Peanut Butter Pie

For more than a week, I have seen the blogging community band together through pie. When I read about a blogger whose husband died suddenly, I was moved by the responses I saw from some of my favorite bakers. This community of people and their heartfelt words prompted me to make this peanut butter pie. The sentiment with the pie was to share it with someone you love and that is just what I did.

It is a tad on the richer side, and a little goes a long way. You really can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter, it is such a great combo, but it will make you feel sick if you eat too much. I decided to go with the Not Without Salt version of the pie as it looked a little more like mousse than a dense filling. Here is the recipe:

8 ounces chocolate cookies (I used Newman's Cookies and cut out the cream filling)
4 tablespoons butter, melted
2 ounces finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
5 oz mascarpone
3 oz sour cream
1 cup creamy-style peanut butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
Pre-heat the oven to 350*

Add the cookies to the bowl of a food processor and pulse into fine crumbs. Combine melted butter and cookie crumbs in a small bowl, and stir with a fork to mix well. Press mixture into the bottom and pie pan. Bake the crust for about 15 minutes, until set and crisp. Add the chocolate to the warm crust and let the residual heat melt the chocolate. Spread the chocolate with a spatula and sprinkle the peanuts on top.

Place pan in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

Pour the heavy cream into a bowl and beat using a stand mixer or hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Transfer to a small bowl and store in refrigerator until ready to use. Place the mascarpone, sour cream and peanut butter in a deep bowl. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar. Add the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and salt. Increase speed to medium and beat until all the ingredients are combined and filling is smooth.

Stir in 1/3 of the whipped cream into the filling mixture (helps lighten the batter, making it easier to fold in the remaining whipped cream). Fold in another ⅓ of the whipped cream. Reserve the remaining whipped cream to top the pie. Pour the filling into the prepared pie pan. Refrigerate for three hours or overnight before serving. Serve with remaining whipped cream.

Iggy

And I hung out with this little guy tonight. Meet Iggy. He is the newest addition to the Shrews family, but I hope to be a close second aunt. I want four of him.

Summer Galette

My apartment has felt like the subtropics as of late, making baking a thing of the past. I was able to get a respite from the heat last week when I visited the great Northwest. It was a perfect few days in Seattle and was topped off with summer fruit galette at the coast.

There is a little treasure in Manzanita that gets me every time. It is the Manzanita Fresh Foods grocery store. Here you will find 25 cent pony rides out front, and without fail, gourmet cooking products inside. Really, it always has what you need. Outside there are baskets of fresh fruit from around the area that smell unbelievable. We picked up Ian's favorite fruit combo--blackberries and nectarines to make something at home. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen and is incredibly easy to follow.

Dough
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup (one stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup ice water

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. (To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry blender.) Add cold water with machine running. Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight.

Filling
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 medium nectarines, each pitted and cut into 16 slices
1/2 -pint basket blackberries
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional, still not sure if I liked it in there)
1 egg, beaten to blend (for glaze)

Make filling: Stir sugar and cornstarch in medium bowl to blend. Mix in fruit and vanilla. Let stand until juices are released, stirring fruit occasionally, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F. Transfer baking sheet with dough to work surface. Let stand 8 minutes to allow dough to soften slightly if too firm to fold. Spoon fruit and juices into center of dough. Fold border down over fruit (center 6 inches of fruit remain uncovered). Brush folded border with egg glaze; sprinkle with raw sugar.

Place baking sheet with tart in oven. Bake until crust is golden brown and fruit filling is bubbling at edges, about 55 minutes. Remove from oven; slide large metal spatula under tart to loosen from parchment. Brush fruit with preserves. Slide tart onto rack. Cool 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream.

Here is the end result, and the smell was amazing. In addition, we had some wonderful wine that made the trip complete.

This galette brought back all the good feelings of desserts baking away in the kitchen. I am so looking forward to breaking in our new kitchen come September. In other news, we are moving! Very exciting. Hyde Park, you will sorta be missed. Updates to follow.