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What do you like to do with oranges when you have an over-abundance of them? Last week we became the grateful recipients of some delicious, tree sweetened oranges. I already was able to can some Cranberry Orange Marmalade, but that only made a small dent in our inventory. I promised you more recipes, and today I have a really sweet one for you, perfect for a Valentine's Day dessert.
Everyone has probably heard of citrus curds. Lemon curd is the most well known. It is delicious on scones or in a pie. I have seen recipes for grapefruit curd as well. So, I thought why not an orange curd? Of course, it turned out sweet and wonderful. But, you know how I am, the gears started turning and I thought about how much we like chocolate with oranges. Those chocolate covered orange sticks are a family favorite, and those chocolates that are shaped like an orange come to mind. So, I thought, why not an orange curd meringue pie with a layer of chocolate ganache? I hadn't really even made a ganache before. It was so easy! If you haven't made one, you will wonder what you have waited for. So, lets start making this delight, one step at a time.
First I made the Orange Curd. After you make it, it has to cool for an hour. During that time is when I made the pie crust and the ganache. Here is the orange curd recipe:
After I put the pie shell in the oven, I made the chocolate ganache. Here is the recipe:
Seriously, that is it! So simple! Depending on how sweet you want the ganache, use that sweet of chocolate in it.
After the shell is out and slightly cooled, I spread a thin layer of the ganache over the bottom of the shell. I had enough to coat two pies. Then I let it cool a bit. When the ganache is fairly cool, spread the orange curd over the top of it. The final step is to add the meringue. I whipped up the 6 whites that were left over with a little cream of tartar and when they started to get whipped, I added sugar (to taste) until stiff peaks formed. Then, I piled it onto the pie. Now, you put it in the oven set at 450 degrees F for about 5 min. (Well, as you can tell, I left mine in a little longer. I got distracted. What you really want is for the meringue to be set with golden brown parts on the peaks.)
Now, you need to refrigerate the pie until it is set. We had a little trouble waiting quite long enough, but the result was delicious.
There was enough orange curd for 1- 9" pie. If you are wondering what I did with the other ganache coated pie shell, I filled it with chocolate pudding and topped it with whipped heavy cream! you can't go wrong with that!
Now, for the rest of these oranges, I will let you know how my orange chicken turns out!
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My grandkids have been in town and we have been so busy having family fun that the blog has been neglected a bit. Have you missed us?
On our About Us page, you can read about how this blog is a family affair. Today's post idea proves just that, because it was inspired by a thought my son had. You see, we were getting ready for our Memorial Day Barbecue and I was gathering things for the ice cream bar I told you about on this post. I had sugar wafers sitting on the counter to add to the mix. My son saw them and asked, "Are you going to crunch these up and make a pie crust?" Well, that got my mind turning and I thought that it sounded like a great idea for a light chiffon or cream pie. So, we made it happen.
On my first attempt, I thought that the cream filling inside the sugar wafers would be enough to hold the pie crust together once it was refrigerated. That did not prove to be the case. The pie was still delicious, but it fell apart. So, on the next attempt, I added 3 T. of melted butter to the wafer crumbs to help them hold together. Then, pat it into your 9" pie plate.
We filled our pies with lemon chiffon filling, chocolate chiffon and just regular chocolate with whipped cream.
To make the lemon chiffon, just mix up lemon pie filling as normal, I used a Jello box mix this time, or make it from scratch. Then, let it cool just a bit while you whip up the egg whites. Fold the egg whites into the lemon mixture and then pour into your 9" sugar wafer crust and refrigerate for a few hours. You could always make regular lemon meringue pie as well, browning the meringue in the oven. Then, refrigerate just the same.
For the chocolate chiffon pie, use a similar technique. Make chocolate pudding and then fold in about 2 cups of whipped cream into it. Pour it into your 9" sugar wafer crust and refrigerate until set. Top with more whipped cream and use your zester to add some chocolate zest on top!
Of course, you can just pour the chocolate pudding in straight and add the whipped cream on top later.
There are some great reasons why this sugar wafer crust is ideal:
Check out other cool pie posts :
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The other day I was watching a local morning show. They had a chef from the Four Seasons Restaurant on the show doing a segment about the PieCaken, the dessert answer to the Turducken. It was an amazing thing. If you can't decide if you want to eat a piece of cake or a piece of pie, you can have a PieCaken. He quickly showed how he made it and I thought, "I have to try this!". But, I had a
few roadblocks because, for one thing, the end result was so huge! When the chef made it , he used pecan pie and pumpkin pie in a spice layer and a maple layer of cake. It looked so cool when he sliced it, but it also looked like a lot to eat. I didn't think a pie would fit into my regular 9" round cake pans either.
I researched around the internet a bit to see who else was making this thing. One media commentator said that this dessert had been around for quite a while in the dessert underground. I didn't even know that there was a dessert underground! So I was talking to Alicia about my desire to make one and blog about it and also my dilemmas and she suggested that I turn it into a cupcake version! Genius! (Then I saw today that it had been done before, but I still think my daughter is a genius!) We decided that we would try to make it a little lighter and use angel food cake with a cherry pie filling.
Here is how we made our version of the Piecupcaken:
First I used my mom's Pie Crust Recipe and a 2 inch bisquit cutter to fill my mini muffin tins with crust. Bake them at 400 degrees F. for 15 min.
Meanwhile, mix up an angel food cake mix.
Cool the shells briefly when they come out of the oven and then fill them with cherry pie filling. Put cupcake liners in a regular sized muffin tin and put a ladle full of cake batter in the bottom. Then, set the filled pie shell in the middle of the batter. Top the little pie with more cake batter.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 min. I tried this for 20 min, but the fluff of the cake didn't hold up as well as at 25, even though the cake batter did cook all of the way through at both tries.
When it comes out of the oven it looks like a regular cupcake. We were worried that the angel food batter would be too fluffy to hold up, but it was fine! You can see the pie peeking through a little bit, but there was no sogginess on the bottom or anywhere.
We frosted them with a light and fluffy Marshmallow Cream Frosting. We found the recipe for it on Kraft. Add a few sprinkles and there you have it! A Piecupcaken! A pretty, delicious and original Christmas dessert!
One of the benefits of this pie, cake mash-up is that the crust does allow you to have a fruity center of the cake, without it getting soggy and the fruit sinking to the bottom of the cake.
While we worked on this we came up with some other flavor combinations to try:
So many possibilities! Let me know what combinations you come up with!
This is the last pie in our Thanksgiving Pie Series. This pie is a little different from the rest, which were dessert pies, (plus a printable). At our house, we try very hard not to waste food. So, we eat leftovers. Sometimes we even love leftovers! This pie is a great way to use up your Thanksgiving leftover turkey and ham (we usually have both at our large gatherings).
As I was planning what we would do for this series, Madalynn suggested that we do a meat pie. I thought it was a great idea and I started thinking about a good recipe that would use up the combination of poultry and ham. The first thing that came to my mind was Chicken Cordon Bleu. The blending of the chicken and ham with Swiss cheese sounded like something I could turn into a pie! To try it out, I used chicken because of course I hadn't cooked the turkey yet. But, I often use chicken and turkey interchangeably with small variation in flavor. This pie turned out so good, I can hardly wait to make it again with turkey after Thanksgiving!
When Glen and I were married 37 years ago, we received a Better Homes and Garden Cookbook as a gift. I have used it extensively throughout our married life. It has been republished many times over the years with changes and updates, but I still use my original edition. One of the recipes in it used rice as the crust of a meat pie. I thought that was a great idea for a change of pace from all of the pies that are already being eaten for the holidays. Madalynn and I tried it for this pie and it turned out great!
Click the button to get the recipe for the rice pie shell.
Now it is time to make the filling. I used about 2 cups each of both chicken (or turkey) and ham. Then, I chopped up about 1/4 c. green onions and 1 bell pepper, (any color). I sauteed the peppers in a little olive oil with the meats, just to soften the peppers and to warm up and brown the meats, then removed to a bowl and reserved for later. In that same pan, melt about 1/4 c. of butter and mix in quickly about 5 T. flour. When mixed, pour in 2 c. of chicken broth and add salt and pepper. Cook and stir until thickened. This is basically a white sauce. Now, return the meats and peppers to the pan with the sauce. Also, throw in the green onions. Mix it all together then pour it into the pie shell. It will really fill it up, just pile it in! Finally, lay Swiss cheese slices over the entire thing to cover. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 min. Let stand for a few minutes before serving. It will serve 8. Click on the pictures below and the button to get more instruction and for the printable recipe.
Now, I wouldn't call this low-cal, but it is sure good! So, go eat your pie and do some online Christmas Shopping! Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at 3 Winks! See you on Friday!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
June 2024
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