Fresh Strawberry Pie

Strawberry season will soon be here in upstate New York.   Nothing better than a fresh strawberry pie.   I can fortunately bake through two seasons of fresh strawberries with my daughter living in South Carolina.

Their season runs through April and May and then of course I can come home and ours will start in June.  

We love fresh fruits in our house.  We often eat them for dessert after dinner or for a snack.   I have to admit summer fruits are my all time favorites.  We have many opportunities to go pick your own in several places within a 50 mile range of our home.   We start with strawberries and then move on to raspberries, black raspberries, blueberries and black berries.  

A fresh strawberry pie is a favorite in our home.   Big sweet juicy berries coated with a thin layer of glaze made from cornstarch and Jell-o and piled high in your favorite crust.

There are several flavorful crusts that work well with fresh strawberries.   I have made and tried all butter crust, half butter half Crisco crust, store bought, graham cracker, short bread and a crushed pretzel crust.  

There are also several types of glazes you can do as well.   You can purchase a glaze where you add water, heat and stir,  you can make the above Jell-o version or you can get a jar of seedless strawberry jam add a little water and heat on the stove, let cool and coat your berries.  

Here is my recipe with the Jell-o version of glaze.   Feel free to swap  out and try different crust recipes.   

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Cheesecake Large and Mini

Our family has always liked cheesecakes whether they are large, small, ice box or baked.  They can be plain or topped with a variety of goodies.   You can change up the type of crust you make from graham cracker, chocolate cookie, pretzel, cereal or vanilla wafer.    You can also change up the flavor of the cheese filling.  The choices are endless.  You can mix and match to whatever your family prefers.

Last weekend we attended a graduation party and I made mini cheesecakes to take with me. 

Topped with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries

Topped with animal crackers, fruity pebbles, and mini chocolate chips

Plain, Large M&Ms and Mini Oreo cookies

As you can see with all the different toppings there was quite a selection to choose from.  I have used this recipe for a number of years and it has always turned out good.  Give it a try you won't be disappointed.

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Had a graduation party to go to and I don't like to go empty handed.  So these mini cheese cakes got topped with homemade Strawberry Rhubarf jam and half of a fresh strawberry.  

 

These mini cheesecakes got topped with crumbled up baklava. 

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Tis The Season for Rhubarb

I can remember the patch of rhubarb that grew at my mother's house, my childhood home.   I also remember in the spring time when the rhubarb would get about foot tall and underneath those big dark green leaves you could find bright red stalks.   As a young girl I would pick a stalk and go running back to the house to find the sugar bowl, where I would take that fresh picked stalk of rhubarb and stick it straight into the sugar bowl and then take a bite of the rhubarb and all of the sugar that would stick to it.   This ritual would continue until the entire stalk had been dipped in sugar and then devoured.   Great combination of sweet and sour.  What I don't remember is my mom making anything with the rhubarb.   That's not to say she didn't, I just don't remember or I didn't like it once it was cooked. 

Now days I have a few small patches of rhubarb growing in my yard. I have trying to grow them for at least 10 years.  They are slow in spreading but provide me with enough to make a few batches of Jelly or other treats.   My backup plan involves good friends who have a large patch and they often let me pick my fill if I ask nicely.   

This year I expanded my repertoire from just making Rhubarb Jelly to making a few other things.   

I took my Raspberry Bar Recipe and turned it into Rhubarb Blueberry Squares.  

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Next I swapped out half the blueberries in my Blueberry Lemon Loaf recipe for an equal amount of fresh chopped Rhubarb.   Scooped the batter into paper lined muffin tins and made Blueberry Rhubarb Muffins.  

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Lastly, was twist on Puff Pastry Straws using my Rhubarb Strawberry Jelly as the filling. 

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All of these were big hits with family and friends, I can tell because there were no leftovers. 

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Going to the Chapel

I am told repeatedly by friends and family I should open a restaurant or bakery.  My reply: " Too much work.  I only bake for family and friends."

Seriously,  just about the time you think you have a recipe down pat, you make it and it is flop.  For instants, this past weekend I made an Oreo cake with Pudding Frosting and wouldn't you know it, the frosting was a flop.   I have made the recipe hundreds of times, but for all intense purposes this weekend it did not turn out.   I had to doctor it up or throw it out.  Thankfully, doctoring it up worked.  

Now back to baking for family and friends: My nephew asked if I would make his wedding cake with not much information other than he was all about chocolate and his fiancé requested strawberry or marble.   They weren't fussy and said I could have free range, but they were expecting around 150 people at an outdoor reception.

I am not crazy.   I have only made a large tiered wedding cake one time in my life and that was for my parents 50th wedding anniversary.  It's a lot of work and you need a special cake stand.

Not a great photo of the cake but the only photo I have.   My mother cutting her 50th Wedding Anniversary Cake.  Not sure where my dad was, but most likely wanted no part in cutting of the cake.   

I decided for my nephews wedding to make three smaller cakes and lots of cup cakes. This would make it easier to travel and suit a variety of  tastes.   Plus, cupcakes are all the rage these day.

As you can see from the photo below the Grooms cake was all about chocolate.  A chocolate cake with pudding cream cheese frosting topped with ganache and chocolate covered strawberries.

The Grooms cake.

The Brides cake was Strawberry cake layered with strawberry jam,  frosted with vanilla pudding cream cheese frosting and topped with white chocolate covered Strawberries

The Brides cake.

The Mr. and Mrs. Cake was a Marbled cake, frosted with vanilla pudding cream cheese frosting and drizzled with chocolate ganache and topped with both white chocolate and chocolate covered strawberries.

My display for the cakes was a three tier  Victorian style stand.

Besides the three smaller cakes I baked several different flavored cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcake with peanut butter mousse frosting topped with ganache and peanut brittle.

Chocolate High Hat Cupcake with dark chocolate mousse frosting dipped in chocolate and topped with sprinkles.

Banana Cupcake with Banana pudding frosting topped with marshmallow banana and dried banana chips

Pistachio Cupcake with Pistachio frosting and nuts



Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting topped with mini chocolate chips and maraschino cherry.

Strawberry cake topped with jam, cheesecake frosting and white chocolate dipped strawberry.

Lemon cake with lemon pudding frosting and candy lemon wedge.

There is no recipe today, just photos, but some of the recipes have been posted in the past.  Follow the links for those recipes.  

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Cannoli Twisted

For those of you who have no idea what a Cannoli is......It is this wonderful Italian pastry made with a thin crunchy shell that has its own distinctive taste filled with a slightly sweet ricotta cheese filling with just a smidgen of semi-sweet chocolate chips or pistachios for decoration. If you can get your hands on the right kind of cannoli they are simply delicious. What is the right kind you ask? Well you have to figure that out for yourself. You will find there are no two places that make them alike. Some use different flavorings, some make different shells, my only advice is to taste test until your heart is content. Once you find that golden Cannoli that suits your tastes like no other, you will revisit the bakery often to quell your Cannoli cravings.

 

In the area where I live we are fortunate to have a large number of Italian decent settle in a nearby city. Wow, did they bring some great recipes with them. Numerous businesses have since come and gone highlighting many of those recipes. However, there are a few that are still in business and making those traditional recipes. Here is a link to order from the bakery that makes my favorite Cannoli:   Florentine's Bakery .They also have a large array of other appetizing and scrumptious tasting goodies that will make your taste buds hurry through dinner just to taste the dessert.

 

It has taken me several years and attempts to even come close to a copycat recipe. To tell the truth I never really tried too hard because I could just take a trip into the city and buy them. Now that I only work part-time, I have plenty of time on my hands to experiment.

 

As I stated above, I had tried a few times earlier to make them from scratch with not so great success. It is hard to duplicate the ricotta needed for the recipe. In researching many cannoli recipes I found that many use mascarpone or a mixture of different soft cheeses. Others talk about a drier special made ricotta which is hard to find these days. After several attempts I found that just draining the ricotta overnight wasn't always long enough. Still more of them use different ingredients all together and all this was just for the filling.

 

Next came the shells. Again, many different recipes, some using similar ingredients while others used different ingredients. Depending on the taste you are looking for. Again, I had attempted in making my own shells a few times. It was a little difficult finding the forms to make the shells, but once I found them they were cheap enough. However, the outcome was not to the success I had hoped for. A little time consuming, a lot of fiddling, and needed to acquire the knack of making the dough, putting it on the form and then manage to find the trick in deep frying them and keeping the dough on the form while doing so. Whew! Let's try some of those already made shells I have seen in a box in numerous stores.

 

Pre-made boxed Cannoli shells are sold in several stores in the city and in three different brands. Let's do a taste test of the three. Almost comparable to Goldie-locks and three bears, except my hair is graying and with any luck the cannoli shells will taste a heck of a lot better than porridge. Found a box while shopping one day good chance to try my luck at making them again. This attempt turned out okay. The shell tasted fine but the filling was overly sweet.

 

Let’s go onto to the next attempt using much less sugar. Dilemma! When I went back to the store to get more shells there was a different kind. Attempt number two resulted in failure. Although they were edible I found the filling to be good but the cannoli shell wasn't that great.

Back to the store again to see if I could find the first cannoli shell. What the hell, no such luck. Several stores later, still no such luck. Began to wonder if I had imagined the blue box, after all I had thrown it out and couldn't even remember the name. Thank god for the computer and my great ability to search for items. Yup found them, but before ordering on-line I had one more store in the city to check. This store had three kinds of shells, the two I had tried previously and another one that come in a fancy box labeled gourmet. My curiosity got the better of me. Picked up a box of the ones I had been looking for and a box of gourmet ones to try.

 

Cannoli shells number one in the blue box turned out to be quite yummy and my personal favorite. They are made by Ferrara.  Box number two, greasy and a little over cooked (sorry Lynne, you were given samples of the second attempt). Box number three tasted okay but not as good as the ones in the blue box.

Dilemma number two. What do I do with all the broken bits from the Cannoli shells? Why not try a deconstructed Cannoli? Works for the chefs on the television, use the same or like ingredients to recreate a new outcome that dazzle's the taste buds and is a feast for the eyes. I think I did pretty well. What do you think?

 

1 16-oz. container of ricotta, drained 24 hours in a cheese cloth, in sieve over a bowl.

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

mini chocolate chips

Small dark chocolate cups

Broken Cannoli Shells, crushed into crumbs

Fresh Berries of you choice, straw berry, raspberry, black berries

Ricotta

Place cheesecloth into sieve and place sieve over a bowl. Pour ricotta into cheesecloth. Fold over cheesecloth to cover ricotta. Place in refrigerator for minimum of 24 hours. Ricotta needs to be dry in order for recipe to turn out well. If it is not dry, you will need to drain it longer or try squeezing out some of the liquid by twisting the cheese cloth.

 

Filling

When ready to make filling, remove ricotta from refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Place ricotta into mixing bowl. add vanilla, powdered sugar, cinnamon. Mix until incorporated. Batter should be of thick consistency. Stir in couple of tablespoon of mini chocolate chips. Place into ziploc bag or tupper container and place back in the refrigerator until ready to use.

You can pipe or spoon cannoli filling into chocolate cups. Sprinkle cannoli shell crumbs over filling. Pressing them into the filling if you need to. Top with a fresh berry of your choice. Refrigerate until ready serve.



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