Chocolate Archives - Fresh From Oregon

Snowball Cookie Fight…

December 14, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

One cookie with so many names… Snowballs, Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding Cookies and I am sure there are more names. Whatever you call these delicious buttery, melt in your mouth cookies they are always in my cookie tin. These cookies are rolled twice in powdered sugar but there are many versions. You will also see them rolled in coconut, cocoa powder or glazed. There are also many things you can hide inside this cookie like cherries, chocolate kisses, peanut butter cups, mini chocolate chips or just use your imagination and create your own combinations. I did that this year and created my Pacific Northwest Snowball Cookie. I added hazelnuts to the cookie dough and hid some marionberry and tayberry jam inside. With one bite you will have the sweet flavor of jam combined with the buttery hazelnut dough melting in your mouth. Another combination I made this year was a Glazed Snowball Cookie with a cherry inside. I then drizzled chocolate on top and it tastes just like eating a chocolate covered cherry. The last version I made was one that my mom makes every year and that is just adding mini chocolate chips to the snowball cookie recipe. But my mom calls them Russian teacakes so let the Snowball Cookie fight begin!

Snowball Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
Confectioners sugar for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixer. In small bowl combine flour and salt and add the the butter mixture until just combined, mix in nuts. Chill dough for about 30 minutes. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled.
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Pacific Northwest Snowball Cookie
Make the recipe above and use hazelnuts instead of pecans or walnuts. After you have rolled the dough into a 1-inch ball use a sharp knife and cut in half. With your thumb make an indentation in each half. Fill with about 1/2 teaspoon of marionberry or tayberry jam. Press the two halves back together and press around the seam to seal. Gently roll back into a ball. Chill balls for about 30 minutes. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled.
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Glazed Cherry Snowball Cookie
Make the recipe for the Snowball cookies using walnuts. Drain one jar of maraschino cherries (20 cherries) and lay cherries on a few layers of paper towel. You want to dry them off as best you can. Roll dough into a 1-inch ball and flatten. Add a cherry to the center and with your hands fold dough around the cherry. Chill balls for about 30 minutes. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. (Do not roll in confectioners sugar). As the cookies are cooling make the glaze. In medium size bowl sift 1 cup of confectioners sugar and mix in 1 tablespoon of milk. Once the cookies are cooled place on a wire rack over a piece of parchment paper. With a spoon pour about 1 teaspoon of glaze over each cookies and let the glaze drip down the sides. Once the glaze is dry melt some chocolate and drizzle over the cookies.

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Mom’s Russian Teacakes with Mini Chocolate Chips
Make the recipe for the Snowball cookies and add in 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips with the nuts. Chill dough for about 30 minutes. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled. When I made these this year instead of rolling them in just confectioners sugar I added some baking cocoa to the confectioners sugar to give them a light chocolate color.

Chocolate Cake and Baking from my home to yours … Dorie Greenspan

September 30, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

It has been just over a week since coming home from Seattle and my first IFBC (International Food Bloggers Convention). Signing up over 6 months ago I was so excited to meet other food bloggers and hear what they do to have a successful blog. As the day drew near to drive the 4 hours to Seattle I started to get very nervous. I am going to be in a room with 320 people and I was going to not know one person. We arrived at the W Hotel just before noon and the lobby is crowded with people talking and hugging each other and I knew this was a friendly group but still was not sure how I was going to fit in. After checking in and getting to our room (my husband came along to support me and get some extra sleep) he said it was time to meet everyone and he pushed me out the door. After getting my badge I just walked around seeing groups of people talking and laughing and I thought “how do I meet you”. As I was standing down the hall from the Chipotle Mexican Grill lunch I heard a voice “are you here by yourself” and she said so I am, I have met my first food blogger. After we exchange who we are and what we blogged about we parted ways and went to get a seat to hear the Keynote speaker, Dorie Greenspan. As I sat around the table with some more new faces we exchanged business cards and shared with each other, now I have 5 more food blogger friends. As Dorie takes the stage and she starts to talk in her soft voice I started to feel more at ease and just in awe of the life she has had and author of 11 cookbooks. As she walks off the stage with a round of overwhelming applause I felt that there was nothing to keep me back from creating my own dream to be the best food blogger I can and maybe one day I could have a cookbook. I was so excited and we had a small break before the afternoon session started so I raced back to my room to share with my husband the most inspiring woman I just heard talk and then DASHED out of the room to learn more. The rest of the day was amazing and I wished it would not end but I knew the next day would be filled with more new faces and lots more to learn. I did send my husband on an errand Saturday morning, 8 blocks to the Barnes and Noble book store to get me a copy of Dorie’s “Baking: From My House to Yours”. Hoping to see Dorie and get her to sign it I carried the book all day and if you do not have a copy the book weighs almost 5 pounds. I lost all hope at the end of the day without seeing her and thought see must have left until I saw a tweet from her about the Urbanspoon Surprise Saturday Supper she was at. The next morning I sent Dorie a tweet and within 10 minutes she tweeted I am leaving in 30 minutes but if you leave the book at the front desk I will sign it before I leave. Leaving the book at the front desk I went to the morning class “Writing – Snap out of it” presented by author/journalist Kim O’Donnel. Waiting 30 minutes I slip out of class quietly and went back to the front desk to find Dorie had signed my book, a treasure I carried with me back to my seat. The conference would be ending soon and I felt I was leaving a more confident person and had made many new friends. Next year I want to be the person that walks up to the person standing by themselves and welcomes them into the group like I was the first day. I knew I wanted to do my first blog post on Dorie and I thought what better way but to make a recipe from her cookbook “Baking: From My House to Yours”. I created the chocolate cake with marshmallow icing on the front cover and since I got some great swag the first day I used the Scharffen Berger bittersweet chocolate bar and the lagrima vanilla extract in my recipe. I also used some of the photography tips we learned from Andrew Scrivani when taking these pictures. The swag bag is getting a little lighter this week with more recipes I am making with the great products we received … watch for what I will be creating next. Happy Blogging to all and thank you for welcoming me!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie

June 21, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

What a strawberry season we had this year in Oregon. With the warm weather they started two weeks early and with the cool weather in June the strawberries are still great! Fresh strawberry pie is a traditional dessert during the strawberry season and I added some extra goodies to make it a Fresh From Oregon mouth watering pie. Chocolate + Hazelnuts gives this pie a rich and delicious flavor that will have everyone coming back for seconds!

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Pie
1 quart (about 2 pounds) fresh strawberries
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
juice 1/2 lemon
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust
1/2# chocolate wafers
1 cup toasted hazelnuts, finely chopped
1 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place pie crust in a 9″ pie plate and flute the edges. Prick with fork over the bottom and the sides, about 40 times. Place piece of foil inside pie crust, lightly pressing around bottom edges of crust. Fill with dried beans to help keep the crust’s shape. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and remove beans and foil. Return to oven and bake another 5 minutes until edges are golden brown. Place on wire rack and cool.

Wash strawberries and remove the green tops and core. Sort the strawberries to get about 1/2 of them close to the same size, set aside. Chop the remaining 1/2 of the strawberry in a food processor. Place the chopped strawberries in a sauce pan and begin to cook over medium heat. Mix sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl; add to the sauce pan of strawberries. Add lemon juice and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes or until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Set aside and cool.

In a bowl over simmering water melt the chocolate. Dip the remaining whole strawberries about 3/4 of the way and roll in the chopped hazelnuts. Place on baking sheet to allow the chocolate to set.

To assemble the pie pour the fresh strawberry filling in the bottom of the baked pie shell. Add the chocolate/hazelnut dipped strawberries chocolate side up until the pie is filled. Cover with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.

In bowl of a mixer place the whipping cream and confectioner sugar and beat with a wire whisk until whipped. When you are ready to serve top each piece of pie with a large spoonful of the whip topping!

Strawberries ~ ~ Fresh From Oregon!

May 31, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

Wow what a May we had here in Oregon this year and a busy one for me. So I am back to share more of my Fresh From Oregon recipes. Strawberries have been at the Farmers Markets here in Oregon since the first week of May. With all the sunshine and warm weather they were about 2 weeks early this year. The early varieties were good but this week the Hood Strawberries are showing up at all the farmers markets and farm stands. If you are not from the Pacific Northwest you may not know this variety but when you say “Hoods” are in season people from around here get excited. They are sweet and delicious and melt in your mouth. They are great in just about anything like homemade jams, syrups, pies, ice-cream and perfect on top of strawberry shortcake. I like mine dipped in chocolate and rolled in toasted hazelnuts.

So lets take a peek at what’s in my recipe box for Fresh From Oregon strawberries. Since chocolate is already on my mind let’s make the Vanilla & Chocolate Angel Food Cake.

Vanilla & Chocolate Angel Food Cake
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
11 large egg whites
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla
3 Tablespoons Dutch powdered chocolate
Fresh From Oregon Strawberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift flour and 3/4 cup sugar. Using a stand mixer and wire attachment, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on low for one minute. Add salt and increase speed to medium-high and mix until egg whites are thick. With mixer running on low, pour in the remaining 3/4 cup sugar slowly. Continue to beat until the egg whites are glossy and a soft peak. Add extracts and mix for a few seconds.
Using a large rubber spatula carefully fold 1/2 cup of the flour mixture into the egg whites. This should be done slowly, continuing adding a 1/2 cup of flour at a time until it is all folded in. Gently spoon half the batter into an un-greased angel food pan with removable bottom. Carefully fold the cocoa powder into remaining batter and gently spoon over the vanilla batter smoothing out gently.
Bake 50-55 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately turn over to cool for several hours. Loosen the sides of the cake by running a knife around the edge of the pan and with a firm hand tap to release. It is ready to be served. Top with some sliced fresh strawberries and whipped cream!

Chocolate Covered Easter Eggs…

March 25, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

With Easter less than a week away… you must be thinking about bunnies, coloring eggs and of course chocolate in the Easter basket. I got my 20# box of chocolate out this weekend and my favorite filling recipes and turned my kitchen into the Easter Bunny’s workshop. I added a new filling this year that is filled with Fresh From Oregon flavors, hazelnuts and cranberries. I took some hazelnuts out of the freezer (the best place to store them) and toasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 3-4 minutes. I then opened a box of dried cranberries I found the other day while shopping. These dried cranberries are grown and produced by the Vincent Family on the Southern Oregon coast, they cultivated their first cranberries in 1957, read more here about their story. So with these two great Oregon flavors and my fudge recipe I created a Hazelnut Cranberry Fudge filling. I also made my family’s other favorite fillings: coconut almond, peanut butter and pecan fudge caramel. These melt in your mouth recipes are easy and quick to make and the taste of homemade chocolate eggs will be the perfect surprise for your family and friends this coming Easter.

Once you have made your fillings and shaped them into eggs they will be ready to dip in the chocolate. I use a good grade of melting chocolate wafer, Merckens. You can find them at your local stores that sell candy making supplies or order online. It is best to melt in a double boiler or a bowl placed over simmering water. I find it is easier to dip just the bottoms in the chocolate first and let it set, about 10 minutes. Then when you dip the top into the chocolate you will have something to hold onto, the only downside you will need to lick the chocolate off your fingers often. You can also place that set chocolate bottom on a fork and dip it into the chocolate. Remember to place a piece of parchment paper on the pan you will place the eggs on to set the chocolate, this keeps them from sticking to the pan as the chocolate sets.

Hazelnut Cranberry Filling:
1 pound semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 bags)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares, chopped
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing extra to hang over the sides and spray lightly with cooking spray, set aside.
In a double boiler toss chocolates, baking soda and salt. Stir in condensed milk and vanilla. Stir 2-5 minutes until only a few pieces of chocolate are left. Remove from heat and stir another 2 minutes, the mixture will become a little glossy. Stir in the hazelnuts and dried cranberries. Spread evenly in the prepared pan and let set for 3o minutes. Once cool enough to handle cut into 12 even pieces and make into an egg shape. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and let set for about 1 hour before you dip them in the chocolate.

Peanut Butter Filling:
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups peanut butter
5 cups confectioners sugar
Cream together butter and peanut butter in the bowl of an stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add the confectioners sugar and mix until combined. Shape into the size eggs you want.

Coconut Almond Filling:
1 cup butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
1 pound shredded coconut
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 cup almonds, finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In bowl of a stand mixer cream butter and confectioners sugar. Add coconut, condensed milk, almonds and vanilla, mix until fully combined. Chill in refrigerator about 30 minutes and then shape into any size egg you want.

Pecan Carmel Fudge Filling:
1 pound semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 bags)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares, chopped
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
6 ounce caramel squares
2 tablespoons milk
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing extra to hang over the sides and spray lightly with cooking spray, set aside.
In a double boiler toss chocolates, baking soda and salt. Stir in condensed milk and vanilla. Stir 2-5 minutes until only a few pieces of chocolate are left. Remove from heat and stir another 2 minutes, the mixture will become a little glossy. Stir in the pecans and spread evenly in the prepared pan and let set for 3o minutes. Once cool enough to handle cut into 12 even pieces and make into egg shapes. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and let set for about 30 minutes before pouring caramel over. To melt caramels unwrap and place caramels and milk in a bowl over simmering water and stir until melted. Pour about a tablespoon of caramel over each egg, if it drips over the side its Ok. Let set 5 minutes and eggs are ready to dip in the chocolate.

Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter Cookies

March 20, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

Some of my Fresh From Oregon dishes do not always come from a trip to the local farmers market for local grown fruits and vegetable but from local Oregon made products. Wild Squirrel Peanut Butter is one of my most recent discovers of Oregon made products. Here is their story “One day, at their apartment in Eugene, Oregon, University sophomores Keeley and Erika were scraping the bottom of yet another jar of peanut butter. With no more peanut butter and a surplus of celery, they were faced with a familiar conundrum. Luckily, they had a bag of raw peanuts, a brand new food processor, and two squirrelly little minds. It didn’t take long before they had created a delicious batch of homemade peanut butter.” I picked up a jar of their Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter and a jar of the Honey Pretzel Peanut Butter to see what I could create. Their other flavors of peanut butter are Cinnamon Raisin and their newest Sesame Cranberry. They also have almond butters, Chocolate Sunflower and Vanilla Espresso. The first thing I wanted to make was a peanut butter cookie and give it a make over with the Wild Squirrel Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter. Enjoy the cookies below with a big glass of milk! You can find Wild Squirrel Peanut Butters and Almond Butters at these local stores or order online from their website.

Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter Cookies

Cookie:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup Wild Squirrel Chocolate Coconut Peanut Butter
1/2 cup sugar (Plus additional for rolling cookies in before baking)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Garnish:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup toasted coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until combined about 1 minute. In separate bowl add flour, baking soda and salt and mix to combine. Add to the wet ingredient and mix until fully combined, about 2 minutes. Form into 1-inch balls, roll in the sugar and place on baking sheet, flatten with a fork creating a criss-cross design. Bake 10-12 minutes until brown. If you under bake until lightly brown you will have a soft cookie but if you like a cookie with a crisp crunchy taste bake at the higher time until brown. When cool melt chocolate and drizzle over the cookies and immediately sprinkle with the toasted coconut. Tip: Make sure you fully mix the peanut butter when you open the jar, you will see the oil is separated and laying on the top.

Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

February 12, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

If I had to pick my husband’s favorite cookie that he can’t keep his hands off, it would be shortbread cookies. So for Valentine’s Day this week I baked him a batch of heart shaped shortbread cookies with an added Fresh From Oregon taste, hazelnuts. If you have been following my blog you know I LOVE hazelnuts. I never baked with them until I moved to Oregon 7 years ago and discovered this gem of a nut. I substitute hazelnuts in the place of other nuts in most of the recipes I make now. If you are not lucky enough to have fresh hazelnuts near you pecans make a good substitute in this recipe. This can be made and eaten plain, that’s how my husband prefers them, but I like them dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with more hazelnuts. Enjoy and make these for your sweetheart this week.

Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
2 1/4 cups Bob’s Red Mill white flour
1/4 cup hazelnuts, ground fine
1 cup dipping chocolate
1/4 cup hazelnuts, ground

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add egg yolks and mix for 30 seconds. Add flour and hazelnuts and mix until just combined, do not over mix. Form into a ball and flatten slightly, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On lightly floured surface roll shortbread dough to 1/4-inch thick. Cut out shapes using your favorite heart shaped cookie cutters. Place on lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Cool on a wire rack.

Melt chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir and place back in microwave another 30 seconds. Repeat one or two more times until the chocolate is melted. Dip half the cookie in the melted chocolate and sprinkle with the hazelnuts. Place on lined baking sheet to set.

Hazelnut Facts from Oregon Hazelnuts

The hazelnut became Oregon’s official State Nut in 1989.
Hazelnuts are also known as “filberts.”
About 650 Oregon farm families grow hazelnuts on 28,400 acres.
Hazelnut trees can produce until over 80 years of age.
The hazelnut is unique in that it blooms and pollinates in the middle of winter. Wind carries the pollen from yellow catkins to a tiny red flower, where it stays dormant until June, when the nut begins to form.
n 1858, the first cultured hazelnut tree was planted in Oregon by retired Hudson’s Bay Company employee, Sam Strictland in Scottsburg.

Northwest Rocky Road Cookie Sandwiches

February 10, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

Chocolate Chip Cookie + Marshmallow + Hazelnuts = Love on the Mountain in Oregon this Valentine’s Day. I added some chopped hazelnuts to my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and sandwiched it with a fluffy marshmallow cream filling. This version of rocky road cookies gets that Fresh From Oregon taste with the Oregon grown hazelnuts I added. If you do not have any hazelnuts you can use walnuts or almonds they will work just as well.

Northwest Rocky Road Cookie Sandwiches

Cookies:
1 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup plus 2 tablespoon Bob’s Red Mill white flour
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheet with silicone pad or parchment paper. In the bowl of a mixer cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla. In medium bowl mix baking powder, baking soda and flour. Add to the butter mixture combine until mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts.

Drop round tablespoons on to the baking sheet. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Marshmallow filling:
1 1/2 cups marshmallow fluff
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

In a mixer bowl beat marshmallow fluff and shortening on low and increase to medium speed, beat until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed and add the confectioners sugar and vanilla, and beat until mixed. Increase speed to medium and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Assemble cookie:
Place about 2 tablespoons filling on one cookie and place on another cookie on top to create the sandwich.

National Chocolate Cake Day – Two Cakes are Better than One!!

January 27, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

Today January 27 is “National Chocolate Cake Day”. I woke up planning on making my friend Kathy P’s recipe for Texas Sheet Cake and then decided I would make it as well as a 3 layered Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cake.

The Texas Sheet Cake is a very simple and fast cake to make. Making it brought back many memories of seeing this chocolate cake with its creamy icing and nuts at recent family gatherings and reunions. The thin layer of chocolate cake is finger licking good and easy to eat right from your hand no fork needed!

For the second cake you need to plan on a little extra time to make the delicious caramel filling and fudgy icing, it is worth the extra time. I got this recipe from a food blogger I have been following for years, Annie’s Eats. She has some of the best recipes I have ever tried so go check her blog out. I think she helped inspire me to start my food blog.

Cake
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill white flour
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1 cup butter
1 cup water
4 tablespoon cocoa

Icing
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons cocoa
6 tablespoons milk
3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup walnuts (use hazelnuts to give it a Fresh From Oregon taste)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12 x 18 x 1 inch baking sheet, set aside.

For the cake, mix together the flour, eggs, sugar, salt, baking soda and sour cream in the bowl of a stand mixer. In medium saucepan bring to a boil the butter, water and cocoa. Add all at once to the mixer and beat until combined about 30 seconds. Pour cake batter into the baking sheet and spread out evenly. Bake for 20 minutes. Make the icing while the cake is baking, you need to spread it on the cake while it is still warm.

To make the icing bring to boil in a medium saucepan the butter, cocoa and milk. Add the confectioners sugar, vanilla and nuts and mix to combine. Spread over the warm cake evenly.

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Layer Cake from Annie’s Eats

Celebrate National Pie Day with Coconut Cream Pie

January 23, 2013 · by Carrie Trax ·

January 23rd is National Pie Day and what better way to celebrate the day than a delicious Coconut Cream Pie. This creamy pie has another surprise a layer of chocolate on the bottom.

Here is the Wikipedia definition of a pie: A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients.

Here are a few facts about the pie:

The pie is America’s favorite dessert
The average American eats six slices of pie a year
Pie has been around since the ancient Egyptians
Pie came to America with the first English settler

Coconut Cream Pie with Chocolate

Coconut Filling
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1 baked pie shell
14 ounces coconut milk
1 cup milk
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whipped Topping
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon unsweetened coconut, toasted

Spread chocolate on the bottom of the baked pie shell and set aside.

Bring coconut milk, milk, ½ cup shredded coconut, ½ cup sugar and salt to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to ensure sugar dissolves.

Whisk egg yolks, cornstarch and 1 tablespoon sugar in medium bowl until thoroughly combined. Whisking constantly, gradually ladle about 1 cup hot milk mixture over egg yolk mixture; whisk well to combine. Whisking constantly, gradually add remaining milk mixture to yolk mixture in 3-4 additions; whisk well to combine.

Return mixture to saucepan and cook until thickened and mixture reaches a boil, whisking constantly, about 1 minute; filling must boil in order to fully thicken. Large bubbles should quickly burst on surface.

Off heat, whisk in butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla until butter is fully incorporated. Pour hot filling into pie shell and smooth surface; press plastic wrap directly against surface of filling and refrigerate until firm, at least 3 hours.

Just before serving, beat heavy cream, 2 Tbsp sugar and ½ tsp vanilla with electric mixer until soft peaks form about 1 ½ – 2 minutes. Top pie with whipped cream topping and then sprinkle with toasted coconut.