Monday, October 12, 2009

chocolate pudding pie

I don't want to jinx the pie crust making, but I think I might be getting pretty good at it. Last weekend, I made a Chocolate Pudding Pie with an all butter pie crust. The recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen, and I followed the pie crust tutorial. And I did it. There were no expletives this time.

I started with a mixture of flour, salt, and sugar. I cut in the butter, and then slowly added ice water. The dough came together quite nicely, and then instead of adding more water to pick up the wayward crumbs, I was actually patient and followed the instructions to gently knead the dough together. (but not too much or else it will get stringy) And you know what? It all worked. I formed the dough into discs, wrapped them up with plastic wrap, and put them in the refrigerator for about an hour.

Before I rolled out the dough, I gave myself a pre pie crust pep talk. This time, I didn't roll the dough between wax paper. I sprinkled flour on the table and on top of the disc. The dough rolled out quite nicely and didn't even stick to my rolling pin. It did stick to the table, but I rescued it with my bench scraper. (that might be the secret weapon) I was able to gently pick up the crust, fold it loosely into quarters, and place it in the pie plate. Sweet, sweet victory. Everything turned out just as expected. Drew was in my living room when I first started, and I had to call him over to witness my success.

I baked the pie shell using my new ceramic pie weights and let it cool. The filling is a chocolate pudding with a whipped cream topping. And chocolate shavings.
The pie held together quite nicely after I cut into it.
I really enjoyed this pie. It wasn't too sweet, and it was nice and refreshing. The crust was flaky, but seemed a tiny bit tough and chewy. I'm not sure if that is because I handled the dough too much or if it's because the pie was cold from refrigeration. Or maybe it's a combination of both.
In other semi-related news, baking just got easier: Drew and I got a Kitchenaid stand mixer last weekend. It is red. I get to keep it at my place. The baking will commence as soon as I find a place to put it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love my KitchenAid stand mixer! We got one in Black, to match the appliances, but dang do I wish sometimes that I had gone with my gut and stood up for Red.

Have fun with your mixer!

Carolyn said...

some pie sounds really good right about now. just saying.