Cooking with Judy: Holiday season is pie season, even in a pandemic - OCRegister

arome.indah.link

It may be beginning to look a lot like Christmas, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Celebrating holidays in the middle of a pandemic has become quite a challenge.

Local venues have done their best with COVID-safe virtual visits with Santa as well as outdoor, socially distanced and drive-thru events. There is still time to enjoy Night of Lights at the OC Fair & Event Center, a guided experience through a mile-long route of themed holiday scenery with special effects. It runs until January 10. Go to nightoflightsoc.com for tickets and more information.

Also until Jan. 10, enjoy Santa’s Speedway Drive-Thru Christmas Lights in Irwindale, a 45-minute drive along an actual NASCAR track (santasspeedway.com).

The holiday parties that we’ve all grown used to have been pared down this year as well, but just because the guest list is smaller doesn’t mean the celebration is canceled.

Thanksgiving through New Year’s is pie season, and the Maple Caramel Pie by Tara Bench featured here is a stunner. Bench, author of “Live Life Deliciously: Recipes for Busy Weekdays and Leisurely Weekends” (Shadow Mountain, $32.99) demonstrated this pie on a recent episode of “Home and Family” on the Hallmark Channel.

Known to fans of her popular blog as Tara Teaspoon, Bench was formerly food editor at Martha Stewart Living and food director of Ladies Home Journal, and has more than 20 years experience creating recipes and styling food. As the industry has changed, Bench has moved into sharing her recipes online through her blog, tarateaspoon.com, where you will find more recipes for holidays and every day.

I met Bench at a pre-COVID book launch at Melissa’s Produce, where we were treated to a delicious lunch featuring recipes from the book, all made using produce from Melissa’s, as well as a cooking demonstration of some of the dishes.

“For much of my career I was a food stylist,” she said, “so I’m used to thinking about what a recipe is going to look like as I cook it and what will it look like when I serve it.

“We eat with our eyes,” she said. “You want it to look good as well as taste good. Use my recipes as guides, and then experiment on your own.”

Note, to avoid shrinkage, refrigerate the pie shell for at least 30 minutes before baking. Also, the edge of the crust can over bake if it is too thin. When placing the round of dough in the pie plate, leave an extra 1/2-inch overhang of pastry, and then fold it under itself along the edge of the pie plate.

For extra pizzazz, “you can use edible gold spray paint to spray extra hazelnuts for garnish,” Bench suggested. “It makes a pretty metallic decoration.”

Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.

MAPLE CARAMEL PIE

From Tara Bench recently featured on “Home and Family” on the Hallmark Channel

Ingredients:

• 1 single crust of all-butter double-crust pastry
• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup, grade b
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 3/4 cups hazelnuts husked/skinned, coarsely chopped
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Gold metallic color dust or food spray (optional)

Method:

1. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry, decorate or crimp edge and place in freezer until ready to fill.

2. Heat oven to 350 degrees with rack in lower third. Bring maple syrup, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt to a boil in saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling 1 minute, reducing heat as needed to prevent mixture from boiling over. Remove pan from heat. Add bourbon and butter; stir until butter melts. Let cool to lukewarm.

3. Beat together eggs and vanilla; whisk in cooled maple mixture. Spread hazelnuts in frozen crust in pie plate; pour mixture over. Bake until filling is set and slightly puffed, about 1 hour; cover crust with foil for last 20 minutes to prevent over-browning. Cool completely.

4. Toss extra hazelnuts with metallic dust, or spray with gold food spray for garnish. Store pie, covered, up to a day.

ALL-BUTTER DOUBLE-CRUST PASTRY

Makes 2 single crusts

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup ice water
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 -inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Method:

1. Mix together ice water and vinegar; set aside.

2. Mix flour, sugar and salt in food processor. Add butter and pulse until butter is the size of peas. Add 1/3 cup water-vinegar mixture in slow stream and pulse several times. Pinch dough to see if it is holding together. If it’s not, add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing once or twice after each addition, until dough just holds together.

3. Working quickly so butter doesn’t soften, gather dough together and divide in half. Form dough into two disks, wrap each disk in plastic wrap, and chill 30 minutes or overnight.

The Link Lonk


December 25, 2020 at 12:32AM
https://ift.tt/3pnt0St

Cooking with Judy: Holiday season is pie season, even in a pandemic - OCRegister

https://ift.tt/2CPpHAw
Pie