Life sure has been busy for the past few weeks. Along with lots of holiday fun, there was lots of work to be done as well. Presentations, proposals, lots of designing and a bit of coding here and there…and one of the highlights of this busy season was working with a fellow food blogger with a redesign of her blog! Alanna over at A Veggie Venture needed a new look and new functionality and I was so flattered that she felt that Cornelius and I were up to the task. She knew what she wanted from the get-go (hooray for clients with vision!) which made our working relationship as sweet as pie. Working with Alanna was great, so head on over to her blog and take a peek at all her yummy veggie recipes (well needed at this time of year)!
And speaking of sweet relationship pie, the day after New Year’s Day was Cornelius’ birthday! Before the big day, I sat Cornelius down and made him select his dream cake recipe from a skyscraper pile of post-it note marked cookbooks. And instead of a dream cake, he picked a dream pie! Coconut-banana cream pie with a dark chocolate lined crust, to be exact. Oh my! Lucky for me one of my resolutions for this year is to eat more healthy…so I was more than pleased to make a cream pie that I didn’t want to eat (you know, back to the banana thing again). But don’t worry about me, I loved making this pie! There were quite a few steps involved but I loved that intensity. Not that it was that difficult, but I did have to do things that kind of scare me…like making custard and pie crust* from scratch. But the pie was a success and well worth the effort (according to Cornelius and his parents who all sampled the pie). The recipe I used was adapted (I subbed light coconut milk for whole milk for that crazy coconut twist!) from the banana cream pie recipe from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
* The only problem with the crust was that it shrunk during baking quite a bit. Any thoughts as to why it happened? I didn’t use pie weights so might that be the problem? Regardless of the shrinking, it apparently was tasty!
shrinkage is due to over-rolling, such as re-using the scraps a second time. Or making a dough and rolling it before is gets a chance to rest.
good luck!
That just looks ridiculously good.
Great work on the blog design!
I would love to have my website re-vamped but alas, it will have to wait till I get a 2nd job 🙁
That pie looks like a slice of heaven – so fluffy and creamy. Did you not even sample your creation? Whoa, you must really dislike bananas!!
p.s. I’ve got great vision too, I know a fantastic blog when I see it (ahem) 😉
p.s. happy (belated) B-day, C!
yummmmmmmm That looks amazing!!!
Shrinkage can be caused by stretching the dough as you line the pan instead of “easing” it in but, as anonymous points out, gluten is usually the culprit.
Working your dough lightly and resting your dough before rolling helps. Chilling the dough before baking (after lining the pie plate) is even better. I often make pie crusts the day before and refrigerate them overnight, but if you didn’t start yesterday, an hour in the fridge is enough time for the gluten to relax.
Another hint, not for the purists, maybe =) but a tiny bit of baking powder (1/8 t. for a one-crust pie) also prevents shrinkage and makes the crust lighter and flakier, too.
I think pie weights are a nuisance, myself, and IME they work better to stop air bubbles from spoiling your crust than to prevent shrinkage.
thanks for the pie tips, anonymous!
it really does, maven. it’s funny to make something that i won’t eat!
thanks joanne! nope, not even a bite!
jenn, thank you!
ahhh, know i know what caused the shrinkage. i rolled out the dough and put it in the pie plate and stuck it in the freezer for 5 minutes and then baked it. certainly not enough time to rest. damn, gluten! thank you sophie!
I was looking at Alannas blog this morning – you did a wonderful job! And a belated Happy Birthday to Cornelius!
thanks sara!