Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie in Toasted Pecan Crust

Oh man, nothing says summer to me like ice cream and lemon meringue pie. Separately of course, on a normal day, but today we're eating the best of both worlds.  I didn't mean to get here, to ice cream and lemon, this early in the season I promise that, so let me explain.  I had 2/3 of a carton of vanilla ice cream and a package of pecans in the cupboard (very rare around these parts).  I wondered what I could make that would combine the two.  When I stumbled upon this recipe I knew I hit the jackpot, because like, for real?! It was calling to me.  Summer is all up on my fork and dancing on my taste buds!  This pie is redonk. Seriously, it's got a super bright puckery lemon flavour, and the calm soothing vanilla ice cream.  It's got a crunchy, buttery, delicious pecan crust and best of all it's topped with a cloud of meringue, the ideal contrast to all those other textures. Nevermind textural contrast, after you leave the pie out for a few minutes the meringue and lemon curd come to room temp and there is a whole other layer of temperature contrast. Warm and frozen, and cold and warm!   Shane has eaten about half the pie in just two slices, though to be fair, I've done some serious damage to it, because dang is it good!

Baking notes:
-To "finely chop" the pecans I threw them in the food processor for a few seconds until the were uniform in size, then added the other ingredients for a quick blend.
-The pecan crust shrunk down quite a bit, but I didn't worry about it.  The crust doesn't come out of the pan gracefully anyway, so it looks a little sloppy.  Maybe I could have greased the pan for easier removal, but I think the oils and a frozen glass pan would have bound together no matter what, so I'm not sure it would have helped.
-My lemon curd never got to 178 F, or maybe it did but all of my three thermometers reported wrong.  After about twenty minutes of stirring and cooking the curd was nice and thick.  Thick enough to hold it's shape, so I considered it done. (It absolutely was).
-Be sure to fully chill your lemon curd.  I was in a hurry and only let it cool down for about half an hour, so it was still warm when I spread it on top of the ice cream.  As a result the curd warmed the ice cream and the bottom layer then froze with water crystals and was ice-y.
-I had three egg whites in the fridge, so I used those instead of making a spare yolk.  The fourth egg white would have been nice, but obviously it didn't make any difference to the flavour.
-I don't have a torch (I would really like one), so I had to use my broiler.  The directions say to broil for three minutes, but I smelled burning after thirty seconds, watch your pie carefully.

The recipe for Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie in Toasted Pecan Crust can be found on the epicurious website.

77/569

Coconut Macaroon Bars

We had some car trouble that started late last night.  It was 10:35 and I was on my way to work.  I put the key in the ignition and turned it, the engine turned over once and it died out.  Each subsequent turn was weaker, until finally nothing happened.  I went back inside to wake Shane.  He came out heard it once and declared it a loss for the night, it was to late to do anything.  I, being as awesome as I am, had a breakdown complete with sobbing uncontrollably and a few "tell me what to dooooooo's".  Ten minutes before my shift was to start I called in, saying I couldn't come.  I felt awful.

This morning, still in her pajamas, my landlady gave me a jump and I drove up the hill to our mechanic (her dad).  He confirmed that our battery was shot and after I bought a new one, he installed it for me (and sent me home with some moose steaks).  After all those shenanigans I owed a lot of people a thank-you.  So I baked my favourite chocolate chip cookies and these delicious coconut macaroon bars.  I made my rounds dropping these off, for my landlord, our mechanic, Shane and when I go to work tonight, the last of them will be for my co-workers whom I so royally screwed over last night.  Sorry and thank you!

Baking notes:
-The bars are light and crisp, with a nice crunch from the coconut on top. The center is gooey and very sweet. The chocolate and the raspberry add something unique and make the flavour a little more special. They're so simple to make, I'll definitely bake these again.
-To the crust I added about one extra tablespoon of cream.
-In the coconut batter I used 9oz of coconut instead of 7oz.
-Between the bar and the coconut layer I spread 1/3 cup of raspberry jam over half and sprinkled chocolate chips over the other half. Then dumped the coconut on top and baked it. (They're both amazingly delicious)
-I only baked the bars for 20 minutes because they were getting quite dark, but this left the filling softer than it was supposed to be (it was still set).
-I am really glad I used a tin foil sling instead of only buttering the pan.  The bars are quite fragile and would have been very frustrating to get out otherwise.

The recipe for Coconut Macaroon Bars can be found on the epicurious website.

76/569

Coffee-Coconut Tart

The days around these parts have been getting longer.  The telltale signs of April are all around us.  Steady April showers, tulips ripe and vibrant, azaleas popping and on the rare occasion, blue skies and puffy clouds.  The warm sun on bare arms is the feeling in my dreams.  Gardens are being tidied from winters' storms and long decay.  Still weedless and small, the dirt in these plots is new and clean.  Later in the season flowers and plants will overtake the gardens with not a spot of dirt to be seen, but now the brown dwarfs the green.  A promise of a new and green season is in the air, and even the showers are more tolerable when May is so close by.

To celebrate all things new and fresh I made this tidy little tart with a unique and original flavour combination.  Coffee and coconut don't often marry, but here they come together in a fun little diddy.  While this tart had promise, I found I didn't really enjoy it.  The coconut crust shrunk like a wilted lily in the pan and I found it's coarse texture off putting.  The coffee filling was bitter and far too sweet all at once.  It tasted of straight instant coffee, which is nothing I want to snack on.  And since I didn't use enough whip cream the coconut cream layer never whipped up nice and just added to the overwhelming sweetness that held this tart.  Overall I wouldn't make this tart again, but that shouldn't stop you from trying.

Baking notes:
-I didn't pre-toast the coconut in the tart shell, but I don't think it mattered.  It took on a toasty hue during it's time in the oven.
-Next time I would decrease the instant coffee in the filling by two teaspoons to make the flavour a little more subtle, even though I'm sure it would still be at the forefront.
-In cooking the filling I thought for sure I'd overcooked it the way it looked so curdled even towards the end.  In fact I hadn't, you just need to whip the snot out of it with a whisk and it'll all come together smoothly.
-There has to be a way to decrease the sugar level in the middle and top layer, I found the Coco Lopez overwhelmingly sweet.  Decreasing the white sugar and leaving the coconut the same would be a start.
-I only used a half cup of whip cream in the top layer, so I couldn't achieve the stiff peaks I was looking for.  Of course it didn't change the flavour, it just left the whip cream a little floppy.

The recipe for Coffee-Coconut Tart can be found on the epicurious website.

75/569

Mexican Hot Fudge Sundaes

This hot fudge sundae was everything I wanted it to be and more!  I was looking for something with ice cream, but only one flavour.  I wanted the ice cream that night, so making it was out of the question.  I finally settled on this and it was such a breeze to make!  Everyone loves a good hot fudge sundae, and this one was better than most.  It had delicious creamy ice cream, a spice-y and unique hot fudge and instead of pine nuts, buttery decadent toasted pecans. You might think it a slightly odd combination, but it's one that works oh so well.  I've eaten far too many bowls of this in the past few days, and renewed my appreciation for the classic hot fudge sundae.  This dessert is seriously delicious!

Baking notes:
-The hot fudge takes only a few minutes to make, and toasting the pecans is by far the hardest part!
-Keep in mind the fudge recipe makes a lot.  So if you don't mind a seemingly bottomless jar of fudge sauce make the whole thing, otherwise go ahead and half it, you'll still have more than enough.
-Instead of pine nuts (which I don't care for and are very expensive) I toasted some pecans and chopped them up.  It was the right thing to do.

The recipe for Mexican Hot Fudge Sundaes can be found on the epicurious website.

74/569

Raspberry-Yogurt Cake

Easter weekend was a whirlwind.  There was my working the whole thing and trying to find time to sleep.  There was glorious sunshine and warm (even hot) temperatures.  We ate outside where the flowers were blooming and the mosquitoes were biting.  I think my face might have burnt my face on a very long training run on Saturday morning.  But the very best part of the weekend was the brunch-for-dinner we had on Sunday night.  I had a few contributions to the meal, but the main one was this cake.  Among the spread of waffles and sausage this cake held it's ground.

I was looking around for a sweet to bake for this "dinner".  I thought about ginger, or lemon or even carrot cake (a personal favorite).  But no, I decided there had to be berries involved this year, which I will directly attribute to the amazing weather we'd been having.  Once that was decided the decision was easy, berries + yogurt = breakfast.  And done.

This cake was wonderful, soft and moist.  I found it pleasantly tart, not too sweet.  It's is a great slice of cake to have with a cup of tea in the afternoon, or a indulgent breakfast in the morning.  The orange was a beautiful bright flavour, but the almond was truly wonderful.  I had a bunch of frozen raspberries that I layered (after I thawed and drained them) on the bottom, covered them with batter and then used fresh quartered strawberries on the top layer.  The strawberries cooked down into sweet gooey spring-y bites.  Now that the weather has turned back into it's dark, grey self, it's the bright spot in my morning, even without a garden and sun hat.

Baking notes:
-I followed the recipe exactly as it instructed, except for the type of berries I used.
-I thawed some of last years raspberries in a strainer, leaving the juices behind.  I dolloped some batter in the very bottom of the bundt pan, added a layer of raspberries (about a cup), dolloped another layer of batter, smoothed it out, tossed about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of quartered strawberries with 2 Tbsp of flour and layered them in and then finished with the remaining batter, smoothing the top nicely.
-My cake took only one hour to bake, watch that you don't overcook it.
-To get the slightly sticky cake out of the pan I took a skewer and pushed it down the sides jiggling it loose all the way around, but carefully so it didn't tear the cake.  The same for the inside tube.  (Be careful!)

The recipe for Raspberry-Yogurt Cake can be found on the epicurious website.

73/569