Page 128: Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Okay, now I really feel like a cheater.  Only when forced to sit down and document my progress did I realize that I've been taking a lot of liberties with the handful of remaining recipes. Let me explain...

I was down to four recipes and it was Thanksgiving - so I thought this pie would be the perfect recipe to knock out in honor of the holiday.

However, rhubarb was nowhere to be found at the three grocery stores I visited last Wednesday. Maybe this is because it's just not rhubarb season, or maybe it's because I live in one of the most remote places in the country. Regardless, it was simply not available.  After several minutes of google research whilst standing in the produce department of grocer number three (what did we do before iPhones?), I learned that cranberries can be substituted for rhubarb in strawberry-rhubarb recipes because they have a similar sour quality. One blogger also advocated the substitution of swiss chard simply because she bought it on accident and couldn't tell the difference (though subsequent google searches strongly advised against this particular substitution).  

It was Thanksgiving after all, and cranberries were so readily available... so I made the switch. I was a woman on a mission with just four recipes to go. So yes, I consider this recipe done.

I cooked the cranberries down with a half cup evaporated cane juice then used them as directed in the recipe.  This addition of sugar probably made the whole thing sweeter, but it turned out pretty good anyway. Besides, since when did extra sugar ruin anything?

I learned my lesson from last year and made the dough only when I was ready to make the pie, and even left it in the fridge for just a smidge under the 20 minutes suggested. It was so much more manageable this time and rolled out easily.  However, the final version still didn't really taste like a pie crust and certainly lacked the flakiness of traditional pie crust.  However, if you have eat gluten free it's probably a pretty good pie considering your options.

While I was at it I made a baby pie in a ramekin so I could sample without cutting into the pie before dinner.

The filling was a tart and sweet combination, and overall I thought it was pretty good.  Not as good as my Mom's pie crust for sure, but considering it doesn't have butter and is made from spelt, I'll take it.

THREE recipes to go!

Page 125: Ice Cream Pie

I hosted another dinner party recently (okay, it was two months ago - I'm a bad blogger, I know).  As per usual, I used the gathering as an excuse to make another tasty BabyCakes recipe. I like to make the pies and cakes when I know we will have a larger group to help consume them, lest I have leftovers still tempting me when I arrive home from work after a particularly stressful Tuesday.

This ice cream pie starts with a crust made of BabyCakes double chocolate chip cookies.  Then you layer on two pints of vegan ice cream (I used the delicious Island Vanilla flavor of Luna & Larry's coconut milk ice cream), chocolate sauce, and more crumbled cookies.  If you look closely you'll also notice I took the creative liberty of adding a layer of crumbled cookies in between the pints of ice cream.

As you can see, we were all far too distracted with eating the pie to bother with taking pictures.  

This pie was good and relatively simple. You could go all out with different flavors of ice cream, too. I think a version featuring peanut butter would be genius.

So far, so good on the pies and cakes! Unfortunately, a cupcake recipe still remains on my "to bake" list so I fear failure looms in the near future. Stay tuned.

Page 122: Apple Pie

Blogger note: I apparently drafted this in November and never published it! My apologies! Better late than never I suppose...

My Thanksgiving baking continues!

I had been wanting to make this apple pie for a couple of weeks... ever since I tried to make it and didn't have spelt flour so ended up making apple crisp instead. While apple crisp turned out great, I was anxious to both cross this recipe off the list and take my first ever shot at making a pie.

Full disclosure: I was just a mess of efficient ideas gone bad this Thanksgiving. My downfall on the pie was my grand idea to make the dough for the crust the night before. The recipe calls for a 20 minute refrigeration between making the dough and rolling it out for the crust. I, somehow, took the liberty to think this meant I would obtain similar results by refrigerating it not 20, but 720 minutes.

Given what I know about the chemistry of coconut oil (an ingredient in everything BabyCakes it would seem), I cannot believe I didn't think through what would happen to this dough after 12 hours in the fridge. And yet, I was shocked to find the pie dough had solidified into a rock hard disk when I pulled it from the refrigerator on Thanksgiving day.

Unfortunately, I had used up the last of my vat of coconut oil on the corn muffins so I couldn't start over - my only option was to hope that when warmed to room temperature, it would magically transform back into workable pie dough.

I wasn't entirely disappointed, but it was in no way as malleable as it had been the day before. I managed to roll it out, but it didn't hold together well and it was tough to get a nice, thin dough (I also think it would help to invest in a real, heavy rolling pin rather than use my little pastry roller).

The high point in the making of this recipe was how amazing my house smelled when I roasted the apples for the filling. So yummy.

I also made a few baby pies in my new, adorable ramekins (thanks, Angie!!). I thought these were just the cutest little things ever.

The finished product was actually quite yummy, but the dough was a little dense. Like the corn bread fiasco, I think I have to accept responsibility for that and try it again - this time actually following the directions! While it's probably tough to get a flaky pastry dough that is also gluten free, I can't help but think it would have been lighter if I'd been able to roll it out as intended.

It may not have been super light and flaky, but the flavor was great and the BabyCakes roasted apples are just delicious! I really need to find more excuses to roast apples. And, since there is at least one more recipe (Apple-Cinnamon Muffins) that calls for them, I'm sure they will be making an appearance again soon!