The Theory of Pie

Pie=pi, theory - math, get it? Gosh, I crack myself up.

No really, when it comes to baking, the theory of pie is pretty simple - make a crust, put something in it, cover it, or not, and bake (or not if you are looking at icebox pies filled with like pudding, or fresh fruit, but that's kind of a tangent - tangent, more math, man I'm good!)

The thing is, not all pies are created equal and what sounds good in theory can miss the mark in execution. Like this spinach and feta pie I made.



See, I told you I was on a pie kick.

The spinach and feta pie was something I had bumping around my brain since thinking up applications for the whole wheat and olive oil pie dough I made for the surprise birthday pie. Then there was a Swiss chard pie with olive oil pie dough in Everday Food (curse you Martha). Then I knew what I had to do. I took her basic recipe for the filling, added the Chocolate and Zucchini recipe for the dough (using the original recipe and not the sweet variation) added a little feta and wham! instant pie.

Well, it was pie. But it really wasn't ...mmm... pie... Here are some things that I think could be improved:

The Crust:
1) Use some all purpose flour, I think the texture came out a little too grainy. It wasn't noticable in a traditional usage, but when the folds double up in this galette style pie, it really becomes a prominent textural feature.
2) Roll the crust thinner. See the reasoning behind number 1.
3) Use less salt and better olive oil. The amount of salt called for in the recipe seemed to be a bit too much in practice, and my olive oil could have been fresher. When olive oil is one of the main flavor profiles of a recipe, it should probably be pretty decent olive oil.

The Filling:
1) Cook ingredients separately, and don't cook the lemon juice. The EDF filling recipe called for cooking the greens, pepper flakes, onions and garlic, taking off the heat, and THEN mixing in the lemon and Parmesan cheese but I didn't read the directions carefully enough or thought I could take a shortcut and the result was too acidic without really being recognizably lemony. I also added mushrooms. The combination of flavors just became muddy and nothing stood out, they all just tasted green and sharp. Valuable lesson: follow directions.
2) More garlic. When is this not a good idea?
3) More pepper flakes. See number 2.
4) Use full fat feta. I don't know what on earth possessed me to purchase low-fat feta. It is grainy and unpleasant. It doesn't fare well when baked either. Next time I will just suck it up and use the full-fat version. Its not that bad for you and it tastes SO much better.
5) I may play around with adding a bit of sweetener. The acid really needed a counterpoint. Maybe caramelizing the onions a bit more, or making them with balsamic vinegar and omitting the lemon would work. This fix is to be determined.

Baking:
1) Bake longer. I got gun shy and bits of my crust were a bit soft still. Wait till the whole thing is golden brown (which I have to say is hard to do when your dough is pretty brown to begin with.
2) Use a wash. This is really just for aesthetic reasons. The plain crust was really just a little sad. It would have benefited from a little shine.

There you go, not a perfect winner, but perfectly edible (I did end up eating the whole thing over the next two days) and a learning experience to boot. I think this one can be worked out, but we'll save the recipe till later then.

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Baking Cookies with John Mayer

Chocolate and spice. To me, they go hand in hand. In fact, I prefer my chocolate to have an edge. No milk bars for me, bring on the 70% dark with cocoa nibs and chile pepper. I have been thinking about making some spiced chocolate icebox cookies for a week, but I needed to 1) find a good starting recipe and 2) make it happen.

Tonight, I finally baked some up with my new friend John Mayer. You see, he and I have developed a very close relationship over the last few days, and, what with his On Demand VH1 specials expiring at midnight and my access to his Storytellers episode coming to a close, I felt I should celebrate our time together.




So while Mr. Mayer sang the best of his back catalog and played some bitchin' guitar, I got out the butter, flour and sugar, and mixed up some lovin' from the oven. I started with this recipe for plain chocolate icebox cookies and then spiced it up a little. You know when I said I don't mess with recipes for baked goods? Yeah, I lied. It started with a little cinnamon and a little Mexican chocolate, but then I didn't have enough cocoa so I had to improvise a little. It kind blew up from there.



I didn't take these cookies quite as far into spicy as I had originally intended, but they do have a nice warmth. I think in this case there is something to be said for subtlety. Even though they aren't exactly what I had in mind when I started out, they're still pretty darn good dunked into tea. I've posted the final recipe as I made it below, but if I did it again I would up the spice factor (1/2 or 3/4 tsp cinnamon maybe, a full 1/4 tsp black pepper? I will have to play with this), use all cocoa, leave in the extra 2 Tbsp of sugar, and not bake them quite as long (take out at 8-9 min?).



*Soundtrack optional, but something tells me the man appreciates quality baked goods.

Spiced Chocolate Icebox Cookies

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I ran out and used 1/4 cup cocoa and 1/4 cup hot chocolate mix)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (table salt)
1/4 tsp Mexican Cinnamon, ground (canela)
1/8 tsp black pepper, ground
3/4 cup butter, unsalted and softened (3/4 cup = 1.5 sticks)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (original recipe calls for light, I was out)
1/2 cup minus 2 Tbs sugar (I removed 2 Tbs to compensate for the sugar in the drink mix, if using all cocoa leave in)
2 squares (2 oz) - ish chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 2 squares Mexican Chocolate plus 1/2 square Belgian Dark to smooth it out)
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond extract
1 large egg

Mix Dry Ingredients
1) In a medium-large sized bowl, thoroughly mix together flour, cocoa (or cocoa/hot chocolate mix), baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and pepper with a whisk or a fork.

Mix Wet Ingredients
2) In a second, larger, bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium until light and fluffy (if you don't have a mixer this will still work, just use a whisk and some arm strength). Beat in chocolate, vanilla, and almond extract until well combined. Beat in egg.

Mix Wet and Dry Ingredients
3) Reduce speed to low and beat in flour mixture in three batches. Combine well after each addition.

4) Divide dough in half, roll into 12" logs, and wrap in parchment paper. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, or overnight. You can also wrap parchment covered log in plastic wrap and freeze.

Bake
5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove one log of dough from the fridge (leave second log in the fridge to remain firm or keep for later use) and cut into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices on two parchment lined cookie sheets one inch apart.

6) Bake 10-11 minutes, switching the sheets between racks halfway through baking. Cool on cookie sheets for 1 minute, transfer to wire cooling racks (or a plate) to cool completely. Repeat for remaining dough.

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