Chocolate Meringue Pie

 Hello! Yes, I am still here. The past two months have been a bit crazy. No excuse I know, but  you will forgive me when you try this wonderful pie. 


Chocolate Meringue Pie (to be exact).


Bake your favorite pastry dough (or buy one).






For the Filling:

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• Pinch of salt
• 3 cups milk
• 3 eggs, separated
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons butter
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1.In a saucepan, combine the chocolate, 1 cup sugar, cornstarch and salt. Mix well. Stir in the milk. 

2.Place the pan over medium heat and bring the mixture to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally. Cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. 

3.Beat the egg yolks. Add 1/2 cup of the hot mixture to the egg yolks and mix well. 

4.Add the mixture back to the saucepan and continue to cook for 2 minutes. 

5.Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and butter. Pour the filling into the prepared pie shell and cool completely. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until chilled.

I used my go to meringue recipe from Joy of cooking. 

Soft Meringue Topping

Preheat oven 350 F

1. Beat 4 large egg whites (room temperature) until foamy. 

2. Beat in 1/4 tp cream of tartar until soft peaks form. 

3. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup of sugar. 

4. Beat in 1/2 tp vanilla.

5. Spread over filling and be sure to seal the meringue by lightly pushing it to edge of the pie shell. 

6.  Bake in oven until the tips of the meringue are browned. 

Il était magnifique! 

Until next time, joyeux cuisson! 

Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes and Buttercream Icing

Well, this did not go as well as I hoped. I just wasn't happy with the icing, I'm sure it's me. I'm going to hunker down soon and perfect my buttercream. Here it goes, perhaps you will have more luck than me...

Cupcakes:

You need:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (1/2 cup-12 capacity) muffin tins with cupcake papers.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flours. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the milk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until the ingredients are incorporated but do not over beat. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter in the bowl to make sure the ingredients are well blended. Carefully spoon the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes in tins for 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool completely on a wire rack before icing.

Icing:

You need:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

6 to 8 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place the butter in a large mixing bowl. Add 4 cups of the sugar and then the milk and vanilla. On the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat until smooth and creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Gradually add the remaining sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition (about 2 minutes), until the icing is thick enough to be of good spreading consistency. You may not need to add all of the sugar. If desired, add a few drops of food coloring and mix thoroughly. (Use and store the icing at room temperature because icing will set if chilled.) Icing can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

All and all these are fine. I did adjust the icing recipe a bit. Tonight we are having Jamie Oliver's perfect mushroom soup, and I can't wait to share it with you. Until then-

Joyeux Cuisson,

Better Late than Never

Mr. Weinberger and I are pretty much settled into our new home in San Antonio. This week we are making all new recipes, and I hope to be sharing them with you soon. For now I'm going to share some of the Christmas goodies we enjoyed at our house. Yes it is January 23rd, but Christmas lives in the heart of each of us all year round. Right? Right.

Who doesn't love, Oreo Balls

These are really simple and most of you probably already know how to make them.

You need:

1 package of double stuff Oreos

1 8oz package of cream cheese

1 package of white chocolate chips

1 package of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Dump cookies into food processor and chop until they are pretty fine.

2. Put "cookies" into a large mixing bowl along with the cream cheese and mix all together by hand.

3. Using a cookie scoop form the mixture into balls and place on a baking sheet.

4. Cool for about 15 mins. if you can.

5. Meanwhile make a double broiler and melt desired chocolate chips.

6. Take your Oreo balls and swirl them around in the chocolate until coated. Do this until all the balls are covered.

Joy of Cooking, Meringues

Preheat oven to 225 F

You need:

4 large egg whites

1 tp of vanilla

1/2 tp cream of tartar

1 c superfine sugar

1. Bean in a large bowl on medium speed until soft peaks form: the egg whites, vanilla, and cream of tartar.

2. Gradually one TB at a time add the sugar.

3. Beat until the meringue holds stiff peaks. I like to pipe mine, but you could use a spoon and dollop them onto the baking sheet.

4. Bake in oven for about 1.5 hours until hard and not sticky.

I hope to be back very soon. Until then-

Joyeux Cuisson,

All Hallows Eve

This weekend was filled with some really good eats. It began Friday evening with our friends Dan & Amy and a Weinberger favorite: Cast Iron Deep Dish Pizza and Chocolate Candy Corn-alicious Cup Cakes.

For the Pizza:

1 Large pizza dough from your local pizza joint

6-10 Cremini Mushrooms

1 8oz. can of garlic and herb tomato sauce

3 Links of Italian Sausage

1 8oz. package of Low Moisture Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 425 F

Begin by slicing and sauteing your mushrooms and It. sausage in a non-stick pan over medium heat.

Meanwhile roll out your room temp. pizza dough.

Dab a paper towel with oil and spread the oil around your cast iron to prevent sticking. Lay your pizza dough over the cast iron skillet & cut off the excess dough.

By now the mushrooms and It. sausage should be done. Fill your pie with the meat mixture, your sauce, and cover with cheese. Traditional deep dish has the sauce on top- but I like to see the beautiful browned cheese.

With the excess dough I like to make bread sticks covered in 1 TB of butter, garlic powder, & herbs de provence.

The pizza should take about 25 min. depending on the oven. I like to check mine after 20 min.

Voilà!

For the Cupcakes:

For the record I did make scratch chocolate cupcakes, but they weren't chocolate-y enough. It was Friday afternoon and I didn't have time to do it again. This box mix actually turned out really tasty!

Go Here for the icing recipe!

Sunday we had all orange food in honor of Halloween, so we enjoyed homemade tomato soup and sweet potato oven fries.

For the Soup: Courtesy of Martha Stewart

Serves 6

tablespoons unsalted butter

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1 to 2 cloves garlic (optional)

2 (14-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 cups Basic Chicken Stock, or water

1/2 cup heavy cream (optional)

Melt butter in a medium stockpot over medium heat. Cook onion and garlic (if using), stirring constantly, until soft and translucent, about 3 minutes.

Add tomatoes, their juices, and stock. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer tomato mixture to a blender, food processor, or food mill. Puree tomato mixture (if using a blender, cover the lid with a kitchen towel while machine is running).
*I actual used an emersion blender, which worked great. While I was blending I slowly added 1/2 & 1/2 in place of the cream.

For the Sweet Potato Fries:

Serves 2

2 average sweet potatoes

Salt & Pepper

Garlic Powder

Preheat oven to 415 F

Peel and slice potatoes, we do ours about a cm thick. Sprinkle with olive oil, s & p, and garlic powder. Spread over a cookie sheet and bake in oven for about 30 min. *Flip after 15 min.

As you can see I like it pretty simple. Sometimes I like to jazz it up, but I don't see that happening for another week and a half or so. Until next time Joyeux Cuisson!

My First Post

Hello Foodie Blog world! This is my first official post on my new Foodie/DIY blog. I was going to try and hold out for Halloween, but I just couldn't make it. I am so excited about this blog. Honestly, I'm really not sure why. I'm not especially great in the kitchen, nor do I have loads of time on my hands to do DIY projects; however, I just really feel the need/want to document my role as a wife. As explained in the 'about' section, being a wife for me means doing the above in addition to all the other fun stuff. So- off we go!

Fall is well underway and one way to enjoy this wonderful season is by baking. The first time the weather changed I made one of our new favorites with a slight twist: Fall Doosies. AKA: Mr. Weinberger's favorite chocolate chip cookies with orange butter cream icing.

For the Cookies: These really are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever had!

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
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• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
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• 2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts.
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• 3. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned. Let cool on a rack.
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For the icing: Adapted from another foodie blog.

3 sticks room temp butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

7-8 cups sifted powdered sugar (just about 2 lb)

1/4 - 1/2 cup milk

1. Cream butter/shortening until smooth, approx 3 minutes on medium using paddle attachment.

2. Slowly add sugar, once all added crank up speed on mixer to med- high and whip it up for approx 1 min.

3. Add milk, depending on your liking: stiffer~ less milk, creamier ~ more. If you add too much, no worries, just sift in a little more sugar.

4. I only add vanilla extract if I am coloring the frosting, otherwise, it is just as tasty without and the extract tends to make it a little tan, unless you use clear vanilla.

This will frost 24 cupcakes (piped on)

or cover 9" round cake.

Spread icing on underside of cookie with your choice of utensil (I like to use an icing spatula), and voilà! Tu finis!

While this isn't the most difficult of recipes, they are quite délicieux!

Until next time, Joyeux Cuisson-Joyous Cooking!