This post was meant for November's What's Baking. I guess it's obvious now that I didn't make the deadline. Actually, the pie was made, it's just the post that didn't make it. Oh well! I'll have a December post for sure!

Toasted Coconut Custard Pie has become a traditional pie for our family since after I began dating JR. I wanted to take something to his parent's house for Thanksgiving. Dessert is usually my domain when it comes to his family's celebrations since very few people in his family bake. Since my family sticks to pies on Thanksgiving, my mind was on bringing pies for his family as well.

Coconut is favorite flavor with his family, so I knew this Toasted Coconut Custard Pie would be well received. It was, and so the tradition began of taking this pie every year. I can't remember now if I made one for my family that first year as well or not, if not it was very soon after that this pie made it's way to my family's Thanksgiving table as well.

Here is what you'll need:

2 deep dish pie crusts (I use frozen)
4 extra large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut, divided
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 425F degrees.

To partially bake pie shells:

Place a piece of aluminum foil in each pie shell. Fill each pie shell with dried beans to weigh down the foil. Place pie shells in oven and bake for 8 minutes. Remove pie shells from oven and remove beans and foil. Place pie shells back in the oven and bake for 4 minutes. Remove pie shells from oven and set aside.

Reduce oven to 325F degrees.

To make pie filling:

Using a stand mixer, beat eggs on high for about 5 minutes until they become thick and light yellow.

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a small bowl. Beat this mixutre into the eggs until well combined. 

Reduce mixer to medium speed. Add cream, milk and vanilla to egg mixture. Beat for about 3 minutes until light and frothy. Gently stir in 1 1/4 cup coconut.

Evenly divide filling between 2 pie shells. Place pies on a baking sheet. Dot tops of pies with butter pieces and sprinkle with nutmeg.

Place pies in oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove pies from oven and sprinkle with remaining coconut. Place pies back in oven and bake 20-30 minutes more. The pies are done when the center slightly jiggles when the pie is moved, and the coconut is toasted. A knife inserted into the middle of the pie will also come out clean.

Remove pie from oven and cool on wire racks for 1 hour. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Makes 2 - 9 in. deep dish pies.

Source: TheRecipeLink.com

This month's What's Baking is hosted by Jade of The Mess Pot with the theme being Celebrate Summer.  Although I love Fall, Summer comes close to being my favorite season mostly due the beach.  I love the beach and am very fortunate to live close enough to make weekly or semi-weekly trips on the weekends.

I had so many ideas incorporating a beach-y feel, but as it turned out I decided to highlight the abundance of tomatoes coming out of my garden.  Tomatoes are the garden I look forward to all Summer.  I've heard so many stories around the nation of lost gardens due to extreme heat or bugs, we were lucky to escape both of these hardships this year.

Every Summer I search for new ways to use tomatoes, usually opting for recipes that highlight their bright flavor.  This Tomato Ricotta Tart from Martha Stewart was no exception.  Not only does it highlight the tomatoes, pairing it with a side salad makes for a great light dinner on an especially hot Summer day.


My springform pan is 10 inches, so the measurements here represent what I used for that size pan.  Here is what you'll need:

Our niece stayed with us recently and for Saturday morning breakfast I knew I wanted to make a quiche.  Quiche is one of those great breakfast treats that you can make ahead and eat anytime, whether it's breakfast, lunch or even dinner.  This proved to be really useful as we had drop-in guests come by and I had something on hand to serve them.

This isn't my first quiche post, I've made this vegetable one before.  I followed that same basic recipe, but decided to change up the flavors based on what I had in the refrigerator, which happened to include two of my favorite ingredients - mushrooms and goat cheese.  I really wasn't sure how the goat cheese was going to work in this, but I'm glad I took the risk.  It provided a nice slightly tart flavor and creamy texture.

I also included a new ingredient to my kitchen, garlic scapes.  If you've never used them, you should try them.  It may be too late to get them this year, they have a short season, but you can look for them at your farmer's market next year.  They added the perfect light, garlicky flavor and slightly crunchy texture to this dish.

This was definitely a winner with only one piece left after I served it and that piece was gone quickly the next morning.  You certainly don't need to wait for guests to make this, in fact I think you should make this as a breakfast treat for yourself soon!

Here is what you'll need:

• 4 oz. pancetta, diced
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 10 oz. mushrooms, sliced
• 3 garlic scapes, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup 2% cottage cheese
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 
• 1/4 cup 2% milk
• 1 tsp dried mustard
• 1 Tbsp fresh chives, chopped
• 1 Tbsp all purpose flour
• 1 pie crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake crust for 10 minutes.

While crust is baking, in a large saute pan on high heat, add pancetta to pan and cook until starting to brown.

Turn pan down to medium-high heat and add oil.  Add mushrooms and cook until partially browned, stirring occasionally.  Add garlic scapes, salt and pepper to taste, and cook until browned and softened, stirring occasionally.  Once done, remove from heat and set aside to cool a bit.

In a bowl combine eggs, cheeses, milk, mustard, chives and flour stir until thoroughly mixed.

Spoon mushroom mixture into bottom of pie crust, then layer egg mixture on top of mushroom.  

Place in oven and bake 45-50 minutes until knife inserted come out clean.  Allow to set for 10 minutes before cutting.  Serves 8.

When I first saw the theme for this month's What's Baking, Bake From Your Nationality/Heritage, chosen by Amanda from Our Italian Kitchen, I was immediately overwhelmed. What's a mutt to do?  This is a serious question people!  I was stressed out about this for over half the month!

After much debate, I settled on baking something from my mom's side of the family.  There aren't many family members left and I don't know a whole lot about their heritage (Aunt Deb, we need to work on this!).  I do know that my late Grandmother was Swedish and/or had Swedish in her.  Since I don't have many memories of her, and no memories of what she cooked, I wanted to bake something in her honor.

After some research I came across Ostkaka, Swedish cheesecake, and thought this would be a good fit with the theme and my husband's love of cheesecake.  Coincidentally, or not, I had recently picked up a jar of lingonberry preserves from IKEA, which is the perfect, dare I say traditional, accompaniment for this dessert.


I settled on this recipe from Dreaming of Winter blog mainly because I was being lazy and didn't want to use raw milk and rennet, nor did I want to convert all of the metric measurements found in most of the other recipes online.  Of course I couldn't leave the recipe alone, and made a few changes based on suggestions from other bloggers and recipes I found.  The result was a very subtly flavored cheesecake/pudding like dessert.  I'm glad that I added almond extract and extra sugar, because I think without those it would definitely be lacking in flavor.  Toasting the almonds would make this even better.


After all my initial stress, I really enjoyed this month's challenge.  In fact, I've decided to investigate and cook or bake more from my heritage in the coming months.  Amanda, thank you for sparking that interest!

Oh, and that blue plate...it was my Grandfather's.  I'm not sure if he had these when my Grandmother was alive, but I've decided to believe that is true since I don't know otherwise.

The changes I made to the recipe are included here:

• 3 large eggs
• 7 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour, sifted
• 3/4 cup 1% milk
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 1/4 cup 4% small curd cottage cheese
• 1 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl beat eggs with sugar until well combined.  Add almonds, flour, milk, cream and almond extract.  Combine well.

Using a blender (a food process may work better), blend cottage cheese until smooth.  Add cottage cheese to mixing bowl.  Mix until everything is combined.

Pour into cheesecake pan.  Bake for 1 hour.  Place on wire rack to cool.

Run knife around edge of the pan to before remove side ring.  Serve with lingonberry preserves and/or whipped cream.

I remember a few years back having extra buttermilk and looking for recipes to use it up.  I was tired of throwing away perfectly good buttermilk.  It took me a while to figure out there are a number of uses for it: pancakes, waffles, fried chicken, biscuits (which I don't particularly care for), and I've even used it in my macaroni and cheese.  Buttermilk pie was one thing that always seemed strange and unappealing to me.  Pie is my favorite dessert, so I finally decided to give it a try, and boy was I surprised.  It was good, really good!

Recently I had extra buttermilk and began my search for even more uses.  I thought back to that first buttermilk pie I made, and began searching for other pie variations.  When I came across this recipe I was intrigued; a cross between buttermilk, custard and crumb top apple pies.  I immediately set out to make it!

I did alter the recipe a bit, cooking the apples in brown sugar vs. regular sugar, and I used an additional apple based on the reviews I read.  I also didn't read through to the end of the recipe, so I added the crumb topping before it baked, instead of allowing to make some and then adding it.  I think the brown sugar was too much because this was VERY sweet, too sweet for me, however, adding the crumb topping early wasn't an issue!

JR loved it so much he ate two huge pieces before it even fully cooled.  I think this would be well received as a Thanksgiving pie, and may make an appearance on our Thanksgiving table this year.

The changes I made are included here:

For Apple Filling 

• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 green and 1 red apple, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

 For Custard:

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

For Crumb Topping:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 Tbsp butter

• 1 pie crust (I used a frozen one)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

To make Apple Filling: In a skillet over medium meeat, melt 1/4 cup butter.  Add apples, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.  Cook 3 to 5 minutes, until tender.  Set aside.

To make Custard: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 1/4 cup softened butter and 1 1/3 cups sugar, and beat until creamy.  Add eggs one at a time, beating until they are no longer yellow.  Add vanilla and 2 Tbsp flour, and combine well.  Pour in buttermilk and beat until smooth.  Set aside.

To make Crumb Topping: Combine 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/4 tsp cinnamon in a small bowl.  Cut in 3 Tbsp butter or margarine until mixture is crumbly.

Spoon Apple Filling into pie crust.  Pour Custard over Apple Filling.  Top Custard with Crumb Topping.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 70 to 80 minutes, until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let stand 1 hour before serving.  Serves 8.