The Wandering Eater

Scones plated with orange slices

In case you haven’t noticed, I just have a bit too much time on my hands and I have a hankering for scones. I guess since it’s too evasive to find a great scone when I tried to search for it last year, I decided to bake a batch now.

Also the snow made me want to bake even more just because I’m stuck at home…except maybe digging it. *blech* Should I mention it’s the first real snow ever since winter has started?

Since I have too many of the typical blueberry, cinnamon or cranberry scones I just made up my own flavor: orange cognac raisin. Yeah, it’s the real cognac macerating (re-hydrating) the raisins with orange zest. I just chose orange since cognac has a slight tones of orange flavor when you taste or drink it. No. I don’t really like to drink alcohol…well, actually I like wine but not real liquor except to cook or bake with it.

Booze (Cognac) meets raisins

I used Alton Brown’s “Dried Cherry Scones” recipe from his book, I’m Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking. Obviously, I replaced the dried cherries with the macerated raisins and orange zest.

Did I ever tell you I love his show? It’s quirky, funny and it’s loaded with technical information on how and why you should do a certain technique, etc. It’s basically the same for this book, hence why I bought this book (and I’m more of a baker than a cook).

Onto the recipe! Don’t worry, it’s easy to make scones. I encourage you to bake some after you read the recipe and you have the liberty to create your own flavor, too.

Dried Cherry Scone
from I’m Just Here for More Food: Food x Mixing + Heat = Baking by Alton Brown

Yield: 8 scones

The Dry Goods
9 1/2 ounces (2 cups) All-purpose flour
1/4 ounce (2 teaspoons) Baking powder
1/4 ounce (3/4 teaspoon) Salt
2 1/4 ounces (1/3 cup) Sugar

The Fat
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) cold Unsalted butter

The Liquid
6 1/4 ounces (3/4 cup) chilled Heavy cream
3 1/2 ounces (2 large) beaten Eggs

The Extras
3 ounces (1/3 cup) Dried Cherries (or in my case macerated raisins (same amount) by using a tablespoon of cognac and 1 tablespoon of orange zest)

1. Place an oven rack in position C (the middle) and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Assemble the dough via the BISCUIT METHOD (see the following). Add the dried cherries (or raisins and zest) to the assembled dough and stir until just combined.

Biscuit Method:
1. Measure all ingredients. Chill or freeze all the Fats.
2. Combine the Liquids and beat well.
3. Take the Dry Goods, mix and move to a large bowl.
4. Rub the Fats into the Dry Goods until about half the fat disappears and the rest is pea sized. Place the mixture into the freezer to keep it solid.
5. Make a well in the center of the Dry Goods/Fats mixture. Pour the Wet Works into the well and quickly mix by using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
6. Turn the mixture out onto a piece of wax paper or parchment - dusted with enough flour to make the dough manageable and knead briefly.
7. Roll and pat out the dough into 1 inch thick round, cut and bake accordingly.

3. Using a serrated bread knife, cut the round into 8 equal wedges. Place the wedges on an ungreased baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

How it looks like after it’s cut and on a parchment lined sheet

4. Bake the scones for 23 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool. Serve at room temperature.

Scones just came out of the oven

Note: Keep in air-tight container for up to 3 days.

Just a reminder to you all, this is my last posting about baking. Probably you’re thinking, “Finally!” Yup, Monday I’m getting out of my house and start eating out and there’s a ton of places that I want to try or eat. I just hope I have room in my stomach and still fit in my clothes…

in your LIFE! I recently bought The Weekend Baker from Amazon just because well…I want to. The recipes seem easy to make and it’s very tempting to save lots of time.

It’s a nice change to my last post on the Chocolate Variation of Lady M’s Mille Crêpes Cake. I don’t have to kill two or more hours just for one little domed cake. These cookies took about a half hour to 45 minutes from start to finish. And all is from scratch. Now that’s my kind of recipe. No fuss, it’s a very familiar dessert to eat, and not much cleaning post-baking.

Close up of the walnut chocolate chip cookie

Cookie split open to show texture

You want the recipe, right? Read on!

First thing, when you make these from your pot (the recipe is entitled “One-pot Chocolate Chip Cookies) the batter looks greasy but that’s normal. It’ll come out perfectly fine. You get that buttery taste but not the grease. The texture of the cookies is basically chewy on the inside, crisp on the outside with a wonderful buttery flavor with a good ratio of nuts, chocolate and cookie.

One-Pot Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 26 cookies
From The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge

8 tablespoons (4 ounces/113 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1/2 cup (4 ounces/113 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces/71 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces/191 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup (6 ounces/170 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips (you may substitute white chocolate or bittersweet chocolate chips)
1/2 cup (2 ounces/57 grams) coarsely chopped nuts (I used walnuts), optional

1. Position an oven rack on the middle rung. Heat the oven to 350 degrees (180 degrees Celsius). Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment or nonstick baking liners (like Silpat).

2. Put the batter in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted. Slide the pan from the heat and add the brown sugar and granualted sugar. Whisk until no lumps remain. Set aside to let cool, about 5 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk until well blended. Once the butter mixture has cooled, add the egg and vanilla and whisk until blended. Pour in the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula until well blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and the nuts, if using.

4. Using a small ice cream scoop (about 1 2/3 inches/4.25 cm in diameter) or 2 tablespoons, drop scant 2-tablespoon mounds of the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, arranging them about 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) apart. (At this point, the loaded cookie sheets can be slipped into the freezer until the cookies are frozen, about 1 hour. Then transfer the cookies to heavy-duty freezer bags and freeze up to 3 months. To bake, remove from the freezer, arrange on lined cookie sheets, and leave on the counter to thaw slightly while the oven heats.)

5. Bake 1 sheet at a time (make sure to use a cooled sheet for the second batch) until the cookies are light golden around the edges and puffed, about 12 minutes. If these cookies are overbaked, they won’t come out chewy. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Using a spatula, lift the cookies from the sheet onto a rack and let cool completely.

Today, I’m craving for the dessert type crêpes and I had an ample amount of time to kill. Inspired from much buzz from the past year of Lady M’s Mille Crêpes cake (and I have tried it about half a year ago; before I started this blog) and the current craving of chocolate (what else do I love more?) and crêpes I thought, “Why not make a bittersweet chocolate version of the Mille Crêpes cake?!” So, I searched the web for a dependable crêpes cake recipe and lo and behold I found it from Martha Stewart’s site (you’ll see it at the end of this post).

The changes I’ve made from this cake recipe is that I used Alton Brown’s technique of making crêpes by blending the batter (since I’ve tried mixing it with a whisk for two minutes and it’s still lumpy), used small metal hemisphere molds from the company Ateco (you can see here, even though it’s not from the Sur La Table site but you know what I’m talking about), that I bought about a year or two ago from Sur La Table in SoHo and shaped (more like stuffed into submission) the crêpes into that mold and layered with a bittersweet (70%) chocolate ganache with a semisweet chocolate whipped ganache frosting. You can sum it up as a “death by chocolate” crêpes cake dome: semisweet chocolate crêpes filled with a bittersweet chocolate ganache, frosted with whipped chocolate ganache and stabbed with a pulled caramel piece on top as decoration. It’s a calorie bomb and a chocoholic’s dream. Also if you happened to love the smell of melted chocolate and brown butter, this is your recipe. The scent lingered in my house for an hour or so.

I suggest you to allot yourself at least two and a half (read: 2 1/2) hours to make it. Yeah, it’s a long time: about 1/2 hour or less to make the crêpe batter, 1 1/2 to 2 hours for the batter to refrigerate (it’s a necessary step), during that waiting period you make the chocolate ganache filling and frosting, and about 1/2 hour to create enough crêpes to fill one hemisphere mold (which is about 10 or so). Trust me. The time you invest, it’s worth the effort. If you don’t want to make this cake, you can just make chocolate crêpes and have a chocolate sauce on top or have some Nutella on it. Mmmm… probably I should make that next time for breakfast.

Here’s the original recipe from Martha Stewart. My changes will be in parenthesis or in red.

Darkest Chocolate Crêpe Cake
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus melted for pan
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups whole milk, room temperature
6 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Hazelnut Filling
Chocolate ganache frosting & Chocolate ganache filling (see below the crepe recipe)
Chocolate Glaze
Candied Hazelnuts (I just used a simple caramel recipe: 2 parts sugar, 1 part water and boil until a light golden brown color. Let it sit for a minute to be slightly malleable and )

1. Bring 1/4 cup water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until completely melted. Set aside.

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla in another medium bowl. Gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Add chocolate-butter mixture, whisking until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard lumps. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

3. Lightly coat an 8-inch crêpe pan or nonstick skillet with melted butter. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove pan from heat; pour about 2 tablespoons batter into pan, swirling to cover bottom. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook, flipping once, until edges are golden and center is dry, about 30 seconds per side.

4. Slide crêpe onto a plate. Repeat process with remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed. Crêpes can be refrigerated, covered, up to 1 day.

5. Place a crêpe on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Spread with about 3 tablespoons hazelnut filling. Top with another crêpe. Continue layering with hazelnut filling and crêpes, using about 32 crêpes and ending with a crêpe on top. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

Lightly grease the hemisphere molds. Gently place a crêpe into the mold (you really want to be gentle with the first one since it’s the outermost part of the cake), fold and press the crêpe until it covers in the mold in one thin layer. It is fine to have the crêpe hanging out of the mold. Spread a small amount of the chocolate ganache on the crêpe. Continue to layer the crêpe with the ganache until you completely fill the mold. The crêpes that are hanging out of the mold will be trimmed off with a knife, so that it is leveled with the edge of the hemisphere mold. Wrap the mold tightly with plastic wrap and freeze for three minutes. The brief minutes in the cold holds the layers a little better than left at room temp. Take out the cake from the freezer. Remove the plastic wrap from the hemisphere mold. Unmold the cake by using a thin blade knife, gently running it in along the sides.

6. Spoon 1/2 cup glaze (or frosting) on top of the cake, spreading to edges. Spread remaining glaze around sides of cake, coating completely. Refrigerate until glaze is firm and set, about 20 minutes. Cake can be refrigerated up to 3 days. Garnish with toasted and candied hazelnuts

Chocolate Ganache Frosting
Makes 1 2/3 cups

12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 quart heavy cream

1. Melt chocolate with cream in a heavy saucepan, and cook over very low heat until the mixture is smooth and glossy.

2. Transfer the mixture to a bowl, and refrigerate until cooled but not too firm, 30 to 45 minutes.

3. Using a handheld mixer, beat on high speed until thick and creamy. Use immediately.

Chocolate Ganache Filling
12 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 quart heavy cream

1. On a piece of parchment, finely chop chocolate using a serrated knife; place in a large bowl.

2. Prepare an ice bath. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream to a simmer. Remove from heat, and pour over chopped chocolate. Using a rubber spatula, gently stir until chocolate melts. Divide mixture between two heat-proof bowls. Set one aside. Set one bowl over ice bath, and stir until mixture reaches the consistency of toothpaste.

Bon Appétit!

I guess you’re getting tired of me making desserts. I’m sorry. It’s just that I’m really stuck at home, so bear with me…just one more week.

Anyways, I’m bored at home and I wanted to make a fruity yet rich dessert. I remembered watching Ina Garten making frozen berries with hot white chocolate sauce on the Food Network the past week and I was craving for something similar but just not using berries since they’re off season and I have tons of citrus fruits. So, I logged onto Martha Stewart’s website (if you haven’t noticed, Martha’s one of my cooking/baking idols) and I found a recipe for zabaglione with grapefruit.

I altered Martha’s recipe just because well…I wanted to. You may compare the difference when you get to the recipe part. It just becomes a bit more citrusy in flavor since I took out the water and replaced it with fresh squeezed orange and grapefruit juice.

I also mentioned that this is done two ways: original and brûlée. I liked the brûlée form just because you get that crunchy, smoky, slightly bitter burnt sugar top. It’s different and interesting once you try it.

Brûléed honey zabaglione with grapefruit and orange supremes

Honey zabaglione with grapefruit and orange supremes

The recipe is after the jump.

Honey Zabaglione with Grapefruit and Orange
Adaptation from Martha Stewart

Zabaglione, a whipped egg-yolk mixture, is an Italian classic. We added honey and enriched it with whipped cream, then spooned it over grapefruit and orange for an elegant dessert.

1 red grapefruit
1 navel orange (or any other orange you’d like)
4 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons good-quality honey
1 tablespoon + 1/4 teaspoon fresh grapefruit and orange juice (equal parts)
Pinch of coarse salt
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon (for each serving) granulated sugar for the brûlée option.

1. Remove peel and pith from grapefruits with a sharp knife. Working over a large bowl, carve out segments from between membranes, allowing them to drop into bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Whisk egg yolks, honey, the orange and grapefruit juice, and salt in a heatproof bowl. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water; whisk vigorously until doubled in volume, about 10 minutes. (Or you may save your arm and hand by using a hand mixer).

3. Meanwhile, put cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form. Remove yolk mixture from heat. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold whipped cream into yolk mixture until combined. Refrigerate zabaglione 15 minutes.

4. Divide the grapefruit sections among serving dishes. Spoon zabaglione over top of grapefruit.

5. (for the brûlée) Sprinkle the granulated sugar on top of the zabaglione and use a hand held torch to burn the sugar. Just make sure your glass is heat proof or can stand the heat of the blowtorch. Eat immediately and enjoy!

Note: The egg yolks in this recipe are not fully cooked. It should not be prepared for pregnant women, babies, young children, the elderly, or anyone whose health is compromised.

Whenever we hope for something so much and once we get it, we don’t care for it anymore. I guess that’s what makes us human; we are frivolous souls who always in need with something else to distract us at the moment.

I know I sound livid right now. No, I’m not angry at anyone or anything; I’m just bored to tears that my “vacation” is supposed to be enjoyable and carefree but I feel like time is slipping away by doing relatively nothing. I’m spending my precious vacation days with studying for LSATs (dreading on June), running on the treadmill, veg out in front of the TV, and finally bake.

Isn’t it fruitful? My sarcasm is killing me now…Onto the cake! Yes, I paired a flowering tea with this cake. I can’t help it. I live in a house who loves tea and I’m a tea drinker (but I love coffee and espresso more).


A few words about this tea…
Those of you who haven’t read or seen my earlier piece about this particular tea when I had lunch at home, this tea was purchased from Dean & Deluca; the tea company is called Red and Green Company. There are other tea companies and purveyors who might sell a very similar tea, such as Numi. I think the last time I went to Takashimaya, they sold this particular tea.

It’s a very beautiful tea to look at. You plop in a tea “blossom” (that looks like a tied up bundle of leaves) into a glass (my preference is a large wine glass such as the Chardonnay as you see) of hot water and it blooms in front of your very eyes within 3-5 minutes. I probably should have done a photo series of this blooming tea and run a slide show as time elapses…maybe next time when I’m deathly bored.

Anyways, it’s a very floral, grassy tea; that’s if you’re interested in how it tastes. I think this tea would pair well with the chocolate cake since both have a certain earthiness that goes well together and the tea’s grassiness kind of undercuts the rich sweetness of the cake.

The chocolate cake…
I used Martha Stewart’s One Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe. Even though I have time, it doesn’t mean I wanted to do something complicated and lengthy. I’m just not motivated to do complicated recipes today. So this seems fitting to what I wanted to do: easy to make and easy to clean up. I guess my favorite part besides the baking part was torching the meringue at the last minutes before consumption. As you’ll see below:
Somehow, it’s almost a primitive feeling for a person to have fun playing with fire or gadgets. I just have to be careful not to really torch my meringue to the burnt, inedible stage…

Anywhoo, the cake came out well. It was moist, chocolatey and it’s not too sweet. The meringue “frosting” of sorts actually gave the cake the sweetness it needs to be really balanced.

I’m starting to devour this cake…

Cake sliced

Cake innards

I should mention that I baked this cake in individual size. I used a small 4 1/2 or 5 inch springform pans and adjusted the baking time. The recipe that follows is for 8 inch cake pans but you may also do this in cupcake form. It’s a very versatile recipe to bake. The surprising thing is that there’s no butter in this cake. I know, it’s a horror but I ran out of butter and forgot to pick some up from my local supermarket. It won’t happen again…unless I’m going on a healthy dessert streak (which I truly doubt).

One Bowl Chocolate Cake
from Martha Stewart

Makes 2 eight-inch square or 3 eight-inch round layers

Unsalted butter, for pans
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pans (I used Valrhona’s Gastronomie Cocoa)
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Butter round or square cake pans, and line bottoms with parchment; butter parchment, and dust with cocoa.

2. Into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, stir in eggs, 1 1/2 cups warm water, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla until smooth, about 3 minutes.

3. Divide batter among prepared pans. Bake, rotating once, until tester inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes for 8-inch layers, depending on amount of batter.

4. Let cakes cool in pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely, right side up on rack.

Meringue
4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar

Put egg whites and sugar into a heatproof mixer bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until sugar has dissolved and mixture reaches 160°, 4 to 5 minutes. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until stiff peaks form, 7 to 10 minutes. Mound meringue on top of cake; swirl decoratively. Serve or you may brown the meringue with a hand held torch or place it in a 475° oven until browned.

Today’s really dreadful to go out. The rain is pouring, the winds blowing hard…and I’m bored. To kill some time, I just wanted to make something gooey and chocolatey. My chocoholic mind popped up with a chocolate pudding cake!

I remembered I saw a recipe from Martha Stewart’s website that has this (posting’s title) particular recipe. I found the “Individual Dark Chocolate Pudding Cakes” and my mind screamed, “Perfect!” It’s a very simple recipe. Surprisingly, there’s a very small amount of butter but it’s delicious and it satisfies my chocolate craving. Onto my baking and here’s the results:

Honestly, I would just eat the batter instead of baking it…

Not the prettiest thing but it’s pretty darn tasty!

Oooh…chocolatey goodness! :p

Individual Dark Chocolate Pudding Cakes
From Martha Stewart
Makes 3

For the batter:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole milk
1 ounce white chocolate, chopped into 3/4-inch pieces (about 1/4 cup)

For the topping:
2 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 cup boiling water

Vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)

1. Make the batter: Preheat oven to 350°, with rack in center. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla in another medium bowl. Stir in flour mixture and milk, then the chocolate.

3. Make the topping: Stir sugars in a small bowl, smoothing any lumps. Sift in cocoa powder; stir to combine.

4. Place 3 ramekins (each 3 1/2 inches in diameter and 1 1/2 inches deep) on a baking sheet. Pour in batter. Sprinkle with topping. Pour 1/4 cup boiling water into each. Bake until set, 25 to 28 minutes. Top with ice cream (optional). Serve immediately.

It’s the first weekend of the new year and it is unusual for this time of the year to be near 70 degrees! All of the 21 years of my life living in New York and I have never seen such weather in the beginning of January where we can practically go out with your spring clothes. I just hope the ice age is not coming…yeah, it’s the anxious/pessimistic side of me speaking here. Sorry.

Anyways, I had lunch and I wanted tea but I wanted a twist with it so, I just made an all butter shortbread (how can that go wrong) and a green tea drink.

I’m not going to tell you if that tea drink has any booze or alcohol. I’ll let you guess. All I will divulge is that it has green tea. Those of you who know me, you know if it’s a virgin drink or not.

I like how the light hits the martini glass…

The shortbread cookie is truly unadulterated butter. How can you go wrong with an all butter cookie? It’s rich, crisp yet deceitfully light in texture. It’s hard to stop eating them!
Here’s the recipe to this cookie.

Shortbread cookie (from Martha Stewart)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until combined. On slow speed, beat in flour and salt until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap; chill until firm, at least 2 hours, or overnight.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough until 1/16-to-1/8 inch thick. Cut out hearts with a 2-inch heart cookie cutter. Transfer cookies to an ungreased baking sheet; chill for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 300º with a rack in the center. Press the tines of a fork into each cookie to make designs. Bake until just beginning to brown around the edges, about 18 minutes. (Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for about 5 days.)

In the form of dessert, that is.

Yeah, my mom’s still in the holiday mode of eating; hence the Christmas plate

My mother was wanted a dessert this morning that can be eaten by dinner. She has an obsession with citrus type desserts that is a bit decadent as well, so the frozen key lime pie the bill.

The pie is very refreshingly tart, a bit creamy from the condensed milk and egg yolks, and the crunchiness of the graham cracker crust. It’s a beautiful symphony of sweet, tart, crisp, and creamy characteristics of this pie that made my mom craving for more after her first slice. Heck, I have to guard the freezer from her eating more of that pie!

So here’s the recipe:
Frozen Key Lime Pie
Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa Family Style.

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (10 crackers)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
6 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons grated lime zest
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (4 to 5 limes)

For the decoration:
1 cup (1/2 pint) cold heavy cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Thin lime wedges

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

For the crust, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and butter in a bowl. Press into a 9-inch pyrex pie pan, making sure the sides and the bottom are an even thickness. Bake for 10 minutes until firm and golden. Allow to cool completely.

For the filling, beat the egg yolks and sugar on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for 5 minutes, until thick. With the mixer on medium speed, add the condensed milk, lime zest, and lime juice. Pour into the baked pie shell and freeze.

For the decoration, beat the heavy cream on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until firm. Spoon or pipe decoratively onto the pie and decorate with lime. Freeze for several hours or overnight.

Note: If you have concerns about raw eggs, combine the yolks with 1/2 cup of the lime juice used in the recipe in a double boiler. Whisk constantly over medium heat until the mixture reaches 140 degrees. Use in place of the raw egg yolks, remembering to add the remaining 1/4 cup of lime juice to the filling mixture along with the condensed milk and zest.

On the title, I’ve written, “future plans” just because in the next two weeks or so, I’m not planning to write a new post unless I’m really dying to bake something out of boredom or just because I have to (by the command of my mom). Around the week of January 22, I’m going to eat out at fine dining restaurants in the city because of the Winter Restaurant Week (the link takes you to online reservations at Opentable) that’s starting on January 22-26, 207 and January 29-February 2, 2007; where 3 course lunch is $24.07 and dinner is $35.

I’m just trying out 4 (2 per week on Tuesdays & Thursdays for lunch, since that’s when I have time), starting with A Voce (I hope they have the duck meatballs on that menu), Morimoto (yup, the Japanese Iron Chef’s place in the Meatpacking District), Eleven Madison Park (I’ve eaten there pre-Daniel Humm and renovation period but not recently), and finally Lure Fishbar. Usually, there’s a lot of nay sayers about the Restaurant Week because there’s a lot of limits to what you can order on the menu but since I don’t have the luxury of spending on an upwards of $40 for lunch, I’ll take my chances. I just hope I don’t die from gluttony or face with food that doesn’t sparkle. I meant in ways that the food is ok, but doesn’t rock my world good.

Correction (as of 1/3/07): I changed the Morimoto reservation to Telepan since I’ve re-read reviews on Morimoto that it had great, flashy environment that is meant for the hipsters but the food is inconsistent. I’m more for the food than the settings. Hence, the change in reservations. Also, I’m going to be eating with a friend on my A Voce reservation. Yay! :D