admittedly excellent) one. While the start of the year covered me in citrus and the warmth of home, then hopscotched me back to Maine for a little bit of baby goat midwifery, the latter half of 2013 cascaded into an extremely challenging and dispiriting plane.

After an egregious though arguably appropriate amount of drinking my feelings and binge-watching The Good Wife—Alicia Florrick’s wintry color palette is just so good—I think I’m starting to emerge. Or, at least, Hulu is out of episodes and it’s time to get going on this new year. And while I’ve no idea as to the sorts of challenges or excellence that 2014 will pose, I can say that I’m planning to 1.) Stop lying, and 2.) Start following through—with a PMA and a fresh-ass smile on my face. So in the name of resoluteness and the beginnings brought about—blessedly—by every new year and every day spent free of television, allow me a word about this pie.

It had the potential to fail—caramel! soft ball stage! scalded milk!—but turned out totally excellent. I mean really. I’m calling it a caramellow chiffon, though you could also call it butterscotch chiffon, or caramel cloud, or frankly a new moon pie since it looks like a full-on lunar situation. It’s a technique that I learned at Woodberry Kitchen: a thin layer of graham cracker crust, filled with a caramel pudding that has been fluffed with fresh whipped marshmallow, then topped with whipped cream and crushed candy. I mean, it tastes like milky-sweet caramel clouds, and you should trust me on this considering the aforementioned decision to baseline at Honesty. In any case, the recipe requires several pots and steps, in addition to a few hours chillage in the fridge, but it’s a breeze to make—particularly if you take a moment to read through the directions twice and get all set up before you ignite your burner. But have at it! You deserve a new moon pie to go along with your new year, even if you started it on time two weeks ago. And of course, I’m wishing all my buds and readers and nonreaders a spiritually healthful and prosperous new year!

Caramellow Chiffon Pie
I used a ten-inch cake pan, which made a pie that was two inches tall. I recommend a smaller pan for a taller slice—get some height to 'er! And don't feel limited by the crust or topping options: chocolate or gingersnap crust could be excellent, as would topping the whipped cream with caramel. It will also work to fold the marshmallow into cooled pudding: the structure would allow you to fold in some ribbons of caramel of toffee sauce for a marbled effect. Go nuts!

For Crust

9 whole graham crackers, broken up

¼ cup light brown sugar

¼ teaspoon flaky sea salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1.  Make the crust: preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grind crackers, sugar, and salt in a food processor until fine. With motor running, pour in melted butter, and run until all crumbs are evenly moistened. Press onto bottom of 8-, 9-, or 10-inch springform cake pan with removable bottom. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until crust is fragrant and golden brown. Set aside.

For Caramel Pudding
Pudding portion adapted from Melissa Clark

3 cups heavy cream

1 ½ cups whole milk

150 g. dark brown sugar

5 grams fine-grain sea salt

1/3 cup water

4 large egg yolks

1 large whole egg

12 grams cornstarch

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1.  Make the pudding:  In a small pot, bring cream and milk to a simmer. Cover to keep warm. In a smallish-medium pot, bring brown sugar, water, and salt to a boil. Cook over medium-low, stirring occasionally to keep mixture from scorching, until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer, about eight minutes. The mixture should be a deep brown color and smell nutty and caramelized.

2.  Immediately whisk cream mixture into brown sugar to stop the cooking. The mixture will seize. Bring to a boil over low, whisking constantly, and cook until smooth.

3.  In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks, egg and cornstarch. Slowly pour a ladleful of hot cream mixture into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so the eggs don’t curdle. Slowly pour egg mixture into the pot with the cream, whisking all the while. Cook over low for another two to four minutes, until thickened. It’s fine if the mixture comes to a simmer.

4. Pour mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a large, wide bowl and whisk in butter until smooth. Set aside.

For Marshmallow

13 grams gelatin

113 grams very cold water

200 grams granulated sugar

113 grams Lyle’s golden or light corn syrup

6 grams fine-grain salt

Softly whipped cream, for topping

Crushed graham crackers, crushed Health bar, or some other tasty goodness, for topping

1.  Make marshmallow:  Add water and gelatin to the bowl of a mixer, and let bloom for at least ten minutes. Then, in a medium pot, add sugar, corn syrup, and enough water to moisten the sugar—a third of a cup will probably do.

2.  Over medium heat, stir sugar mixture with a fork until the sugar is dissolved, then cease stirring and allow mixture to come to the softball stage, 236 to 240 degrees. Pour hot syrup over gelatin, then use the whisk attachment on low for a few minutes until mixture is foamy. Ratchet up the speed and whisk on high until the marshmallow has formed medium-soft peaks, about six to eight more minutes—be careful not to overwhip, lest the mixture get too stiff.

3.  Assemble:  Working quickly, fold marshmallow and six grams of salt into the warm pudding, making sure that the filling is evenly mixed and uniform in color. Pour filling into cake round, and allow to set for at least four hours. When ready to serve, run a small knife around edge of pan to loosen springform ring. Then run your serving knife under hot, hot water, dry, make one cut, then wet, dry, and cut again. Top with whipped cream and smooshed graham crackers or candy as desired.

Butterscotch Pots de Crème

Thursday as it may be, I still feel as if I only just arrived home from my roisterous weekend in New York. Most of my California dearest live in Brooklyn now, concentrated all easy-like within a few train stops of one another, so I try to visit as often as possible since it's a quick WiFi-powered bus ride away. This trip was especially fun because one of my closest friends from DC was in town visiting her (and our!) friends, so we friend-melded at a karaoke joint in the East Village on our last night there. En Vogue, Dolly Parton, Erasure, Patti Smith, and a few musicals later, and it was 5:00 a.m. and I had lost my voice, developed a crush on an Australian girl, and perfected a karaoke body roll. The night was preceded with a couple of gallery openings, interjected with besties and a lamb burger dinner (be it told: worst vegetarian ever, right here), and bookended by couch-cuddling sessions, so clearly it was a trip fueled by excellence.

With so much fun and distraction all around, I've been having a hard time focusing on baking and other pursuits, but Jason and I had words about creativity and temperament over the weekend, and I feel more energized to keep on keepin' on. So, continuing  the sequence on this blog of rich dairy desserts, I present thee with butterscotch pots de crème. The original called for some wacky sugars that I can never find, so I did my best to substitute and this turned out to be the most insanely rich dessert. It was like eating cold velvet. I might even say it's too rich for my taste, which is weird because I like to eat cheese melted in butter, but some house guests and my pal Bobbie said these pots de crème were spot-on and delicious. I can at least vouch for the flavor being unreal. Please let me know what you think!

Butterscotch Pots de Crème

Adapted from Gourmet via Orangette

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

6 tablespoons muscovado sugar (I used sucanat)

1/4 tablespoon sea salt

6 tablespoons water

2 tablespoons demerara (I used turbinado)

4 large egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.  Set oven rack in direct center and preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  In a small heavy saucepan, combine the cream, muscovado sugar, and sea salt. Cook over medium-high until cream barely simmers and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

2.  In a large, light-colored saucepan, cook the demerara and water over medium-low heat until it bubbles and turns dark golden brown, five to ten minutes (Molly's recipe called for five minutes. I did mine for seven and thought it could have stood to caramelize much more). Remove from heat, and slowly pour in the cream mixture, whisking all the while.

3.  Meanwhile, heat a bunch of tap water.  Then, in a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and vanilla. Add hot cream mixture in a thin stream, whisking all the while. Set a fine mesh strainer over a clean glass measuring cup and pour the mixture through. Skim off any foam.

4.  Divide custard between four 4-ounce ramekins (I had enough to make five actually). Seal each with a piece of foil. Line a deep, large casserole dish with a dishtowel, and arrange the ramekins on top so that they are not touching. Put the dish into the center of the oven, and then fill the dish with the hot water until it comes halfway up the side. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the sides of the custard are set and the middle still jiggles when shaken.

5.  Remove ramekins to a cooling rack and allow them to come to room temperature. They'll set as they cool. Touch a piece of plastic wrap to the top of each and then refrigerate until cold, a few hours. These will keep covered for a day or two in the fridge, but are best eaten on the same day.

Vanilla Bean and Whiskey Pudding Tartlets

My sister’s apartment is sort of an apocalyptic mess. She has three rolling pins I can never find, always appears to have some sort of meat carcass in her fridge waiting to be cooked into stock, and on my most recent trip to Pittsburgh, also had an ice formation in her freezer that I think she left there because it looks like, well, a certain male bathing-suit part. Her apartment is scattered with clothes, children’s books, crafting things, leftover art, and library DVDs, and also, she keeps ceramic figurines of ambiguously rendered farm animals in her plants (the donkey-cow-pig, for instance). There are wool sweaters in the freezer too, and the contents of a jumbo box of Nerds spilled across her coffee table.

Oh hai! I'm just a stack of pans, chillin' in the freezer with an icy phallus.

My cataloguing of her domestic detritus might not show it, but my sister is flat out my hero. The Atlantic published an article in May noting that 93% of the happy and healthy adults Dr. George Valliant measured in his lifelong psychological study on happiness had had good relationships with a sibling when younger. Well, from partnering to steal all the neighbors’ sample boxes of cereal, to getting the pride kicked out of me in every single board and card game ever, to catching tadpoles and crawdads in New Hampshire and jumping into slimy lakes and an eel-filled quarry in Maine, we have the kind of relationship reinforced by frozen wool sweaters, moldy dishes, and other things that take the sort of roundabout way to get where they're going. And when not preserving phallic ice sculptures or eating Vietnamese soups full of MSG, sometimes we make things in the kitchen. This time, it was failed butterscotch tartlets that turned into a serendipitous, vanilla-whiskey mistake, which I think sounds just about right, all things considered.

To keep the inside of the freezer warm.

Sometimes Whole Foods just, aherm, gives vanilla beans away.

Vanilla Bean and Whiskey Pudding Tartlets (with Chocolate Espresso Beans)
Adapted clumsily from Baked! New Frontiers in Baking

This recipe was supposed to make butterscotch tartlets, but they came out vanilla-y. I might not have cooked the caramel long enough and that's what did it, but I was using raw sugar, so it looked a little "amber-colored" from the get-go. Whatever I did wrong, these still tasted really excellent, and the whiskey adds a great punch to the vanilla. If you want to limit the butterscotch taste, simply do not caramelize the sugar. You might wonder what the point of going to the hassle of crusts is. I still wonder. In the end, they add some buttery goodness, and butter is nearly always the right decision, so if you can handle the additional steps, I say go for it.

Oat Wheat Tart Crust
1 cup rolled (oops! couldn’t find these, so I used 1 c. wheat flour)
½ cup whole-wheat flour
1cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 ½ sticks (¾ cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
¼ cup milk

1. Normally you would use a food processor to grind up the oats, if you had them, until ground but not powdered. Add the flours, sugar, and salt and pulse until combined. Add the butter and pulse until sandy. Add the milk and pulse a few seconds.

2. Scoop the dough out, form into a large ball, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 and up to 3 hours.

3. Unwrap the dough, put it on a floured work surface, cut into 8 equal pieces. Gently shape each into a smooth disk (dough will be sticky), and then slide onto floured parchment paper and refrigerate for ten minutes (I skipped this). Using a floured rolling pin, roll the disks into a 6-inch, ¼-inch thick rounds, and place gently into tartlet pans, pushing gently against the sides and rolling down or trimming any excess.

4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F, and put the tartlet crust into the freezer for 30 minutes. Place on a baking sheet and bake, rotating halfway through, for about 15 minutes or until the crusts are golden brown. Transfer to a rack, and let cool while you make the pudding. Remove shells from pans once they are cooled.

“Butterscotch” Pudding
6 large egg yolks
¾ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup water
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup cornstarch, sifted (tapioca starch would work a-okay too)
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 Tablespoons whiskey (or you know, more than that)

1. Put egg yolks into heatproof bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, combine white sugar and water and stir over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved, then increase heat to medium high and cook until mixture turns dark amber. Swirl the pan if necessary to distribute the color evenly, but do not stir. Remove form heat, let stand 1 minute, then stir in the cream. Pour into a small bowl and set aside.

2. In another small saucepan, combine brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Stir in milk, and whisk to combine. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise, and scrape out the seeds into the saucepan; toss in the bean husk. Cook over medium-high, whisking occasionally until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the caramel, whisking until combined, then pour one-third of the mixture over the eggs. Keep whisking and add another third, then transfer the egg mixture back to the pan with the milk mixture in the saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high. Boil 2 to 3 minutes.

3. Remove from head and add butter and whiskey. Keep whisking for about a minute to cool then let pudding sit for 15 minutes. Remove vanilla beans. Whisk pudding again until smooth, and divide into shells evenly, saving just a couple tablespoons in a separate bowl. Cover the tarts and bowl with plastic wrap, and chill in fridge for 2 hours. Before serving, whisk the pudding in the bowl, and add a dollop to each tart. Top with some chocolate-covered espresso beans, and you’re all set!