Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

 Strawberry Rhubarb Pie <3

What is Rhubarb?

Rhubarb is a thick, fibrous, celery-like stalk that is red on the outside and green on the outside, and very TANGY! 

So why Rhubarb?

#1 Rhubarb and strawberries are in season

#2 The combination of sweet strawberries and tangy rhubarb is heaven in your mouth. Add a flaky pie crust and a dollop of your favorite vanilla ice cream and you can say "Hallelujah!"

#3 Just try it, you'll understand when you do!

The great thing about this pie is that it's SUPER easy! And it takes minor prep work. It's SO good. And part of the reason why this upcoming recipe is delicious is due to a crust recipe I've discovered from author, and pie purist Beth Howard. When I first moved to Ohio, I thought about taking a road trip from Ohio to California, my native state. I was looking for places to stop by on the way on Google search and the American Gothic House popped up. When I checked out the house, the Internet told me that a woman lived there. Beth Howard has a blog and wrote a great book about her life recovering after her husband suddenly passed away.

See book description here

American Gothic House

I rented the book from the library right away and was touched, not only by her love for her husband but her dedication in doing what she loves to do best: baking pies. She quit her very high-paying job  in the corporate world and began working at a bakery in Malibu, California for $8 an hour. Wow, this woman sure knows what she's passionate about in life. I recommend her book and you can find her blog at http://theworldneedsmorepie.blogspot.com/. Now she lives at American Gothic house in Iowa and sells pies in front of her house from the Pitchfork Pie Stand :). What a great story. And even better, she included award winning pie recipes in the back of the book!

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie <3

Prep time: 1 hour. not including chill time for pie dough. 

Ingredients

Filling:

2 packs strawberries (or 4 cups chopped)

2 cups chopped rhubarb (2 stalks should do it)

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pie Crust:

2 1/2 cups flour (but have at least 3 and 1/2 cups on  hand, as you'll need extra flour to roll dough and to thicken filling)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

Dash of salt

Ice water (fill one cup, but use only enough to moisten dough)

1. Preheat Oven to 375°F
2. Make the pie crust: Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and briefly mix it together. Add the butter and shortening and work them into the flour with your hands until you see marble-sized lumps form. Add the ice water, a little at a time, sort of “fluffing” the flour. When the dough feels moistened enough, do a “squeeze test”: if it holds together, you’re done. (Do not overwork the dough! It takes very little time and you’ll be tempted to keep touching it, but don’t!)
3. Divide the dough in half and form each half into a disk shape. Sprinkle flour under and on top of your dough to keep it from sticking. Chill dough for 30 minutes to an hour (or skip this step if you want pie FAST! chilling it helps the crust be flakier)
4. Prepare the filling: chop up the strawberries and rhubarb into bite-size pieces (2:1 strawberry-rhubarb ratio), combine in bowl, add sugar and cinnamon and lightly mix together. I do 2:1 because I like the pie more sweet than sour. 
5. Roll one disk out flat and thin enough so that the diameter is about 2 inches greater than that of the pie dish. Put the rolled-out crust into the pie dish and trim any excess dough to about 1 inch from the dish edge with scissors. 
6. Put filling onto pie crust, and roll out top crust. Crack one egg in a bowl, mix and brush top pie crust with egg mixture. This will give it a golden, crispy look. Poke holes in top crust with a fork, or you can do a lattice style top crust. 
7. Bake until fruit juices bubbles out of crust, about 40-50 minutes. 

...and I'd like to end this post with my twist on the movie Life of Pi:

I actually took this picture. and yes that is my strawberry rhubarb pie <3



Enjoy <3

The Fool Proof Parisian Macaron! Recipe from a Pierre Hermé expert!

On top is pictured green tea matcha macarons, and on bottom raspberry chocolate :)

Ok....I've decided to share my secret recipe from my Macaron class in Paris, France. Last semester I studied abroad in Rome and decided to travel to France during my time there. What is a visit to Paris without learning how to make one of their specialities, the macaron? As soon as I entered the classroom, a large room with a big wooden table, stoves, metal basins, and silicone mats for baking macarons, our teacher announced that she had actually worked under Pierre Hermé, one of the leading macaron makers in Paris! I didn't realize that day that I had taken home more than a box of delicious home-made macaroons and a paper recipe from La Cuisine Paris. I was taking home a secret recipe of goodness...one that I would use many times over for events, bakesales, etc...

La Cuisine Paris <3

Standing on a bridge over the Seine with my box of fresh macorons!

Inside the class of La Cuisine Paris

The first thing I can say about macarons...I love the dear things, and when they cooperate with me I am head over heels in love. But most of the time they are extremely fickle! You never know how a batch is going to turn out, but if you follow this recipe to a T and every one of my guidelines, which I've come up with through browsing other blogs, etc...Your macarons are going to be splendid. But! You CAN'T take any shortcuts...baking macarons teaches you the value of investment in every step of the recipe, and attention to detail, and PRACTICE! haha. hope i'm not scaring you cause you will forget all the pain after they come out of the oven and you are praised like a saint for baking them. Kind of like having a baby? Maybe, but I can't speak from experience :P.

Macarons with a friend

first batch of macaroons after attending the class

My first batch looked decent, but there are several things that could be improved. First of all, a proper macaron should not have any pointy peaks at the top of it, and no swirly texturing. Also, they should be perfectly round but also pretty flat too. However, for a first batch these were great.

Surface of the macarons will be grainy if they are too moist

if they are too liquidy and close together, they become snow men!

My second and third batch were a little too liquidy. This problem occurred because I did not fold the almond flour and italian meringue carefully enough. I also was using liquid food coloring. It is essential to keep the mixture as dry as possible, so use gel food coloring.

Macarons with no feet= italian meringue not made properly

some of these macarons had a cracked top because I did not dry them before placing in oven

The almond flour and Italian Meringue need to be folded carefully so as not to flatten and over-mix the batter. Fold the mixture, not too quickly, with a spatula until the batter is fully incorporated, do not fold too many times or it will deflate the batter. Also, after piping out the macarons, let them dry for 15 minutes on the baking sheet before putting them into oven. You can use a hair dryer or large fan to dry them faster.  Drying the macaroons will prevent cracking on the top! I will include more helpful details below :). Macarons take practice and patience, so keep trying and never give up! And let me know how this recipe works out for you!!

Green tea matcha macaroons!

Raspberry dark chocolate

Fool Proof Macarons (from La Cuisine Paris)

*you need a gram scale for this recipe, gel food coloring, and a stand mixer is always helpful
*you need a candy thermometer
*Indian stores usually sell cheap "almond powder"

Ingredients:
for 1st step:
300g ground almonds
300g powdered sugar
110g aged egg whites
Food coloring
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
for second step:
300g white sugar
75g water
110g aged egg whites

*in order to age the egg whites, crack them and separate the whites from the yolks a day in advance, and store in fridge. You will usually need up to 7 eggs or more. 

*For the filling, I recommend that you make it ahead of time, before you make the macaron shells. I found a great recipe for green tea matcha filling. Click here.

Also, for white chocolate raspberry filling (absolutely amazing!) click here.

-there are many recipes online for fillings.

2-Step Method:

1. Weigh ground almond flour and use a very fine strainer to sift. Using a stiff spatula to press the flour against the sifter helps quicken the process. Important!! not doing this wil result in grainy and chunky macarons. 

2. Weigh and sift the powdered sugar and add it to the almond flour. Mix together loosely. 

3. Add the egg whites and food coloring into the dry mixture (try out 2 drops food coloring and if you want more you can add) and mix thoroughly. Let it sit while you make the meringue. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

4. Italian Meringue: place the egg whites for the second step in a stand up mixer bowl. 

5. Combine sugar and water together in a small pan and set to medium high heat until it boils. When the sugar water mixture reaches 234°F, start beating the egg whites on medium high (8) speed. 

6. When the sugar mixture reaches 244°F turn it off and pour the hot mixture directly into the beating egg whites. Do not stop beating the egg whites at any point! 

7. Go on mixing the mixture on medium high speed until the bottom of the bowl is no longer hot. Should be around 122°F. 

8. Carefully add the meringue into the dry almond flour paste you made previously, a little at a time, and gently fold until it becomes the same texture all around. It should not be too thick, but drip semi-easily from the spoon. If it is a little thick, the macaroons will survive, but be more thick and meringue-like. 

9. Fit a piping tip that is smooth (not textured) onto the end of the piping bag and gently put the mixture into the piping bag. I like to fold the edges of a piping bag around a tall cup so that it keeps its shape while I put the mixture in. 

10. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (or I recommend silicone mats) and pipe mixture by aligning yourself directly over piping bag and pushing downward in the same direction. Do not move the piping bag while piping, or else the macaron will not be a perfect circular shape. Pipe them an inch apart and you can pipe them into 1.5 inch or 2 inch circles, or even bigger if you like.

11. Let the piped macarons rest ("Croûter") for 15-30 mins, and use a hand-held fan or hairdryer to dry them out even more. They should go from looking shiny to a dull glossy look. You can even lightly touch them and they should feel hard, like they have a shell on top. Drying them will prevent them from cracking while they are baking. 

12. Bake the macarons, one sheet at a time, at 320°F for 12-14 mins. If they wiggle when you touch the tops, that means they need to be baked more. 

Enjoy, and as always, 

 

Bon Appétit! These macarons are from Pistachia Vera, but used a buttercream recipe instead of ganache. Chocolate ganache is a great filling.

-Kaori

p.s. 

p.p.s. please send me all of your experiences, questions, comments, etc!