Poptarts Redux

When I first made these homemade poptarts back in Utah, I knew they would be good if not for my baking faux pas.

This time, though, they exceeded expectations and were delicious! Some were filled with raspberry jam, some with semisweet chocolate chips, and some with passionfruit jelly that I bought last time I visited Robert is Here. This fabulous exotic tropical fruit stand makes my bimonthly trips north worth the long drive!

I found the recipe via SmittenKitchen (of course…that’s my favorite food blog!).

Baking Experiments

Yesterday I made homemade crackers from this recipe. These are far better than storebought and easy too!

I made 9 of these long crackers, and seasoned each batch differently! Then put them in baggies and froze a bunch of dough for later.

Then I made a nectarine galette, roughly following this recipe, but using honey instead of sugar. It was perfect for me… I love crust and this was one of my flakiest ever. But Zach prefers filling and found this tart to be too dry. I didn’t do a jam glaze, and probably should have.

A tart that pretty was clearly made for showing off, so we took it to our friends’ house and served it with ice cream while the fellas drank short glasses of bourbon, or whiskey, and expounded upon the differences thereof.

Pies and Playtime

Patriot Pie:

Thrift Store magnets, with an oddity:

Dots on Dots

First day of swim lessons!

followed by a trip to the playground:

Eating Rambutans. Despite the look on his face…he LIKES these.

Ginger-Pumpkin Spice Chiffon Pie

This really should be better than it is. It was a three-day process to make these pies.

Monday, I baked two sugar pie pumpkins that I got at the farmer’s market.

Tuesday, I scraped them out and pureed the flesh with a hand-blender. I also made the pie crust…by Sort Of following this Cooks Illustrated recipe for vodka pie crust (meaning I altered so much that it was absurd to think it would work). I’ve tasted this crust before; my sister-in-law Natalie made a peach pie last year that was the best I’ve ever had.

I tried to make a 1.5 recipe (not a straight double), and my math may have been off. I substituted half of the flour with homeground whole wheat that I made that day using the kitchenaid attachment. I used coconut oil (solid at cool room temp). I failed to chill it. The dough was sticky wet and I ended up adding lots more white flour. Wet and pasty before I ever added the vodka.

Wednesday, I added the vodka/water to the chilled crumbles. I rolled out a sample and baked it up with cinnamon sugar and it was yummy. Nice and crisp. So I formed my crusts (the dough didn’t hold together great and I had a few tears) and put them in the freezer.

Then I stirred up the pie filling Kind Of following this “old-fashioned” recipe (we’re trying to cut out canned stuff, so I was avoiding evap. milk). I substituted the sugar for honey and molasses, mixed. I cut some of the milk to account for this extra moisture. I used too much molasses. I used eggs from our chickens, and milk from a local dairy. I baked them forever in order for that light custard to gel.

This pie should be GREAT. It was more like a fluffy-light, OVERLY spiced gingerbread souffle in a crust. But Pretty. It IS pretty. and tasty enough when served with a whole pile of lightly sweetened whipped cream.

Here you can see it’s homely stepsister in the background.