Saturday, February 25, 2017

chocolate chip pie




Life it just good with friends and food.  Life is even better when friends bring you food.  But it honestly is the best of the best when those friends who bring you food are your neighbors.

Some of our dear neighbors came for dinner during the Christmas break.  We really enjoyed our meal, but my absolute favorite part of the evening was sharing this pie, laughing, and talking recipes over the next couple of hours.  In fact, I followed Lynda right over to her house, after eating at ours, and she pulled out some of her favorite cookbooks and showed me a few of her tried and true recipes.  It was such a treat and a moment I had always imagined having with neighbors.  

Linda is a wonderful cook.  We've both had fun carrying sweets and various dishes back and forth to each other.  I snapped a picture of this piece of the pie the day after our meal and asked her if I could share it on the blog.  She gladly gave me the recipe.  It was so very good with vanilla bean ice cream and coffee, I just had to ask to share it with you.  

For those who aren't big coconut fans, this isn't strong.  I LOVE coconut, but it isn't the stand-out ingredient, so don't worry.  I do think my favorite part of this dessert is the chewier texture.  I've had chocolate chip pie before, but it reminded me more of a slice of chocolate chip cookie dough. Although that's not a bad thing, this pie is even better and different.

I hope you'll make room for this dish sooner than later.  Whip it up and share it with a neighbor you love.  I'm sure glad ours did!

Chocolate Chip Pie

makes one 9-inch pie
  • one unbaked pie shell
  • 1 c sugar
  • 1/2 c flour
  • 2 eggs, well beaten
  • 1 stick melted butter
  • 1 c chocolate chips preferred
  • 1 c broken pecans
  • 1/2 c flaked coconut
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Blend sugar, flour, eggs, butter and vanilla well.

3. Stir in chocolate chips, pecans and coconut.

3. Pour into unbaked shell and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until firm.

4. Serve warm with ice cream or cooled with whipped cream.

Recipe by my neighbor, Lynda.







Monday, February 6, 2017

valentine cookies ~ chocolate cut-outs




Valentine's Day in elementary school was always one of my favorite holidays.  I would get so excited about filling out cards for all of my classmates and then spending the following day decorating the brown paper bag with cut-out pink and red hearts to glue on the outside.  We'd slide the finished bags to the edge of our desks and eagerly wait and see what had been collected in our own while we filled others' with their valentines.  And wasn't it fun to give your teacher the bigger "teacher" card that came in the pack, making extra-sure your penmanship was just right?  So many memories... doilies, cookies, chocolates... Sweet and simple times.  I miss them.

I do have to say that I'm bringing you a sweet and simple treat you may want to try for the special day next week.  I love cut-out sugar cookies.  They're fun and versatile.  For quite a while, I've wanted to find a chocolate version.  The Christmas before last, I actually began thinking about how fun it would be to find one and sandwich peppermint ice cream in between.  It only took me about 13 months, but I have found a very dependable chocolate sugar cookie recipe that is just enough sweet so as not to overly sweeten the dessert once paired with a filling.  In this picture, I used my favorite strawberry icing.  They would be so good with a buttercream or peanut butter frosting.  Strawberry or cherry ice cream would ROCK!  It would also be so pretty to dip half of the heart in a chocolate ganache and then again in pink or red sprinkles.  There are endless possibilities, so bake and decorate to your "heart's" content!

one year ago: egg-in-the-hole sandwich

Chocolate Cut-Outs

  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2/3 cup butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup baking cocoa
  • 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
1. Combine egg, butter and sugar; blend until creamy. 

2. Add remaining ingredients and form dough into two flattened rounds; chill.

3. Roll out on a floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness.

4. Cut with cookie cutters as desired; place on ungreased baking sheets.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Let cool.