Donut Streusel Blueberry Pie

Ah ha!  I know this is just the recipe you've been looking for in the beginning of fall.  A nice blueberry pie recipe.  Ha!  This was a recipe I entered this past summer into a blueberry pie recipe contest.  Sadly, it did not win, but it was very tasty!  My family and I dined on this on the 4th of July.  It's pretty much your basic blueberry pie, but it is topped with an exceptional streusel made with crumbled up blueberry cake donuts, butter, and brown sugar.  My advice would be to watch the baking time on this, though.  Our oven in this house is a bit wacky and seems to start out cold and burn things towards the end of baking... I haven't figured that one out yet.  Yes, it's been a long time my friends since I've blogged!  I'm still here and I would like to get back to it.  You see, the past few years have been busy.  I went to college and got a bachelor's degree, got engaged, graduated college, got a new job, bought a house, got a dog, got married, honeymooned, and well.... now it seems like I might actually have some free time again.  What a wonderful feeling. 

Much love, 
Emily

Donut Streusel Blueberry Pie

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 240 grams)
1/2 teaspoon plain salt
6 tablespoons shortening
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
4-6 tablespoons ice water

2 quarts fresh blueberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

 4 cups crumbled blueberry cake donuts (about 280 grams)
4 tablespoons butter
¾ cup brown sugar

Egg wash (optional)
Lemon zest, for garnish
Powdered sugar, for garnish

Instructions:

To make the pie crust, in a large mixing bowl, stir together flour and salt; blend in shortening and 3 tablespoons butter, using a pastry blender or two forks, until pea-sized lumps form.  Sprinkle in water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring gently with a fork after each addition and adding only enough of the water to form a rough mass.  Using floured hands, pat dough into a smooth, flattened disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, stir together blueberries, granulated sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice and until well combined; refrigerate.

To make the donut streusel, in an additional medium bowl, using a pastry blender or two forks, blend together donut, 4 tablespoons butter, and brown sugar until well combined and large clumps form; refrigerate.

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. after at least one hour has passed from ingredients being in the refrigerator.

Roll dough out thinly on a floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, and fit into a 9-inch pie plate; place on a cookie sheet and flute edges (or crimp) using fingers and thumb.  Add blueberry filling to pie shell; evenly top with donut streusel.  Brush pie crust edges with egg wash, if desired, for a shinier crust. 

Bake 30 minutes.  Lightly cover pie with foil and bake an additional 30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.  Cool completely on a wire rack before dusting with lemon zest and powdered sugar.

Makes 9 servings

Macaron-Making

Hello everyone!  I hope everyone had a happy holiday season.  I'm still here in Missouri, baking cookies as usual.  I've switched gears from sugar cookies to macarons.  I hadn't baked these since pastry school and forgot how fun they are to bake.  They're tricky to make, but once you've made them a few times you get the feel for them.  I've baked four batches in the past month. 

I'm trying to perfect the recipe and technique.  Soon, I'd like to experiment with different flavors and colors.  Pictures to follow!  Do you all have a favorite macaron recipe?  Or a technique I should know about?  What flavor should I bake next?  I'm thinking some Valentine's Day macarons need to happen.  Or Mardi Gras.... that could be fun as well.  

Science Cookies

I've been slacking on baking sugar cookies lately.  I baked these guys a few weeks ago for my sister's boyfriend who is an instructor at a college here in Springfield.  He teaches biology and requested mitosis and meiosis cookies for his class. 

So I baked the cookies, frosted them, and painted them to look like the cells going through the different phases.  Kind of fun, kind of tedious.  I didn't have a lot of time to make them, unfortunately.  Work and homework has gotten the best of me lately.

I'm looking forward to making some Thanksgiving cookies!  My work is having a Thanksgiving potluck so maybe I'll make some little turkey cookies. 

What have you guys been baking lately?  I really need to bake something with pumpkin very soon....

Leaves & Pumpkins Sugar Cookies

Sugar cookie batch two and three were leaves and pumpkins.  I had a little better control of the icing this time, but it's still uneven and not quite fluid.  Practice makes perfect!  I'm going to bake a batch of sugar cookies this weekend for my nephews' birthday party.  Hopefully they'll turn out well.  Stay tuned to see what they are!  Oh, I used luster dust for the first time on these cookies.  I dyed it yellow and painted it on top of the dried icing.  I think it would be really pretty mixed into the icing.

Apple Sugar Cookies

I've started practicing baking and decorating sugar cookies as a side hobby.  These little apple sugar cookies was my first attempt.  I'm still trying to perfect the cookie recipe, but I'm pretty pleased with it so far.  Ideally, I would prefer them a little fluffier and softer.  The cookies were decorated with royal icing, and I had a little trouble getting the right consistency.  

I need to thin down the icing more.  Also, I felt like I had to use a ton of food coloring (gel and liquid) to get a bright red.  Does super concentrated food coloring exist?  Where do I buy it from?  Anyway, thanks for stopping by and reading part one of my sugar cookie decorating journey.  :) 

Do you have a favorite sugar cookie recipe?  What cookie shape should I bake next?

BraveTart Buttermilk Biscuits

I finally got around to baking something from BraveTart's cookbook the other day.  I've owned this cookbook since February, thumbed through it a few times with intentions of baking one of the many delicious desserts from it, but hadn't settled on anything.

I've been craving biscuits lately, and decided on a BraveTart's Buttermilk biscuit recipe, since I had some buttermilk I needed to use up.  Oh, and also I bought some hybrid cherry-plums that I turned into jam and thought it would be delicious on biscuits with salted butter.

 It's not my recipe to give, but it's pretty similar to this one found on Serious Eats.  The recipe on Serious Eats uses 1 cup of yogurt, but if you substitute buttermilk, use 3/4 cup.

They were delicious and so very easy to bake.  No rolling pin necessary!  Also, I really like that you bake the biscuits in a cast iron pan.  I think next time I would cut them a little thicker and brush the tops with melted butter and a touch of sea salt.

Bon Appetite! 

Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread

Oh hello! I hope everyone is doing well and had the best holiday season!  I've been getting back into the swing of things and enjoying that sweet Missouri life again.  I'm looking forward to Valentine's Day next week, are you all? I know it's kind of a cheesy, commercialized holiday, but I've always enjoyed it.  It's fun, and it's nice to be able to celebrate all of your loved ones.

You could give your loved one a box of chocolates, or you could give them a box of this buttery, delicious chocolate chunk shortbread.  I know you've see this recipe a million times, it pretty much broke the internet; it's been featured on many Instagrams, blogs and food websites.  It's Alison Roman's Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread recipe.

While I disagree and don't think this should ever replace your traditional chocolate chip cookie, I do think it's extremely delicious and would absolutely make this recipe again.  It was simple to make, too.  You just whip up some salted butter, granulated sugar, a touch of brown sugar, vanilla, flour, and chopped dark chocolate.  I took it a step further and used SALTED dark chocolate, oh yes I did.  The dough is rolled into logs then rolled in coarse sugar.  The cookie logs get chilled down, sliced, brushed with egg wash, then sprinkled with coarse sea salt.  I didn't have any of that good flaky salt, so I sprinkled mine with ground sea salt.  Still very good! 

Here's the link to the recipe for you again.