P.S. Pie

My sister has recently gone gluten free, for that matter so have both my mothers. A little familial pressure and a rapidly growing market have inspired me to do some experimentation in the realm of alternative flours. My first trial was inspired by the bounty of fresh picked blueberries at the farmer's market here in Sunnyside, Queens. I set to work at home with the standard recipe, using Bob's Mill All Purpose Flour and Xanthum Gum instead of my normal King Arthur Flour. The dough tasted...miserable. I've always claimed that butter can rescue anything, but the savory chickpea mash that I rolled out on the counter resembled tortillas more than pie crust. A load of cursing and pounding later and the pie was in the oven. I figured I could rescue the fruit and make another frozen pie with it. I talked my friends out of eating any, and resolved that gluten free baking was a lost cause.

And then I took a bite. It's delicious. So here's to P.S. (it's gluten-free) Pie.

The Perfect Cookie Crumble Crust

After a brief stint in Thailand, I am back and baking more than ever! It seems the warm weather, a new kitchen in Sunnyside, and the oodles of time that lay before me have opened my mind and the cupboards to plenty of experimentation.

I made a batch of ginger cookies that I was very excited to post. Unfortunately, they were thick and bready. I blamed it on the oven at first and cleaned up in defeat (I later realized that the wheat flour I was using was not a good substitute for the recipe). With my mind clearer, and my sweet tooth still dissatisfied, I decided the cookies might crumble (haha) into something much more delicious...pie crust! It was a bit too hot in the kitchen to make fruit pie although I purchased a lovely bunch of blueberries and strawberries, so I resolved instead to make a yogurt pie. A little extra butter and a short crisping in the oven and the cookies were turned into a luxurious graham cracker-like crust. I mixed whole milk french vanilla yogurt and fresh pureed strawberries and poured them in. A couple of hours of freezing later, and I am very happy.

Here's to warm weather and cold desserts!