Baking A Sweet Life

I’ve never made a pie. So I was shakin’ in my boots when I saw that my first Sugar High Friday challenge would be “The Pie of my Dreams”. Since I’m not a major pie fan, and I’ve never made one, I sat for a while thinking of what dear pie would ever ‘enter’ my dreams. Then I had that “ah hah” moment, and I realized that any pie that was made of peanut butter and chocolate would not only be in my dreams, but would dance around on its tippy-toes, waving its wand of tastiness to and fro.

Most of my baking books don’t have a lot of pies in them. They are focused on breads and chocolate-ly desserts. Good looking tiramsu, souffles, cheesecakes, cookies, brownies…those are the things that get me to buy a book. I recently started another food blogging/challenge group, Tuesdays with Dorie, and I had that book sitting out from the last challenge I did. I was seeing what she had to say about pies, and I knew I had stumbled across something good when I heard the birds chirping a melody inside my head. The recipe for peanut butter torte was literally calling my name. “Bake me, bake me, Melissa!” So I did. But, this is supposed to be a pie recipe, and staying true to form, I had to bake it in a pie pan. The original recipe called for a crust made of Oreo’s, and I wasn’t sure they’d stick to the angle on the pie pan all that well. The original recipe was meant to be made in a springform pan. Instead of the Oreo crust, I went with her chocolate shortbread tart crust in the back of her book. I think it tasted marvelous - although it stuck like glue to the pie pan. Maybe she was serious when she said to butter the pie pan first? I thought my fancy-schmancy baking spray would be sufficient. I thought wrong.

Let’s talk about the taste of this masterpiece. It is out of this world good. So smooth and creamy and the perfect balance of sweet and salty. Both knowing their place quite well, and giving the other its fair stage time. My husband, lovie-hubby as we shall call him here, has the flu. He’s got it bad. This pie, as he has re-named it, is now known as hubby-gets-well-pie. The mere lure of it was strong enough to get his feverish bottom out of bed, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. He even managed to utter the words that this is the “best dessert you’ve ever made”. WOW. That good? I’d have to agree. It WAS that good. One of my girlfriends, Jenny, had come over today to bake with me, and she and I attacked that pie like we were paid to do so. I sent her home with over half of it because I couldn’t trust myself alone with it since lovie-hubby was upstairs again in bed.

And of course for the recipe!

The Crust (Chocolate Shortbread Tart Dough - pg 446 Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tbsp total) very cold or frozen unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, cocoa, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in - you should have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses - about 10 seconds each - until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change - heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and very lightly and sparingly knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

Press the dough into the buttered pan. Press evenly over the bottom and up the sides, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don’t be too heavy-handed - press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but no so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

The filling (Peanut Butter Torte - pg 282 Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

1 1/4 cups finely chopped salted peanuts
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 tsp instant espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (or finely chopped semisweet chocolate)
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
small pinch salt
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups salted peanut butter - smooth or crunchy - she recommends Skippy
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate. finely chopped

• toss 1/2 cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chips together in a small bowl, set aside.
• working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer and a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in 1/4 cup of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Scrape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
• Wipe out the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, 1/4 cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.
• Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.

• Scrape the mousse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight; cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.

To finish the Torte:

• Put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan.
• Bring the remaining 1/2 cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and, working with a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.
• Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining 1/2 cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.
• When the ganache is firm, remove the springform pan (I used a pie plate); it’s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towl dampened with ot water around the pan and leave it there for 10 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The Peanut Butter Torte recipe comes with directions for an Oreo crust, as I stated above, but I chose to do the shortbread crust because I thought it would hold up better for a pie crust. Here are the directions for the Oreo crust, which she uses a 9″ springform pan for.

24 Oreo cookies, finely crumbled or ground in a food processor or blender
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
small pinch of salt

• Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
• Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and pinch of salt in another bowl and stir with a fork until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the springform pan (they should go up about 2 inches on the sides). Freeze for 10 minutes.
• Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack and let it cool completely before filling

Sound delicious? Make a contribution to a non-profit helping to transform the world of food through pie- Pie Ranch. Please specify “Pie Ranch/Green Oaks Fund” in the “Designation” field of the online donation form (Pie Ranch is fiscally sponsored by the Rudolph Steiner Foundation) at: http://tinyurl.com/3bmn4c

The round-up for all of these lovely pies can be found here!