Blueberry Brie Pie

Dan saw a recipe for a blueberry brie pie in a cooking magazine I got from the Library--my obsession with cooking has rubbed off on him! YES! I made one that I found on the internet, which was more to my liking and I made it for supper when my cousin was here. It was a hit!
I have been on a pie kick ever since!

Ingredients:
about 5 or 6 oz brie cheese with the outer edge of the rind cut off. Cut into about 8 wedges. (I bought my Brie at Sam's for a fraction of the price in the grocery store)
(I would recommend cutting the pieces smaller, to distribute them throughout the pie). At least, that is what my taste testers recommended!

Berry Filling:
about 2 1/2 cups frozen berries
2 tbsp (1/8 cup) cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4 cup cold water
2 T raw sugar; or sweeten to your liking.

Topping

· 3/4 cups flour

· 1/2 cup plus 2 T granulated sugar

· 1/2 cup plus 2 T brown sugar, packed

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 1/2 cup oatmeal

· 1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

· Can add sliced almonds if desired.

· To be totally truthful, I just dumped these ingredients together without measuring.. and it worked. :)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Begin by putting all the berries in a saucepan and turning the heat to medium-low, when they are all thawed and warm, stir in the sugar. Let the sugar dissolve a bit then, slowly stir in the dissolved cornstarch liquid. Turn the heat up to medium and boil for 1 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat, turn off burner.

Now, combine all the dry ingredients for the crisp topping together in a bowl and mix well. Then, add the butter. I mixed this all together with my hands because I feel using a spoon or mixer is just too much work. Plus getting your hands dirty is fun!

The cheese should already be cut up, oven and cookie sheet preheated this whole time, and crisp topping should be all ready. Put the cheese slices in the bottom of the pie shell. The berries should NOT completely cover the cheese, the berry mixture should go about 1/2 to 3/4 of the way up the pie shell. You will have massive cheese and berries escaping if you try to cover the cheese wedges. Sprinkle a layer of the crisp topping on the pies and put the pie on a cookie sheet to avoid berries escaping in the oven.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F, then turned it down to 350 degrees F. Bake another 20-35 minutes, depending on how fast your crust and topping cook.

Makeover Chocolate Truffle Dessert

The recipe should be "Makeout" Chocolate Truffle Dessert.... this is so yummy that you and your honey... well.,,, 'nuf said. - Simple and Delicious

Chocolate Truffle Dessert-makes 16 servings

1 box fudge brownie mix ( 8-in square pan size) (I made mine from scratch)

3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided

6 Tbsp. butter, cubed (margarine works fine)

1 Tbsp. instant coffee granules

3 Tbsp. vanilla

14-16 Pirouette cookies, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces.

Make brownie mix according to package directions. Spread into a greased 9 inch spring form pan. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Put choco. chips in a food processor; cover and process until finely chopped. in a small microwaved bowl, combine 1 cup cream, butter and coffee. Microwave uncovered on high for 1to 1-1/2 minutes or until butter is melted; stir until smooth. With food processor running, add cream mixture to choco. chips in a slow, steady stream. add vanilla; cover and process until smooth.

Reserve ¼ c. mixture for cake garnish. (you can put into a pastry bag or sandwich bag with tip cut off---- I just melted it and swirled it on top).

Remove the sides of the springform pan, spread half of the chocolate mixture over brownie layer, over top and sides. in a small bowl, with remaining cream, bead until soft peaks form. Fold into remaining chocolate mixture. Spread over cake, gently press cookies into sides of dessert.

Garnish, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight. Remove from the refrigerator 5 minutes before cutting.

Delicious!

How It All Began

As a young child, I often helped my mom in the kitchen... I am not sure if she considered it helping, but I learned a lot of the basic skills required for making wonderful foods. Some of my favorite memories of my mom and food, are when she would make homemade soft pretzels and pull them out of the oven just as the school bus dropped us off. Or her wonderful homemade bread hot out of the oven with honey butter melting on top. The list could go on and on. My mom was a nurse and she worked only a few evenings a week, but assigned each of us ( my 2 brothers and myself) to contribute a portion of that night's meal. I made French Breakfast Puffs and baked the frozen casseroles made earlier. On Saturdays, I would make homemade pizza (dough) and add favorite toppings.

When I left home, I continued cooking and loved making sticky buns (often 6 batches at a time) for my Voluntary Service Unit and other More with Less recipes. I worked in restaurants as a Prep Cook, managed a kitchen at a summer camp, cooked for a family that I was a Nanny for and became a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher. Now that I have a kitchen of my own, I love making new recipes especially food that I know Dan will want to try. We often visit used bookstores and I sit on the floor scouring cookbooks for new ideas and drooling at the colorful pictures! I subscribe to a few cooking magazines and have spent many happy hours, surrounded by cookbooks.

I bake when I am stressed ---did you know that "stressed" spelled backwards is "desserts" ??? :) I love anything and everything that involves chocolate. Dan recently told me that I should blog about my cooking adventures. So here we are! Hope you enjoy it!