Kitchen Wench

I have many formative childhood memories involving my dad taking me to get chocolate malts, usually as a special treat after something crappy, traumatic experience (like the dentist).  If that’s not emotional eating, I don’t know what is.  But I digress.   The point is, I have deeply rooted positive associations with the taste of malt powder.  So when I saw The Pioneer Woman’s recipe for malted chocolate chip cookies, I let out a great squee of excitement and rushed home from work to bake these.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of these cookies.  You’re really not missing much, as they are surprisingly unattractive.  I presented one to a coworker and he said, “I’m not sure I want to put this in my mouth.”  But the ugliness becomes a moot point because as soon as you eat one, you find that it’s totally necessary to eat at least five more.  This is an exceptional cookie.  There’s only one slight flaw…

They don’t taste like malt.

The malt flavor is really strong in the dough, but somehow it morphs during baking into this warm toffee flavor.  Don’t get my wrong, these still taste awesome, and clearly the malt is doing something to give it that deeper flavor and a great crisp-chewy consistency.  (And I love that in a chocolate chip — none of that gooey, partially cooked center for me.)  But it didn’t taste like my childhood, which I realize is maybe a lot to ask from a humble baked good. Still, these cookies are fantastic, and I would 100% make them again.  And you should too.

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This pie tastes like summer. I made it for a work picnic on Thursday. I was going to make a strawberry rhubarb pie, but Giant was out of rhubarb. Instead, I got some purple plums and Bosc pears, both of which were a bit under ripe. I was a little skeptical of the flavor combination, but it turned out great! The pears and plums were cooked, but not mushy. The texture contrast was great with the soft strawberries. Also, this pie tastes very fruity, but not overly sweet. I think this might be my new favorite pie.

For crust: I swear by this all-butter crust recipe from Bon Appetit

For filling:

• 1 lb ripe strawberries (1 of those plastic flats = 1 lb)
• 6 firm medium purple plums
• 4 firm Bosc pears
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 heaping tbsp corn starch
• 1 tsp high quality cinnamon (I use Vietnamese Cassia Cinnamon from Penzey’s and it makes a huge difference in the flavor. If using lesser quality, I would increase the amount.)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (I received a bottle of Haitian vanilla for Christmas and it’s got a wonderful bright flavor that I love with fruit. Mexican vanilla would also work nicely.)

1. Make crust dough per Bon Appetit’s recipe. While dough disks cool in the fridge, make the filling.

2. Hull and quarter strawberries. Cut plums and pears into roughly 2″ sized pieces. You can leave the skins on. Toss cut fruit with the sugar, corn starch, cinnamon, and vanilla. Set aside.

3. Roll out 1 disk of dough for the bottom of the pie. I like to roll my dough between two sheets of plastic wrap. This means I don’t have to worry about my dough sticking to my counter or rolling pin. Once you have rolled your dough out to the desired thickness, carefully peel the plastic off one side of the dough. Lay the dough into your pie plate, plastic side facing up. You can then grip the plastic side and adjust the dough as needed. Once your dough is in place, carefully peel off the other piece of plastic and press into the pan. If there are any holes, you can patch them with excess dough on the edges of the pie.

4. Pour fruit into pie. Roll out the second disk of dough. After you’ve peeled off your first piece of plastic, you can cut little shapes into the crust with a cooking cutter. I use the pointy end of a chopstick to pull the cut outs off the plastic sheet on the backside of the dough. Lay the dough over your fruit, plastic side up. Be extra careful when removing the plastic, as it is easy to tear the shapes. Alternatively, use a knife to cut a few vents for the steam to escape.

5. Use a pair of scissors to trim the excess dough from the edge. Fold edges over and crimp as desired. I am terrible at crimping. If you want to learn how to crimp your pie nicely, Epicurious has a nice instructional video. Otherwise, you can just use the tines of a fork to smush the edges together.

6. For a nice golden crust, lightly beat an egg and brush it over your finished pie. Sprinkle with sugar for extra crunch and flavor. Bake the pie at 375 for 45 minutes – 1 hour.

Makes one 12″ pie. Easily adapted for a 10″ pie–just mound the fruit in the middle.