Give me pies, give me sweet little pies: Fudge Pie (Part 2)

This pie is from the other side of my family - the Southern side. 

 

In both name and location - my sweet Southern aunties have tasty many goodies!!  My auntie Valerie (Southern) Fulkerson shared this recipe with my mom Judy back in 1995.  It has since become a favorite of my brother Jeffrey, my mom and myself as well as my cousin Amy and, well, anyone who tries this pie!  The pie is very tasty and sinful.  It is good "naked" or with a meringue on top.  Whipped cream or ice cream will do in a pinch.  :)  Enjoy!

Fudge Pie

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 tablespoons corn starch
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 cups milk
• 3 egg yolks – beaten
• 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Pastry shell, baked (regular or graham crust)

Directions:

• Mix flour, sugar, cornstarch and cocoa in a medium saucepan.
  
• Gradually stir in milk.  Cook over moderate heat until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil 1 minute.
• Stir half of hot mixture into beaten yolks.  Add the yolk mixture back to the boiling mixture.
• Stirring constantly add butter and vanilla.
• Boil and stir constantly until very thick.  Remove from heat.
• Pour into pre-baked crust
• ENJOY!

(Kimberly & Amy enjoying Auntie Valerie's Fudge Pie, January 2009)

Give me pie, give me sweet little pies: Lemon Meringue (Part 1)

Amy's recent visit to Kimberly's house inspired a ton of baking and eating.  Amy brought many lemons - so we decided to make lemonaide, lemon meringue pie, avglomeno soup and lemon bars.  Lemon must have been in the air - as Martha decided to post a lemon meringue pie at the same time!  We used the original recipe from the Original Betty Crocker Cookbook, a recipe Ada Ruth used, but had we only had this recipe as well we could have made both versions!!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Prepare a baked pie shell.

Combine in the top of a double boiler:

1 cup sugar

5-6tablesp0ons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

Add very gradually:

2 cups water or milk

Stir and cook these ingredients over (not in) hot water for about 8 to 12 minutes until the mixture thickens.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes more.  Stir occasionally.  Remove the mixture from the heat.

pour a little of it over

3 beaten egg yolks

Beat this and return it to the mixture in the double boiler. Cook and stir gently, stillover boiling water, ab out 5 minutes more. Remove from heat.

Beat in:

3 Tablespoons butter

1/3 cup lemon juice

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind

Note: If you want a more lemony flavor add more rind--not more juice. Cool the custard by stirring very, very gently to relase any steam whch might thin the filling. Pour it cool into the cold pie shell

Cover with a meringue made with the 3 egg whites.

Meringue

Preheat oven to 325 -350 degrees

Whip until they are frothy:

3 egg whites

Add:

1/4 cream

Marshmallow Interlude

There is a TV series on the Food Network called "Good Eats."  I really like this show - mostly because it does a great job of describing the science and history behind recipies and how food works.  So....there was a show that inspired me to make a basic pantry staple - something I'd never considered making before - marshmallows!!  I have since talked about them to quite a few people...and shared them with anyone who visits us.  They are goooood.

It wasn't very difficult and the result is VERY tasty.  (It was worth the 15 minutes of noise from the KitchenAide and the strange gelatin smell...) I'm considering a batch with peppermint flavoring for use in hot chocolate...mmmmm.  And when I think about color and cutting out shapes - possibilities are endless!  

Here is the recipe - but if you see above I have linked to the original recipe on Foodtv.com.  I have included my personal modifications below.  Let me know if you try this out!  (It is messy...just be forewarned) Enjoy!

Homemade Marshmallows

3 packages unflavored gelatin 1 cup ice cold water, divided 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar 1 cup light corn syrup 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar 1/4 cup cornstarch Nonstick spray

• Place the gelatin into the bowl of a stand mixer along with 1/2 cup of the water. Have the whisk attachment standing by.
  
• In a small saucepan combine the remaining 1/2 cup water, granulated sugar, corn syrup and salt. Place over medium high heat, cover and allow to cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Uncover, clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 240 degrees F, approximately 7 to 8 minutes. Once the mixture reaches this temperature, immediately remove from the heat.
  
• Turn the mixer on low speed and, while running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture. Once you have added all of the syrup, increase the speed to high. Continue to whip until the mixture becomes very thick and is lukewarm, approximately 12 to 15 minutes. Add the vanilla during the last minute of whipping. While the mixture is whipping prepare the pans as follows.
  

For regular marshmallows:

Combine the confectioners' sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl. Lightly spray a 13 by 9-inch metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Add the sugar and cornstarch mixture and move around to completely coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Return the remaining mixture to the bowl for later use.When ready, pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spread this mixture with a lightly oiled spatula and spread evenly in the pan (Kimberly's Note: This will be messy and sticky - and I found it easiest to spread as much as I could, then I poured the remaining confectioners' sugar mixture over the marshmellows and spread to the edges.) Dust the top with enough of the remaining sugar and cornstarch mixture to lightly cover. Reserve the rest for later. Allow the marshmallows to sit uncovered for at least 4 hours and up to overnight. (Kimberly's Note: I let this sit for about 6 hours before cutting.)

Turn the marshmallows out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch squares using a pizza wheel dusted with the confectioners' sugar mixture. (Kimberly's Note: I made more confectioners' sugar mixture. I put it into a ziploc bag and put cut marshmellows into the bag and shook so the marshmallows wouldn't stick to one another.). Once cut, lightly dust all sides of each marshmallow with the remaining mixture, using additional if necessary. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.