Tag Archives: dessert

The Darker the Syrup… Part II, Maple Walnut Fudge

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These maple walnut fudge squares were made from an especially rich, dark grade-A syrup.

The fall season and homemade candy seem to go together, and with an unexpected extra half-gallon of maple syrup in our pantry, our thoughts went straight to maple fudge. I love how food can take you home, and the maple candy Barbra created took me all the way to Pennsylvania. (Click here for more on Maple Syrup.)

Maple Walnut Fudge

Ingredients

  • 1  1/2 cups real maple syrup
  • 1  3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

  1. Line an 8 inch square pan with nonstick foil and spray with cooking spray.
  2. Combine syrup, sugar, heavy cream and salt in a medium saucepan, preferably a non stick one; bring to boiling over medium high heat, stirring constantly. Once boiling, cook 7 to 8 minutes or until mixture registers 238 degrees F on a candy thermometer.
  3. Remove pan from heat. With an electric mixer, beat in butter and vanilla.
  4. Continue to beat on high power for 8 to 9 minutes, or until thickened, light in color and fudge loses its glossy finish. Stir in nuts and spread in prepared pan. Let stand until firm about 25 minutes, then cut into squares.

Recipe adapted from food.com.

Basbousa Cake

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Semolina flour gives this cake an exotic taste. Soaking the cake in orange-honey syrup satisfies the sweet tooth and thinly sliced almonds pleases the eye. We served slices with sparkling water mixed with the remaining orange-honey syrup.

This sumptuous cake was a fitting dessert for a Middle East dinner we prepared in our home in the Alaska bush.

Middle Eastern Basbousa

Ingredients

For the Syrup:
2 cups plus 3 tbsp white sugar
1½ cups water
2 tbsp orange juice (or lemon juice)
1 tsp honey

For the Cake:
2 cups semolina
1 cup white sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp baking soda
2 medium eggs
Slivered almonds

Directions

Preparing the syrup: 

  1. In a medium saucepan, mix the sugar and water. Add the orange juice and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Add the honey and reduce the heat.
  2. Keep heating for 8-10 minutes until the mixture thickens and has a syrup-like consistency. Set aside to cool.

Preparing the cake: 

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour a 9-inch springform pan.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix thoroughly.
  3. In a separate medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredient mixture into the butter and egg mixture. Stir the milk and mix thoroughly until you get an even batter.
  4. Pour into a baking dish. Sprinkle the slivered almonds on top of the mixture.
  5. Using a butter knife, section the batter into small squares or diamonds.
  6. Bake for 25 minutes.
  7. Remove from the oven and drizzle the syrup on top of the cake. Let cool for 20 minutes and serve.

Recipe adapted from amideastfeast.com.

Click here for the rest of the Middle East feast.

Tastes of Fall – Hot Apple Crisp with Homemade Butter Pecan Ice Cream

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Welcome in autumn with hot cinnamon-spiced apples under a crisp brown sugar topping served with rich butter pecan ice cream.

Colored leaves, clear blue skies and crisp evenings – some of them already laced with a hint of snow – are among the harbingers of fall we love most as the days grow shorter and the nights grow longer. This is our favorite time of year, and our favorite season to bring into the kitchen. Almost anywhere one lives in North America, freshly made pumpkin pies, squash soups, and dishes and desserts featuring the year’s bounty of pecans, apples, grapes and other crops are part of  fall traditions.

Although Point Hope has no trees and has been crispy cool for some time (the autumn crunch under our feet is  snow rather than fallen leaves), we are inspired by the calendar and the full stocks of Granny Smith apples at our Native Store as well as our own memories of picking apples and gathering nuts in the lower 48.

Hot Apple Crisp

Ingredients

  • 2 Granny Smith apples, sliced fairly thin (We prefer skins intact.)
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp caramel sauce
  • 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a medium bowl, toss white sugar, tablespoon of flour, and cinnamon with apple slices.
  3. Mix in caramel topping.
  4. Pour apple mixture into a 8″ x 8″ pyrex-type baking dish.
  5. Combine oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and melted butter.
  6. Crumble oat mixture and sprinkle on top of apples.
  7. Bake for 45 minutes.

Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 3 cups heavy cream
  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 egg yolks

Directions

  1. In a small skillet, saute pecans in butter until lightly browned. Set aside.
  2. Heat cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  3. Add vanilla extract and heat until mixture almost boils, about 5 – 8 minutes.
  4. Reduce heat to low.
  5. Meanwhile, beat yolks and sugar until the mixture is smooth.
  6. Add 4 tbsp on hot cream mixture to egg mixture and stir until combined. This will temper the eggs.
  7. Slowly add warmed yolk mixture to warm cream. Stir continuously in order to not cook/curdle eggs.
  8. Cook entire mixture over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon.
  9.  Cool completely. I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight before I use it.
  10. Pour into freezer bowl of ice cream machine. Turn machine on and mix until mixture thickens, about 20 minutes. During the last 5 minutes of mixing, add buttered pecans.
  11. Transfer to airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

Sweet, Sticky, Delicious Fun: Marshmallows from Scratch!

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From-scratch always seems to taste better than store-bought. Marshmallows are a sticky but fun example.

An early Saturday morning and terrific step-by-step instructions, including helpful photographs, were the ingredients I needed to check something off my “try-to-make-from-scratch” list – marshmallows. Holy cow, these are messy and delicious! It took almost two hours to make them and about a half an hour to clean up, but there are no complaints from me. I think a stand mixer and candy thermometer are non-negotiable for this project. Normally, I play around with a few recipes and try to come up with something on my own. This time, I followed the Hungry Mouse’s instructions to the tee. What delicious fun for a Saturday morning!

Homemade Marshmallows

Ingredients

  • 5 tbsp unflavored gelatin
  • 2 cups cold water (1 cup for the gelatin and 1 cup for the sugar syrup)
  • 3 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 cups light corn syrup
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 tbsp vanilla extract
  • Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

  1. Put 1 cup of cold water in the bowl of your mixer.
  2. Add the gelatin to the water.
  3. It will immediately absorb the water and turn into a kind of sandy mass.
  4. Give it a stir to combine the gelatin and water well.
  5. It will have the consistency of soft, wet sand.
  6. Let the gelatin sit uncovered, for about 30 minutes.
  7. Secure your mixing bowl onto your stand mixer.
  8. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment so it’s ready to go when your sugar is hot..
  9. With a strainer, dust a 13″ x 9″ glass baking pan with a thick layer powdered sugar. This will keep the marshmallows from sticking to the bottom.
  10. Set your pan aside so it is ready when your marshmallow fluff is done.
  11. Once your gelatin is ready and your pans are dusted, put 1 cup of water in a large-­sized pot on the stove over high heat. Use a pot that’s deep enough so that the sugar will have plenty of room to boil without boiling over, like a 5-quart pot.
  12. Add in the sugar and salt.
  13. Pour in the corn syrup.
  14. Whisk the mixture together to combine well and melt the sugar. This will take a minute or two, since the corn syrup is so thick. Keep whisking ’til the mixture is even and easy to stir.
  15. With any candy making, it’s important to dissolve all the sugar even the little bits stuck to the side of the pot.
  16. Sugar is finicky and wants to clump together and re­crystalize when it’s in a supersaturated solution like this. (Which will screw up the consistency of your marshmallow.
  17. As the mixture is coming up to a boil, wash down the sides of the pot with a brush dipped in cold water. Keep dipping and brushing ’til you can’t see any sugar crystals. This won’t take long, but it’s important to do.
  18. Clip your candy thermometer onto the side of the pot. The end of the thermometer should be submerged, but not touching the bottom of the pot.
  19. Keep the heat on high to bring the mixture to a boil. When it boils, it will rise up a few inches rapidly, then stop. It’s kind of alarming the first time you see it, but if your pot is deep enough, you shouldn’t have any problems.
  20. Keep a close eye on your pot and have a pair of potholders handy. (If it boils over, turn the heat off and fan the surface of the sugar to cool it. It should recede rapidly. Hot sugar is nasty stuff, so keep your hands and face clear. Better to have a mess on your stove than get burned.)
  21. Boil the sugar (keep the heat on high) until it reaches Firm Ball stage at 244 degrees F.
  22. When the sugar reaches 244 degrees F, take the pot off the heat.
  23. Turn the mixer on low speed. The whisk will start to chunk up the gelatin.
  24. With the mixer running on low, slowly (and carefully!!) pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin.
  25. Now, at this point, it’s going to smell kind of awful. That’s just fine. Unflavored gelatin is kind of stinky business. It will be fine with a little vanilla extract at the end.
  26. When all the sugar is in the bowl, fit your mixer with a splash guard, if you have one. Turn the speed up to medium­high (do this slowly if you don’t have a guard on, to avoid splashes) and whip the mixture for 20 minutes.
  27. As you whip the mixture, it will gradually increase in volume and turn an opaque white.
  28. After about 20 minutes, you’ll have a bowl of bona fide marshmallow fluff.
  29. After 20 minutes of whipping, pour in the vanilla extract.
  30. Beat to combine for another 5 minutes.
  31. After 5 minutes, stop the mixer, and remove the bowl and whisk. Your marshmallow fluff should be thick and white.
  32. Pour the fluff into your prepared pan.
  33. Dust the tops of the marshmallow with more powdered sugar.
  34. Leave the pans uncovered on the counter overnight to set up.
  35. The next day unmold and cut your marshmallows.
  36. Put a cup or two of powdered sugar in a gallon­size zip­top bag. (This is for rolling the cut marshmallows.)
  37. Dip a thin, sharp knife in a glass of hot water, then run the knife around the inside edge of each pan until the marshmallow loosens.
  38. If the knife starts to stick, just dip it back into the hot water.
  39. When the marshmallow is loose, lift it out and set it on a board.
  40. With a large, sharp knife, cut the marshmallow into cubes (or any other shape you like).
  41. Roll the cut marshmallows in the bag of powdered sugar to coat each side.
  42. Knock the excess sugar off and…voila! Marshmallow!
  43. Repeat with the rest of the marshmallows. Store them in an airtight container or zip­top bag. Enjoy!

Thank you to The Hungry Mouse for the recipe and terrific instructions! And click here for a great cup of

Coffee Ice Cream

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Patiently steeping coffee beans in a cream mixture base creates an ice cream infused with coffee flavor.

When I suggested coffee as an ice cream flavor to Jack, he shrugged his shoulders, obviously not impressed. But it’s one of my favorites, and since it seemed like I’d come up with the right egg ratio for the ice cream base, I ignored his indifference and went for it. I could already imagine my creamy cold dessert topped with homemade fudge. The process of steeping coffee beans in a custard base brought the coffee flavor to life. Jack’s response after a sample of the final product? “Wow!” That’s what a cook wants to hear.

Coffee Ice Cream

Ingredients

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 5 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Heat cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
  2. Add coffee beans and sugar and heat until mixture almost boils, about 5 – 8 minutes.
  3. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for one hour.
  4. Beat yolks and vanilla until the mixture is light yellow and smooth.
  5. Strain coffee beans out of coffee mixture. Leave any remaining specks of coffee.
  6. Reheat coffee-cream mixture until it almost boils.
  7. Add 4 tbsp on hot cream mixture to egg mixture and stir until combined. This will temper the eggs.
  8. Slowly add warmed yolk mixture to warm cream back into saucepan. Stir continuously in order to not cook/curdle eggs.
  9. Cook entire mixture over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon.
  10. Cool completely. I put the mixture in the refrigerator overnight before I use it.
  11. Pour into freezer bowl of ice cream machine. Turn machine on and mix until mixture thickens, about 20 minutes.
  12. Transfer to airtight container and place in freezer until firm, about 2 hours.

Afternoon Delight – Strawberries and Zabaglione

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Cold, windy, rainy days are perfect days for making something special. This bowl of Strawberries and Zabaglione created with egg yolks, sugar and port wine took only about 15 minutes to prepare – and about two minutes to make disappear.

Some days on Resurrection Bay, glorious sunshine and turquoise waters allow us to imagine we are in the Bahamas rather than Alaska. But this afternoon’s dark skies, white-capped waters and steady drum of cold rain made it a good day to keep the companionway hatch closed and remain cozily tucked into our sailboat with a warm fire in our Dickinson fireplace.

With a few simple ingredients, I whipped up a lovely afternoon snack which had just enough warmth to it to keep the chill outside at bay.

Ingredients

  • 4 egg yolks
  • 4 tsp sugar
  • 4 tbsp port wine

Directions

  1. Whisk all ingredients together over a double boiler until it is not quite as thick as pudding.
  2. Serve immediately over berries. Top with sliced almonds or a spring of fresh mint.

Five Layer Port Berry Tart – Enjoying Summer Berries and Living Larger (if you’re not careful)

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A crunchy cookie crust coated with dark chocolate is the foundation for this delicious tart. Layer on sliced almonds and pastry cream. Then finish with port wine-marinated berries. Yum!

Summer has always meant berries to me. When I was young, we would pick buckets of blackberries in thickets behind our home. I have fond memories of hot, sun-drenched, juicy strawberries at a “you-pick” farm…one for the container, one for me. All throughout my summers…berries. I can never seem to get enough of them. Maybe it is because their season is so fleeting.

In their short growing season, wild berries grow abundantly in Alaska. In the past, we’ve picked salmonberries, raspberries, blueberries and currents here on the Kenai Peninsula. This summer, our departure will beat the arrival of these ripening berries. Sigh. Fortunately, the local Seward grocery store supplied me with strawberries and blueberries to meet my berry craving.

This galley-sized tart serves four and was prepared in a Denby pasta bowl. In a traditional kitchen, you might double this recipe and bake it in a fluted tart or a springform pan. A dash of almond or vanilla extract might also be a nice flavor in the pastry cream. These are not staples in Bandon’s galley. Any berries could be used in this recipe. I would imagine ripe peaches would also be delicious.

Five Layer Port Berry Tart

Ingredients

Crust

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 4 tbsp unsalted butter (separated into 2 portions of 2 tbsp each)
  • 12 rectangles of dark chocolate bar
  • 1/3 cup of sliced almonds

Pastry Cream

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup semolina flour
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup low fat milk

Berry Topping

  • 1 cup of berries, I used sliced strawberries and whole blueberries
  • 2 tsp of brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp port wine
  • a few sliced almonds to garnish

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  2. Thoroughly mix together all-purpose flour and 2 tbsp brown sugar.
  3. Cut in unsalted butter.
  4. Mix to form dough ball (add drips of cold water if more moisture is needed to form dough).
  5. Press dough evenly into greased bakeware.
  6. Use tines of fork to prick dough all over the bottom and up the sides of the dough.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes.
  8. Let crust cool on wire rack in bakeware.
  9. On low heat, in a medium saucepan, melt chocolate and 2 tbsp of unsalted butter. Stir constantly.
  10. When chocolate mixture is thoroughly melted and mixed, spread evenly onto cooled crust, ensuring bottom and sides of crust are coated.
  11. Sprinkle 1/3 cup of sliced almonds onto melted chocolate. Press almonds into melted chocolate. Let cool and harden.
  12. In a small bowl, whisk egg yolks and 1/4 cup brown sugar until fully incorporated.
  13. Add semolina to egg mixture and whisk until fully incorporated. Set aside.
  14. Heat milk and cream in a medium saucepan on medium heat just until it boils.
  15. Whisk in heated milk mixture to egg mixture tablespoon by tablespoon, in order to avoid cooking eggs.
  16. Pour egg and milk mixture back into saucepan and stir constantly over medium heat until it thickens (should coat a wooden spoon).
  17. Continue cooking and stirring for two additional minutes. Cool pastry cream completely. Place plastic wrap over pastry cream to avoid developing a skin.
  18. Take remaining 2 tsp of brown sugar and mix with 2 tbsp of port wine.
  19. Pour port wine mixture over berries and let marinate while pastry cream is cooling.
  20. When ready to assemble, strain berries out of port wine mixture.
  21. Assemble tart by spreading cooled pastry cream evenly over chocolate coated crust and then placing strained berries atop pastry cream. Sprinkle a few sliced almonds on top of the berry layer and enjoy immediately.

The crust and pastry cream can be made ahead of time and will keep well in the fridge. Then you can easily assemble this delightful dessert right before you serve it. We did share two of the four servings with our dock neighbors to avoid living too “large!”

Leftover S’mores Ingredients? Bake a S’mores Cheesecake!

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After grilling s’mores for ourselves and our dock neighbors, we were still left with half a bag of marshmallows, a box of graham crackers, and a whole bar of dark chocolate. Such problems… Cheesecake was the answer to this problem!

Our galley kitchen is small. The counter space is measured in inches. Our pantry has just the basics. Our cookware and dishes are on the multifunctional and minimal side. We did outfit our little home with Denby dishes, which can be baked in. So, forget about the springform pan and the food processor in this preparation. What follows is how I made S’mores Cheesecake, galley style.

S’mores Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crust-

  • a little more than 1 cup of ground graham crackers. I ground the graham crackers using our coffee grinder.
  • 3 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
Cheesecake Filling
  • 8 oz. cream cheese, brought to room temperature
  • 2 eggs, also room temperature
  • 4 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup of coarsely chopped dark chocolate bar

Topping

  • Marshmallows, quartered
  • 1/4 cup of coarsely chopped dark chocolate bar

Directions

  1. Mix graham cracker crumbs with 3 tbsp brown sugar and butter.
  2. Press into a well-buttered pasta bowl that can be baked (or springform pan if you are in a standard kitchen).
  3. In a medium-sized pot, beat eggs and remaining 4 tbsp. of brown sugar. I used brown sugar to add flavor in lieu of vanilla extract.
  4. Whisk in cream cheese until smooth. A mixer would have come in handy for this step. My arm was a little tired here.
  5. Mix in 1/4 cup of chopped dark chocolate. I did experiment with using a vegetable peeler to curl pieces of chocolate. Using a cutting board and a chopping knife was easier and turned out with equally good results.
  6. Pour cream cheese mixture into graham cracker crust and bake in a 320 degree F oven. My little oven may bake a little warmer than yours, so you may need to increase the temperature a bit.
  7. Bake for about 40 minutes, until the center is almost set.
  8. Evenly place marshmallows on top of cheesecake. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate. Bake for another 5 minutes, marshmallows should just be tanning.
  9. Remove from oven and let cool for about an hour. No matter how much Jack begs, tell him he can’t have any cheesecake until tomorrow.
  10. Refrigerate overnight. Fortunately, our camper is parked in the harbor parking lot and is equipped with a nice little fridge.

I was pleasantly surprised that we could pop the cheesecake out of the pasta bowl. I thought we were going to have to enjoy this dessert spoonful by spoonful. Who needs springform pans?!

Strawberry-Port Gallette with Sliced Almonds

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Delicious first baking experience in the galley of our boat, Bandon. Strawberries marinated in brown sugar and port wine stuffed into a simple crust filled our little home with delicious smells and satisfied my need to bake.

Our boat is equipped with a gimbaled stove, which pivots and swings to remain level in spite of waves and wind in the harbor. The stove houses a tiny oven, which is perfect for baking for two. I love to bake and have had an itch to make something with the  beautiful strawberries I kept seeing at the store. We hadn’t had strawberries since last summer! After thirty minutes of baking, the first experiment emerged from the oven a success. The only thing that would have improved this dessert was a couple of scoops of  vanilla ice cream. Next time…

Strawberry Port Gallette

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 cups sliced strawberries
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp port wine

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, stir together strawberries, brown sugar, and port. Set aside.
  2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, granulated sugar, and salt.
  3. Cut in butter to flour mixture. I mixed this by hand, literally, until the butter was well incorporated.
  4. Add a bit of water to form flour mixture into a dough ball (I used about 2 tbsp).
  5. Roll out dough to an 8″ circle. I didn’t have a rolling pin, so I pressed out the dough into 8″ circle onto a well-buttered cookie sheet.
  6. Place berries in a mound on the circle, leaving a 1-2″ border. I reserved some of the sugar-port juice to sauté the sliced almonds.
  7. Fold the 1-2″ border over fruit, leaving the strawberries exposed in the center.
  8. Bake at 375 degrees F until golden, about 30 minutes.
  9. While gallette is baking, sauté almonds in reserved sugar-port juice.
  10. When baking is complete, remove gallette from oven and sprinkle with sautéed almonds.

Chocolate Orange Meringue Pie

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A mountain of perfectly peaked meringue sits atop a decadent chocolate-orange pudding pie.

The flipped meringue cookies gave me new confidence with meringue. I felt ready to attempt a meringue pie. Luckily, there is still plenty of chocolate in our ever diminishing pantry. Since friends were coming to dinner, it was the perfect day to attempt this culinary feat.

I read many recipes on many sites. I was warned about weeping meringue and problems with humidity. Winter air in the Arctic is like air in the driest desert and I wasn’t scared off by a few tears from frothy egg whites. I was ready for the challenge. The process of making the pie was long and satisfying. Each step looked and tasted delicious. The filling thickened up beautifully. The meringue browned in just the right way. At the end of an Arctic-Mexican meal featuring enchiladas and Spanish-style rice, everyone agreed that the chocolate orange meringue pie was impressive to look at… and then it disappeared!

Chocolate Orange Meringue Pie

Ingredients

  • 1 9-inch pie crust, baked
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar, separated into 1 1/2 cups and 1/4 cup
  • 5 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 4 tbsp all purpose flour
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 5 eggs, yolks and whites separated
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 tsp orange zest
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Directions

  1. For chocolate filling: In a medium pot, mix together 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, cocoa powder, flour and salt. Stir in egg yolks and milk. Stir in orange zest. Whisk until well blended. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until filling has the consistency of pudding, about 10 minutes. Turn heat off.
  2. Stir in vanilla and butter. Stir until both are incorporated.
  3. Pour filling into baked pie shell. Refrigerate to set for 4 hours or overnight.
  4. When you are ready to make the meringue, take the pie out of the refrigerator.
  5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  6. For meringue: In a non-reactive bowl beat egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar. Continue beating eggs until soft peak stage (peaks will sag when you remove beaters). Add 1/4 cup sugar a tablespoon at a time, allowing sugar to dissolve between additions. Continue beating until stiff peaks form and egg whites are stiff and glossy.
  7. Spread the meringue over the pie completely. You can make decorative peaks by using a dull knife to shape the meringue.
  8. Place pie in oven on a low rack. Bake for 10 minutes until meringue is golden brown.
  9. Chill for two hours before serving.