Spring means Strawberry...Rhubarb Pie

Cooking soothes the savage beast in my case, and usually that means that I end up making a huge meal complete with dessert.

This weekend, dessert was Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, mainly because my green grocer kept piling more and more of them all over their fruit bins. Overflowing, even. My last attempt at Strawberry Rhubarb pie was a sodden, sour mess. This time I was determined to do it right.

So arming myself with previous knowledge and research on the interwebz, I went ahead and nabbed me some strawberries and rhubarb and made me some pie.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie (Adapted from Epicurious)

Pie Crust Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

10 tablespoons (about) ice water

Pie filling
1 pint of strawberries - washed, hulled and sliced in half
3 cups of sliced rhubarb
1/3 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

pinch powdered cardamom (optional)

1 egg + water for egg wash

Directions

In a food processor, add the dry ingredients for the pie crust and pulse for a few seconds to blend. Then add shortening and butter and pulse until the mixture resembles large crumbs. Slowly add the water, spoonful by spoonful, until a soft dough comes together. Shouldn't be more than 2 minutes. Separate the dough into two balls, flatten each and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for about an hour before use or you can pop it in the freezer for 15 mins. Dough must be chilled in order for it to be malleable to roll out.

While your dough is chilling, mix all the ingredients for your pie filling in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. When dough is chilled and firm, remove from fridge and roll out one disk and line your pie plate (13 inch is best here). Roll out the other disk and cut into 14 strips. Spoon filling into crust. Arrange 7 dough strips atop filling, spacing evenly. Form lattice by placing remaining dough strips in opposite direction atop filling. Crimp the edges and brush the crust and edges with the egg wash.

Bake for 20 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake the pie for about 1 hour 15 mins. Let the pie cool thoroughly before cutting into it - it's a juicy pie and you want to make sure that the filling sets properly. Serve plain, or with vanilla ice-cream, or with my favorite - Cool Whip!

You Put the Lime in the Coconut...

There's something about spring that makes me think of citrus. And sunny skies and balmy weather.

So what better way to celebrate all of these wonderful occurences in a confectionary form? I was trolling on Twitter the other day and a post on my feed referenced lemon as an ingredient in cupcakes. Since I had bought some pretty awesome coconut flakes and went a little nuts with the citrus purchases at the local greengrocer, I figured...why not make some lime and coconut cupcakes?

Thanks to the internet, I found a recipe...and then promptly decided to change it a bit.

Lime Coconut Cupcake

Cupcake Ingredients

1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons lime juice
1 teaspoon of orange blossom water
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of one lime

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners (this recipe makes 12).

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a larger bowl, cream together the butter, zest and sugar until fluffy, about 3 minutes. I like to use my handheld mixer for this, because it's no joke creaming butter and sugar by hand.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the juice and orange blossom water. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour. Fill each baking cup two-thirds full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

Icing Recipe

1 cup confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons butter, softened
1/4 coconut milk
1 tablespoon lime juice
zest of one lime

Combine together confectioner's sugar, coconut milk, lime juice and zest. Whisk well. Then add butter, tablespoon by tablespoon, whisking well until fully incorporated. Frost cooled cupcakes with icing and top with either sweetened grated coconut, or (like I did) unsweetened coconut flakes.

Now if that ain't a pretty sight, I don't know what is. Enjoy!