Ah, yes. I am finally participating in a Sugar High Friday. To elaborate a bit, Sugar High Friday was created by The Domestic Goddess, a blogger who loves sweets. Essentially, it's a round up of themed dessert recipes from bloggers around the world. It's also hosted by a different blogger each month. Pretty cool, right?
The other day, I accidentally came across this month's Sugar High Friday call out when I was doing some research on a site called Idealist in the article, "Bake Sale in the Blogosphere." A woman named Rachel who runs the site Vampituity is hosting this month's Sugar High Friday and, my oh my, she has a great idea that I just couldn't pass up.
Click HERE to read about the "Pies that Evoke Dreams" project. The purpose of this month's pies (inspired by the movie Waitress) is to raise awareness and hopefully money for the Pie Ranch, an educational center for kids that teaches them about the food cycle. They grow produce and make pies from what they grow. And, they sell their pies in a shop in the Mission District in San Francisco. Thanks to my friend Jennifer, who lives in San Francisco, I already knew about the Pie Ranch and, of course, think it's fantastic.
Now, about my pie. It's STILL the dead of winter here in New England. Although it is now light when I leave work at 5:15pm every evening, the air is cold, cold, cold. We've had seemingly endless gray days. As of right now, we're expecting three to eight inches of snow which will turn into sleet. There is not one little yellow sun in the forcast for the next seven days. It's rather gloomy.
Therefore, my inspiration for the pie was the thought of spring. Something light. Something refreshing. Something that will make you say "YUM" and infuse a little energy into your step. Because, lord knows, all of us here in Providence are utterly fatigued from winter and anxiously (OK, desperately), awaiting spring. The super creamy and luscious filling of my pie is made from fresh tart lemons. I've used a good old fashioned buttery flaky crust and topped the pie off with the freshest berries I could find. My colleagues at work are in for a treat.
Sound delicious? Make a contribution to a nonprofit helping to transform the world 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.
Crust (From Williams and Sonoma Pie and Tart)
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter
3 tablespoons very cold water
Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut butter into small pieces. Make sure it is very cold. Add butter to flour mixture and toss to coat. Mix on low till the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. The butter should be pea-sized. Then, add water one tablespoon at a time. Keep mixer running on low. Mix just until dough pulls together. Form it into a four-inch disc.
At this point, you can roll the dough out to 12-inches and lay it in a pie dish. Then, refrigerate it for 30 minutes.
You will have to blind bake it (i.e. bake it off). Heat oven to 375 F. Line pie crust with foil. Fill with pie weights. Put on a sheet pan. Put in oven and bake for 25 minutes or so. Check it to see if it looks wet. If it still looks wet, keep it in with the foil until it doesn't. Then, remove foil and weights. Continue baking for another 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a rack.
Lemon Pastry Cream (Adapted from a site called Big Oven)
*Please read the note at the bottom before making.
3 cups half and half
zest of one lemon
8 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
juice of one lemon
2 tablespoons butter
Put half and half, half of the sugar, and lemon zest in a saucepan. Then, in a bowl, combine egg yolks, the rest of the sugar, and the cornstarch. Heat half and half mixture until it almost boils (just under a boil). Temper the eggs (i.e. pour some of the hot half and half into the eggs, whisk, and then return the yolk mix to the saucepan). Continue whisking over medium high heat for roughly five minutes. You want the mixture to thicken, but you do not want it to boil. Don't stop whisking. Then, take it off the heat. Add the lemon juice and butter. Mix thoroughly. Pour into the cooled pie crust while hot. Place a piece of plastic over it directly against the cream to make sure a skin doesn't form. Refrigerate for a few hours. Then, you can arrange whatever fruit you wish on top. I would also recommend a glaze of heated apricot or apple jam over the fruit. Just brush it on. I didn't have time to do this , but it looks nicer and preserves the fruit a bit.
Note: This pastry cream recipe could use a little tweaking. It needs to be a bit thicker. The taste was good; however, a bit heavy on the yolks. I would reduce the yolks by one or two, decrease the half and half by half a cup, and add (maybe) 1/2 teaspoon more of cornstarch. That just might do the trick.
Also, the actual Sugar High Friday is next Friday. And, sorry, for the dark photos, but there is a snow storm going on outside and no light to be had today (and my flash stinks).
