Pi Day

March 14th is "Pi Day" - as well as Albert Einstein's Birthday! I'm not a huge math fan, but I like to celebrate any occasion that calls for food, so I decided to make a strawberry pie with a chocolate shell crust. It turned out perfectly refreshing. Recipe was adapted from here. How I made it:

STRAWBERRY FILLING:

1 1/2 LBS HALVED STRAWBERRIES	1/2 LB MASHED STRAWBERRIES
3/4 CUP WHITE SUGAR	3 TBSP CORNSTARCH

Over medium high heat in a saucepan, I combined a 1/2 pound of mashed strawberries with white sugar, cornstarch and a 1/2 cup of water. I constantly mixed until the strawberries came to a boil, and continued to stir about 2-3 until the mixture thickened. 

CRUST:

PRE-BAKED PIE CRUST

"DOCKING"

After pre-baking a pricked pie crust in the oven for 12 minutes at 375 degrees F, I melted a couple of ounces of bittersweet chocolate with whipping cream, and "painted" the melted chocolate onto the inside of the cooled crust. The chocolate adds a little something extra by satisfying my chocolate obsession and stopping the crust from becoming soggy. Best of both worlds!

3 OUNCES CHOCOLATE	GHIRARDEHLLI
1 TBSP WHIPPING CREAM	SO YUMMY

After letting the chocolate layer set in the freezer for 10 minutes, I arranged the halved strawberries in the dish, covered with the mashed strawberry mixture, and let the pie cool in the refrigerator. 

The pie was ready just in time for tonight's dessert. So delicious! I love the color combination of the dark chocolate and the bright red strawberries. Can't wait to have another slice for breakfast tomorrow.

- Sam

Nutella Banana Bread

MY BANANA CRAVING & CHOCOLATE CRAVING:
TOGETHER AT LAST

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs beaten
• 2 1/3 cup mashed overripe bananas
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup Nutella spread

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan
• In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs, mashed bananas, cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture.
• Mix one cup of batter with 3/4 cup Nutella. 
• Pour banana mixture into prepared loaf pan. Top with Nutella mixture and swirl with a knife. 
• Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. 

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM HERE

- Sam

Chocolate & Coffee Cravings

Sometimes I bake. Mostly I just leave the baking up to my sister, considering she's in school right now for pastry arts, and I just do the eating. However, since she's all the way in Rhode Island and I still wanted something chocolatey and coffee-y, I had to take the situation into my own hands. The outcome? An absolutely delicious Dark Chocolate Cappuccino Cheesecake with an Oreo Cookie Crust. The batter alone was so decadent and rich I almost died and went to chocolate heaven.