There's no wrong way to eat a Reese's pie

I was off from cooking and baking last week, which was such a welcome change from the few weeks before - making a million things (and trying to be creative and come up with new ideas one after the other!) is exhausting!! Some people have asked me in the past why I don't do some baking and cooking professionally, and this is why - because I DO get tired of it after a while!! But, after a nice little break, I'm refreshed and rejuvenated and back!

I actually thought I was going to have this past weekend off too - I went to New York to visit some friends and celebrate one of their birthdays. It ended up being a whole weekend of an unofficial college reunion (my life tends to revolve around reunions, apparently), and I had such a great time seeing old friends and pretending to be 20 again. I didn't realize how much I missed that part of my life! Crazy how time flies!

So, traveling on a bus with baked goods was not something I intended to do, but one of my friends - my oldest childhood friend, whom I have literally known since the day he was born and have remained close with ever since - emailed me and asked me to bring him something yummy. How could I say no? I immediately thought of peanut butter pie, since you can freeze it and it travels amazingly well. But then I thought, how can I make this a little more special....and I came up with it. I'd do a "Reese's Peanut Butter Cup" version of the pie: I'd do half of the filling with my normal PB pie recipe and, with the other half, I'd do an adapted version of the recipe with chocolate-hazelnut spread instead of peanut butter. And then, for good measure, I decided to chop up some (pareve) peanut butter cups and sprinkle them in between the layers and on top. Oh my goodness, if you like Reese's, you MUST try this. Took me literally 15 minutes to whip up and it was such a hit! (Mom, I'll make this for you next time I come home! And, you know the Shabbos drill....no inside pictures....just trust me ;-))

Total side note: Talking about Reese's Peanut Butter Cups made me think of HersheyPark and how every year, as a kid, I used to wish I was a Twizzler or a Mr. Goodbar or whichever category was taller than I was! Haha these are your memories when HersheyPark is pretty much out your back door!

(Note: I did have to go to a specialty kosher candy store for the pareve peanut butter cups. If you cannot find them readily available, just skip them altogether.)

"Reese's" Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
1 chocolate graham cracker crust
3 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
4 oz. pareve cream cheese, divided
1/2 cup. powdered sugar + 1/8 cup
1/3 cup pareve chocolate hazelnut spread (I used Schneider's Dellinut spread)
1 cup pareve whipping cream, whipped
12 pareve peanut butter cups, chopped

1. Bake the pie crust in a 375 degree oven for 5 minutes. Cool completely.
2. In a small bowl, whip together the peanut butter and 2 oz. of cream cheese. Add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and beat until smooth.
3. Beat in 1/2 of the whipped cream and whip for an additional minute until fluffy. Pour mixture into the bottom of the cooled pie crust.
4. Sprinkle about half of the chopped peanut butter cups all over the peanut butter mixture.
5. In a separate bowl, beat together the chocolate spread and the remaining 2 oz. of cream cheese. Add the remaining 1/8 cup of powdered sugar.
6. Beat in the remaining 1/2 of the whipped cream and whip for an additional minute until fluffy. Pour over the peanut butter mixture and peanut butter cups.
7. Top with the remaining chopped peanut butter cups. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. (Note: This dessert can be made up to a week in advance and frozen. Remove the pie from the freezer 4-6 hours before serving and defrost in the refrigerator.)

Pizza Pie? Caprese Crostata?

Hi, all! We made it through another holiday season....woohoo! Now back to 5-day work weeks....yay! :-P

I spent my first weekend in a long time back at my apartment and saw many of my friends for the first time in weeks....we had such a nice Simchas Torah, and it was great to see everyone for singing and dancing and meals and desserts and lots of fun!

I ended up not having to prepare too much this weekend and I only really experimented with one recipe. (But....I didn't take a picture!! I don't know why I didn't, but I am going to post a picture of a similar recipe that I found online so you can see what the finished product looks like.)

We got invited out for Shabbos lunch, which was a dairy meal - a welcome change after weeks and weeks of such meat-heavy dinners and lunches. I decided to make a cheese and tomato crostata. A crostata is basically a free-formed pie or tart. You can make a crostata for any course - appetizer, entree, or dessert. Just vary the fillings and you'll have a totally different take on it! Mine was a "caprese" crostata, after my dad's (and my!) favorite salad - a caprese salad. Who doesn't love slices of fresh mozzarella and tomato and sweet basil? Yum yum! Good kosher mozzarella is hard to find, but since this dish is all melted anyway, whatever you can find in your store will be great. I bought a braided log of mozzarella, simply because it mirrored the size and shape of the tomatoes I got, which meant everything would look pretty :-)

I made this as easy as humanly possible. Didn't make my own pie dough, just mixed the filling together, layered on the tomatoes and cheese, folded it up, and popped it in the oven. It sliced up nicely and ended up going over really well! It can be served hot, but mine ended up being served closer to warm-ish (maybe even room temperature) and it was still great. This is a great one for any pizza lovers and is a nice side dish for a dairy or fish meal.

(sorry again about the picture....but this one is close!)

Caprese Crostata

2 frozen pie shells (regular, not deep-dish size)

7 oz. ricotta cheese

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

1 tsp. minced garlic

salt and pepper, to taste

4 roma tomatoes, sliced into 1/4 inch slices

1 16-oz. braided mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/4 inch slices

1 egg

1. Defrost the pie shells in the refrigerator overnight.

2. When the pie shells are completely defrosted, remove them from their metal pans and knead them to form one disc of dough. Roll out the disc until it is a 14-16 inch circle and place it on a greased cookie sheet. (Note: This is easiest to do between two sheets of plastic wrap or in a 2 gallon plastic bag, which you cut at the seams for easy removal.)

3. In a small bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, basil, garlic, salt and pepper. Spread in a thin layer over the pie dough, leaving a 1 1/2 inch border around the edges.

4. Starting from the outside in concentric circles, lay down alternate slices of tomato and mozzarella cheese, until the entire layer of the ricotta mixture is covered.

5. Fold the outer uncovered pie dough over the filling, making folds every 2 inches. 

6. Beat together the egg and 1 tbsp. of water. Brush this egg wash over the folded dough. Bake the crostata at 375 degrees for 40 minutes, or until the dough is browned and the mozzarella cheese has melted and begins to brown.