Other Projects

As you know,  I sometimes stray from T-shirts. Because, hey, when the creative urge hits, it’s not always screaming for jersey knit. In this case, I was in the kitchen with rolling pin in hand.

I first read (or rather observed the cuteness) of these little pastries over at Bakerella this summer, then followed the strand back to Luxirare, where I saw the whole beautiful story unfold. I generally like small desserts that allow me to try multiple flavors. Think cookies–the perfect way to taste a dozen little desserts at once. I also like pie–a lot. Mr. T and I would have had pie at our wedding reception except there was no way we could decide on any single flavor. So we enjoyed four flavors of cupcakes instead–chocolate, red velvet, carrot cake, and lemon poppyseed. In retrospect, we could have had multiple pie flavors; I just would have insisted on eating at least four slices of pie.

This is all to say, I wish these pie pops had been discovered sooner! Because they’re the perfect opportunity to taste many a pie filling in one sitting. I followed Bakerella’s photo tutorial, with a few variations of my own: 1) I used Betty Crocker pie crust mix (add water and roll out) since I couldn’t find the pre-rolled dough at my grocery store. 2) Bakerella’s comment that hers came out too doughy (filling-to-crust-ratio was leaning too much toward the crust) inspired me to roll out my dough thinner–I actually got 15 pops out of dough I rolled out for a 9″ pie, and overstuffed the centers with filling. 3) Rather than using (or mixing up) traditional pie filling, I used my all-time favorite fruit spread, Spoon Fruit from American Spoon Foods. I used Cherry-Berry, Strawberry, Blueberry, and Sour Cherry–I particularly love these because they aren’t sweetened with sugar, just all real chunks of fruit. My grandmother, Maja, introduced them to me a dozen years ago and always sent me a gift box every Valentine’s Day. My mom has since taken over the tradition, so I had a cupboard full of jars to choose from. 4) I also made a couple of chocolate-hazelnut filled pops using Creme de Noisette by Pralus Master Chocolatier, a recent indulgence that’s proving to be habit-forming. Packaged in a squeeze tube, and easily mistaken for hair product if it wasn’t in a cupboard over the stove, it’s basically a gourmet Nutella made with all real ingredients–eating a bowl of Vanilla Swiss Almond ice cream hasn’t been the same since I bought my first tube of this stuff.

The Pie Pops recipe has already been well-documented as I noted and linked above, so I’ve decide to offer an illustrated tutorial to complement all that’s come before. Enjoy.

1. Follow the directions on the pie crust mix to make a ball of dough.

2. Flour your work surface and roll out the dough about 1/8″ thick.

3. Use a round cookie cutter about 2 1/2″ in diameter to cut out an even number of dough discs. (Roll your dough scraps back into a ball and repeat steps 2 and 3 until all dough has been used.)

4. Arrange half of the discs on the cookie sheet and press a lollipop stick into each.

5. Spoon about 1 1/2 teaspoons of Spoon Fruit or 1 teaspoon of Creme de Noisette into the center of each disc on the sheet.

6. One at a time, gently lay the dough discs that remain over the filling and the end of the pop stick. Pinch the ends closed by gently pressing with the tines of a fork.

7. Brush the tops with egg white and stick in the oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.

8. Let cool and…eat! (And be sure to try every flavor.)

[ Posted on March 6th, 2010 ]