Baked goods thread. Can I have a piece now? No, wait!

Picked with the kids on a hike yesterday.

Well ya see Stinster, my health nut daughter tells me that them wild blueberries are wicked high in Antioxidants...which must be a good thing, so we'll just have to choke down a few more muffins and pies ya know, don't want to get too low on yer antioxidants.

 

Had some huckleberries for the first time when I was out in Yellowstone last year, very nice...huckleberry ice cream

 

It's hard work, but ya gotta do it for the chilren...

 

Looks good DaveGunter. Did you pick those yourself? It's been a long time since I've been around wild blueberries. For my pies I use cultured blueberries IQF. Last box I bought was from North Carolina. The flavor was amazing for a cultured blueberry. I always cheat a little for the sake of consistency and use a little blueberry flavor. Some people like to use a touch a cinnamon and some a touch of lemon but I think that's mostly for the anti oxidant properties. What fat did you use in your crust? Nothing like a good old fashioned flaky pie crust and cup of coffee.

 

Never had much luck with frozen berries and getting the right consistency to the filling consistently, seems to vary, you got a pro secret for that?

Yep just a touch of cinnamon and lemon, I like to taste the berry.

 

Use a pre-glatinized starch to make the filling. Scale the sugar, salt, dry flavor (cinnamon) and starch together and blend well by hand to disperse the starch then start adding the water slow to make a paste minus lumps, meaning work the lumps out as you add the water. Once it's smooth the rest of the water can be added along with flavor and/or citric acid. Then drop in the frozen blueberries and mix it up. There's a learning curve here for how thick you want the baked product. Some people like a runny filling and some, like myself, prefer those berries to stand up like soliders Put the filling in a shell, top it and seal the edges. Wash with an egg wash of part egg, water and pinch of salt. Do not wash the edge as that will burn. I always always sprinkle a little granulated sugar on top (not on the edge) to give it a nice crisp look. Bake at 350 -360F. You do not cook the filling first. That's what the pre-glatinized starch is for.

 

Wow, thanks.

I use tapioca flour, was not mixing the starch/sugar wet, just tossing dry with the frozen berries, I would alway end up with a pile of powder that I just pour over the top, maybe that's why I got so much variation.

I will try the wet mix, how much water, just enough to get it liquid? and cold water? I like little berry soldiers too, the pic above is a little runnier than I like.

The recipe I got best results with frozen berries had you thaw and drain and then add back a measured amount of juice, is kind of a pain and really depends on how much you let them drain, you loose a lot of flavor in the unused juice, always made more of a "gel" filling than a pie filling too.

I like the trial and error suggestion, I'll try and suffer through

 

Blueberry Pie!

 

I'm sure many of you are like me and being overrun with zucchini about now.

Here is a fantastic and easy chocolate zucchini cake. Not overly sweet with enough cocoa so you can really taste the chocolate.

Seed and grate one med zucchini, about two cups.
4 eggs
1 1/3 cu veg oil
1 1/3 cu sugar
3/4 cu cocoa powder
1 tsp of cinn
2 cu flour
2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1/2 salt
Chocolate chips

Bake in a 9 x 13 pan for 45 min at 350f




I made this one for my wife who is celiac, so I used a gluten free baking mix and omitted the baking soda and baking powder. You would never know it is gluten free.

 

What the heck is zucchini? Anywho. Did someone say chocolate?!!!!!

 

My SisIL sent this recipe to me for Pear Cheddar Pie and I thought Yeh? but as my daughter and SIL are coming tonight I thought I would give it a try.

Before baking

After baking


Second piece to see if it was a good as I thought it was. And it was!!!

Just before going to bed last night I remembered that our daughter doesn't like pears so this morning I got up and used the same recipe substituting apples for pears.
Before baking

After baking

I will have to wait until they get here before I find out if it is as good as the pear version.

 

I used Gala apples and next time I would use Granny Smith for the tartness. The pear version was better.

 

Anyone recognize these. Campinspecter was talking about them the other day so I made a batch for potluck. Good thing we had a couple before the potluck because none came home.

 

I had those when I was younger. I think they had cocoa in them. Haystacks?

 

Aren't those no bakes?

 

I haven't made them in years. Cocoa, coconut, oatmeal held together with boiled sugar (lots), butter and milk syrup. They are called no-bakes or un-baked cookies.

 

Yep sounds like the ones I'm familiar with, but I don't know if they have coconut in them.
What's milk syrup.