Deep Dish Peanut Butter Pie

I'd like to think I am a foodie. For one the word is cool and to I'd like to think my constant eating of food qualifies me to be one :) Let me preface this with "I love my sister." Ha...you know when a statement starts of that way, it's never going to lead to a good place for her ;) We were having this conversation about one of her friends who is a Facebook friend to both of us. I mentioned how I thought he was niffty because he was a foodie like me and I loved all his pictures of food. To which my sister said something along the lines of how he was an actual foodie. Now, what is that supposed to mean? Clearly implying I am not a real foodie but what is that supposed to mean? So apparently there are some prerequisites to being admitted to the foodie club, but I am just going to plant my flag and say I am one :) So nana-nana-nana.....I also take the high road....can't you tell!?

Yesterday the hubby and I enjoyed our cool FOODIE selves by having a long overdue date night. I love me some hubby time! We generally are so busy during the day that we have a tendency to be very lazy and blah when we get home, which works. But sometimes it's nice to just get out of the house and spend some time together, just the two of us (::play Will Smith's song, "Just the Two of us"::) hehehehe. I decided to go to one of my favorite hole-in-the-walls: El Vale. Do you remember my rant on Tex-Mex where I first talked about this place? Ever since then I've been hooked! I love this place because I can order whatever I want, and not break the bank. And at the same time have loads of deliciousness. Between the hubby and I we ordered 5 dishes: chicken gordita, hot tostada, enchiladas verdes, chicken mole, and Mexican omelet. But of course I stuffed myself on hot salsa and chips-- and now -- I have left overs! My favorite!

So while I stuff my face with yummy left overs, you enjoy this yummy recipe for deep dish peanut butter pie! Need I say more...OKAY...I will! Well the name alone sold me. I mean deep dish anything is amazing and peanut butter! And then we have chocolate covered? Also something that needs no more explanation for me. But what really caught my eye was this pretzel crust. I have never made anything other than a dough or cookie crust. And it sounded so cool! And how would it taste? So I took the plunge and made it. Here is my take: Deep Dish pie....amazing. The chocolate, delicious! The pretzel crust: great IF you like your sweet and salty combination. Even when you use non-salted pretzels. If you love the combo you will love this, if you don't-- I'd substitute to a cookie crust.

DEEP DISH PEANUT BUTTER PIE W/ A CHOCOLATE COVERED PRETZEL CRUST

Adapted slightly from Yammie's Noshery

INGREDIENTS 

Preheat Oven to 350F Degrees

FOR THE PRETZEL CRUST
6 c. of finely crushed pretzels
1 c. melted butter
1/2 sugar
1 1/4 c. milk chocolate chips

FOR THE PIE
2/3 c. peanut butter (I used crunchy for texture)
8 oz. softened cream cheese
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar
2 c. of heavy whipping cream (liquid) -- whipped (about 4 c. whipped or 4 c. of whipped topping such as Cool Whip)

TOPPING
3/4 bag of Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups

DIRECTIONS

For the Crust:
In a medium bowl combine crushed pretzels, butter and sugar until a sand like texture is reached. Coat a springform pan with cooking spray. Using the bottom of a glass or a spice bottle, press firmly into pan (pressing up the sides and firmly into the bottom of the pan). Also press the edges to create creases to your "dish." Bake for about 10 minutes, and then sprinkle chocolate chips over the bottom of the crust. Bake for an additional 5 minutes before removing from oven. Once removed, using a spatula, spread the melted chocolate chips to evenly coat the bottom and side of the pretzel crust with a thin layer of chocolate. Allow chocolate to completely cool in refrigerator before filling. Remove from springform pan.

For the Filling:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together the peanut butter, cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar. Then gently fold in 2 c. (or half) of the whipped cream or whipped topping. This should result in a light and fluffy texture. Spread the filling evenly in the deep dish.

Sweeten the remaining whipped cream by whisking in 1/4 c. powdered sugar (sifted). Spread over peanut butter filling.

For the topping:
Top with Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups (a mixture of whole cup and crushed cups). Per Yammie, I used crushed Reese's along the edges and a mixture of whole cups and crushed Reese's in the middle. Keep refrigerated or frozen. I preferred refrigerated.

Enjoy,
Chika

Cornbread Chicken Pot Pie

What a beautiful day in Texas! :) A sunny, bright, 73 degree day. Now, I know some of you are winter people, and strongly believe in the idea of having four actual seasons. And I definitely see your point-- I love when leaves change color-- BUT I am one of those odd ones- that is okay with Spring and Summer weather all year long...coming home and enjoying some ice cream :) That is definitely my kind of weather! Something about these kind of days just make me so happy! I do feel bad for Ninja...he just stares out the window hoping that someone will take him to the dog park...poor baby....(only 5 more weeks). I mean just look at this face ;)

I never really grew up eating a pot pie and neither has the hubby-- but both of us have had those frozen-dinner type pot pies. The hubby was not a fan of them, and maybe I just tried them so long ago that I do not remember, but I do not remember them being half bad. I stumbled on this delicious looking chicken pot pie recipe in one of my daily Pinterest Scrolls and what really caught my interest was the crust was made with cornbread! I thought: how interesting! Who would have thought to mix the two? I just knew that the hubby might really like this (and he did :)

I am not the best at making recipes "traditional" style and I think this pot pie is no exception. I mean the crust is made out of cornbread and the filling is a mixture of all things yummy--but still not your traditional filling. But I did not want to go too out of the box- and so I used traditional pot pie vegetables: carrots, corn, green beans and peas. I liked this recipe but I really could have lived without the peas. The hubby and I are just not a fan of peas-- we LOVE veggies, just not peas. Although you could not taste it too strongly in the pot pie, I just did not like knowing they were in there :/ I know, I am just being a big baby about it ;) But next time I make this recipe, I will be sure to make it more "non-traditional" and not include peas! Happy Cooking!

CORNBREAD CHICKEN POT PIE 

Adapted from Gooseberry Patch Blog

INGREDIENTS

Preheat Oven to 425F Degrees

2- 8.5 oz. packages of cornbread mix + ingredients required to make it
3 chicken breasts, COOKED and cubed
1- 10.75 oz. can of cream of chicken
1- 10.75 oz. can of cream of potato
16 oz. container of sour cream
16 oz. bag of frozen mixed vegetables (carrots, corn, green beans, and peas)
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish (I used a glass Pyrex dish). Prepare cornbread mix (2) according to package directions (make sure to double since using two packages). Spread a small amount of batter over the baking dish (just enough to cover the bottom). Set remaining batter aside. Evenly arrange chicken throughout the baking pan, on top of the thin layer of cornbread batter.

In a medium bowl, combine together cream of chicken, cream of potato, sour cream as well as salt and pepper (to taste). Add frozen vegetables and mix well. Spread vegetable filling over chicken in the baking dish. The best way to spread the vegetable filling evenly over the chicken and throughout the baking dish is to use a spatula. Pour remaining cornbread batter over the vegetable filling--again using a spatula to spread the batter evenly.

Bake, uncovered (on bottom oven rack) for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Allow pot pie to cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy,
Chika

Chocolate Blackberry Pie

I spent ALL day today- revamping the blog. I hope you guys like the face-lift. I wanted to more modern, simple twist for For the Love of Dessert and I wanted to update the About Me section since so much has changed this year! Well since I spent all day re-configuring the blog, I may not have gotten around to cleaning the apartment like I planned.. opps!

I get to have more free time, now that I am on holiday break and while Ninja is resting I have found a lot of time to do some baking. But now- the hubby has too many desserts ;) Definitely not the worse problem to have. So I thought I would take this weekend away from baking- now that the hubby is officially off work-- to spend some time with him, Ninja and to catch up on work :/ (ahh..the life of a grad student). Oh, yea, and to clean too :) But I actually LOVE cleaning!

Today, I attempted to make my very first pie! Can you believe it!?! All the desserts and dishes I have made but I have never made a pie! I thought my time was up and I needed to do it. Well, a former lab-mate posted this wonderful recipe on her awesome food blog, Cinnamon Freud, for this Black and White Cherry Pie. It looked divine and I knew I had to make it. Though, her recipe called for cranberries and the hubby is not a fan of cranberries, so he picked out blackberries. Plus- it called for a chocolate crust!?! Had me at chocolate :) I was really excited to learn to how to make homemade pie crust and just a pie :) I think it turned out pretty darn good! 

CHOCOLATE BLACKBERRY PIE

Adapted from Cinnamon Freud and  Kayotic Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

Preheat Oven to 375F Degrees

FOR THE CHOCOLATE CRUST*

4.5 oz of butter, softened

2 c. flour

5 tbsp. cocoa powder

5 tbsp. sugar

1 tbsp. ice water

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla 

*I chose to use this recipe because it does not require to refrigerate for long. Also Kayotic Kitchen has a nice step by step picture tutorial. 

FOR THE FILLING

16 oz white chocolate

2 c. blackberries

3/8 c. water

1/3 c. sugar

1 c. heavy cream

2 tbsp. light corn syrup

4 tbsp. butter

DIRECTIONS

For the crust: place butter in a small-medium size bowl and cut into pieces. Then add flour and cocoa powder and using fork stir well. Pour in the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until mixture turns into crumbles. Add sugar, ice water, eggs, and  vanilla-- pulse until dough forms into a ball. If the dough is too watery- add more flour/cocoa; if it is too dry add ice water 1 tsp. at a time (this may seem like a small amount but the consistency of the dough will change quickly). Take out of food processor and kneed for a bit. Then on a clean surface, sprinkled with a little flour, roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Transfer the dough to a pie tray and trim edges (or decorate edge as desired). Refrigerate remaining dough  and refrigerate pie crust for 30 minutes. Once refrigerated poke holes in crust using fork. 

Cover a circular piece of aluminum foil with butter- use buttered side of aluminum to line the pie crust and fill with a weight (Cinnamon Freud used dried beans but I did not have any so I used rice). Bake for 20 minutes. Then, remove weight and bake for an additional 10 minutes. 

For filling: While pie crust is refrigerating- chop white chocolate into small chunks and place into medium size bowl- set aside. On the stove top, in two saucepans (1) on medium heat- combine blackberries, water and sugar and cook about 10 minutes until blackberries have softened and turned a reddish color and (2) on high heat, combine heave cream, light corn syrup and butter- and bring to boil. When the blackberries are cooked, pour through colander to remove excess liquid. Set blackberries aside. When butter-cream mixture comes to a boil pour over white chocolate and whisk till smooth. Then add in blackberries. Pour mixture into pie crust and refrigerate over night until filling has hardened. 

Enjoy,

Chika 

P.S. My kitchen was a bit of a mess after this :) Just to warn you. But it was fun!