2011-08-28

Recipe: Peanut Butter Custard & Meringue Pie

NOTE: This is NOT your typical restaurant Peanut Butter pie. That is usually a peanut butter pudding or cream, not custard, and almost always will have whipped cream instead of meringue. This pie is significantly lighter in weight but richer in flavor. Which means your taster gets a wallop without making you feel overstuffed from the whipped cream. 

This was a family recipe. I got it from my mother, she got it from her mother. It won 1st place in the 1970 Kansas Restaurant Convention though I'm not sure if it was Grandma or her friend that submitted it. 

Updated 5/31/2015 ... for awhile this page had my approximation of the recipe from memory. However my grandmother found the recipe cards over the holidays and I've updated the post to correct a couple of thing. I've kept some extra notes regarding sugar grain sizes, alternate stabilizers for the meringue, etc. If you prefer to use your own sweet pie meringue recipe feel free, meringue is actually pretty darned easy, don't let my detailed notes make you wary.

It is an EXCELLENT pie. Period :)


TL;DR
If you don't want a very detailed recipe and you're comfortable with the basics on cooking custard and meringue, just look at my Grandma's recipe cards :) The longer version that I've made below includes a couple of tweaks that I've added as well as detailed instructions to let a beginner do their first custard and meringue pie. 






INGREDIENTS: 
  • 2 tbsp. UNsalted butter, cubed, softened
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt (or leave out if using SALTED butter)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • ½ cup smooth peanut butter (use something like Smuckers / Reeses, etc ... no sugar needed in the peanut butter and the oils from the natural peanut butters will help mixing)
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup white sugar (any size grain is fine)
  • 2/3 cup white sugar (separate measurement for meringue, caster sugar or icing sugar works best but normal granulated will work with patience)
  • 5 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 1 Tbsp cream of tartar OR 1 fresh lemon juice OR white vinegar (see note in Merigue section)
  • 3 egg yolks, separated ... FARM FRESH or organic eggs for best yolks
  • 3 egg whites, separated ... the fresher the eggs the stiffer the meringue
  • 2 cups milk, scalded
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)
  • 1 (or two, see note below for stretching the recipe) baked pastry pie shell

Peanut Butter Crumbles:
Mix powdered sugar and peanut butter until in small (small pea to buckshot sized) crumbles. Using a large whisk or potato mashed to smash the peanut butter into the powdered sugar and then stirring it all together with a strong wooden spoon works best. Reserve 1/3 cup (1/2 cup for 2 pies) of the crumbles. Deposit the rest in the baked pie shell. 


Custard:
If you have a helper, they can be making the meringue while you cook the custard. Don't try to do them both by yourself at the same time. If solo, do the custard first. 

Make sure the milk has already been scalded and you have 2 cups (scald it by bringing it to a high boil while constantly stirring and then removing from heat, stirring until it no longer tries to stick to the pan). This saves you time when cooking the custard. 

Beat egg yolks gently until smooth in a bowl and set aside.

In a large saucepan / dutch oven whisk together salt, sugar and cornstarch. Then slowly add scalded mix while stirring to mix evenly. Warm on medium/medium-low to a simmer (don't boil). Take 1/4cup of heated mixture out and slowly stir into bowl of egg yolks to temper. Pour yolk mixture into custard pan and simmer for until custard thickens, constantly stirring to keep custard from sticking to pan. Turn off heat. Whisk in softened butter and 1 tsp vanilla (less if you prefer). Pour into pie shell over peanut butter sugar crumbles and allow to cool while making the meringue. 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Meringue:
Make sure all of the items you use to whisk the meringue (bowl, whisk, spatula, spoon, etc) are clean of all oils. Oil will make it much harder to get the right consistency without over-whisking. 

Use a beater on medium to high to mix eggs, [optional] 1 tsp vanilla extract and stabilizer (cream of tartar or per egg 1/4 tsp white vinegar or 1/4 tsp lemon juice). Don't add the sugar yet. Whisk or machine whisk on medium the whites until they have started to foam but not truly thick. Now while still gently whisking slowly add 2/3 cup white sugar (caster/icing sugar if possible, finer grains absorb faster). Now whisk quickly until stiff peaks form (takes awhile, don't give up). The meringue is stiff enough when you can pull a wooden spoon out and have a large puff of meringue stick to the spoon with no dripping. STOP WHISKING. If you go too far you will break the protein changes that you spent time building. 

Place the meringue (1/2 of per pie if doing 2 pies, see "stretching" below) in a tall lump in the middle of the pie. Spread the meringue with a soft spatula evenly from center to the edge, sealing the edges. Use the spatula or a large spoon to pull up peaks in the meringue by gently pressing the flat of the spatula on the meringue and pulling straight up while twisting a 1/4 turn sidways (this is not just for looks, the peaks will hold the remaining peanut butter sugar crumbles). 

Top with the reserved peanut butter sugar crumbles by sprinkling over the meringue peaks.

Baking:

Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until meringue is browning on the peaks but still white in the valleys. 


Allow to cool on counter for at least 90 minutes so everything can set. For a full set, chill for a couple of hours (or more) in the refrigerator ... BUT ... while this makes for a cleaner pie serving (won't fall apart) it tastes better warm or at least not chilled. You might want to set it out at room temperature in a pie dish or under glass/tupperware (to keep dust, bugs and fingers out) before serving. 


TIP:
Store pie in refrigerator to keep the sugars in the crumbles from separating as quickly. BUT, if you plan to eat the pie within a couple of days, you can leave it out. The way the sugars permeate the crust and meringue and separate into a "peanutbutter honey" can be the best part if you don't mind a little mess. 


Stretching the recipe:
The amounts above will make 1 TALL pie (which is what it won the award with) or 2 shorter pies. An absolutely easy way to get the 2 full pies shown in the picture is to stretch a few ingredients. This is how I make it these days so we have 2 pies as I usually only make it on holidays. It also helps mellow the pie a bit because it is RICH.

Stretched ingredients:
5 egg whites (instead of 3)
5 egg yolks (instead of 3)
1/2 cup light brown sugar (instead of 1/3)
1/2 cup white sugar (instead of 1/3)
1 cup white sugar (instead of 2/3 for meringue)
5 Tbsp cornstarch
2 baked pie shells

2011-04-11

Recipe: Easy chicken finger (and MORE) dipping sauce

So if you've ever had chicken fingers at:
  • Zaxby's
  • Raising Cane's
  • Guthrie's
  • Slim Chicken
    (etc)
Then you've probably had that tangy sweet peppery pink-colored dipping sauce these places are famous for. I found a few recipes that claimed to be the REAL (Zaxby|Guthrie|Cane)'s sauce but all were a bit off to me (one of them had close to quadruple the garlic powder that I decided on, another had equal amounts ketchup and mayo, some call for paprika, etc). While I don't have it all perfectly nailed down, I got it good enough to share.


1/2 cup Mayonaise*
1/4 cup Ketchup**
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (NOT tablespoon like some recipes)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (again, NOT tablespoon)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Stir / whisk until the sauce is completely mixed, you shouldn't see any color difference (look for white swirls). Put in a covered container and let it set up in the refrigerator at least overnight***. Preferably for 24-48 hours but 12 will do in a pinch.




This basic recipe will make around 7 ounces, which is PLENTY for a family of 4 sitting down to a LARGE amount of chicken fingers. Quadruple this recipe and you fill up a 26oz spaghetti sauce jar so that you have plenty on-hand (I don't know how long it takes to spoil, it doesn't get that far here). Cutting it down to smaller portions is possible but a bit hard simply because you'll need to work in smaller-than-half-teaspoon ingredients. .

The nice part of making it yourself isn't just that you can adjust the flavors to fit your tongue, but you can make sure the ingredients are the quality you want to serve. Yeah, you won't get around it having a TON of mayonaise, but you can use a healthier mayo (and ketchup without corn syrup, etc).



Once you have the first batch done, play with increasing the black pepper or garlic. Be careful, a little garlic powder goes a long way ... the first batch I made with the recipe that called for 4x the amount I used and it got dumped out without being eaten. If you're craving it to be a bit saltier, you might want to add more Worcestershire sauce instead. I usually cheat and up the Worcestershire just a bit.

Not just for chicken by the way. This works great as a sandwich spread on pulled pork, as a dipping sauce for tacitos, etc.

PS. If you end up getting something that tastes closer to the real thing for your particular brand of chicken finger restaurants (I don't live near any of them anymore, which is why this project became important to me :), please feel free to post tweaks and notes. For instance I know Slim Chicken's changes the proportions and adds more black pepper (I think they use closer to an equal mayo-to-ketchup ratio).


*I use Hellman's Canola Cholesterol Free Mayonnaise. This is a fairly new product but the Hellman's flavor seems to work best to me. I tried Kraft Olive Oil Mayonnaise, which is what I use for sandwiches, but the flavor wasn't right.

**I use Hunt's 100% Natural No High Fructose Corn Syrup Ketchup. (say that 5 times in a row). I tried a couple of organic ketchups (Nash Brothers, Muir Glen, both of which I like for other things) but they were actually TOO tangy and weren't as finely processed so they left tiny red specs in the sauce. We're trying to be fairly close to the restaurant sauces here. However if you like the idea of a tangier sauce, give it a shot.

***IMPORTANT: Yes, you really do need to let it sit 24 hours. It will mellow the sauce out. 48 hours or more is even better. Most of these restaurants mix this in-house at the store and let it sit a day before serving it. It just won't taste the same otherwise.

2011-03-11

Rage against the Parking Machine


So after a show that Darien did in Denver, I walk out to find a parking ticket ... even though I had paid and put the ticket on my dash for the attendant to see.

Will I get my $3 back? Maybe, maybe not, I don't really care. I'm just tired of companies that do this kind of thing. Mike, one of the show organizers, said it had happened to him recently. He got out of it by faxing receipts. But how many people also get overcharged by these guys regularly?

I'm mostly just feeling impish and wanting to see if they will rage at me or actually do something to fix the situation. In all likelihood I'll completely forget about reporting it. Unless they rage :)


.......................


Attached to this email please find:

* SCANNED documents:
a) Ticket issued on 3/10/2010 for parking at 16th and Wazee for "No Payment in Advance" for stall #15
b) Receipt for paying for parking in advance showing parking valid from 3/10/2010 through 3/11/2010

* Photographs:
a) Showing that the receipt was prominently displayed on my dashboard.
b) Showing that the parking violation was placed in a way that made it very easy to see that the receipt was displayed.
c) Showing that your signs show the wrong cost for all-day parking compared to the charge on the receipt.

... Note that these are low resolution images as a courtesy due to emailing, I am happy to provide megapixel resolution photos on request. Other than resizing the images, no manipulation has been done to them.

Please void this ticket and respond to this message stating it is void. Failure to void the ticket in 7 days will cause me to issue written complaints in this form with my supporting evidence to the City of Denver along with a request for information on how to complain to your licensing organization.

Furthermore please NOTE that the sign on your parking lot shows that the max fee for parking is $12. Yet your receipt clearly shows I was charged $15. Additionally I am told by the organizer of the event I was vending at that this exact same thing happened to him recently in your lot, showing a clear pattern of problems.

As such, please refund my $3, via check, to:

Geoff Baysinger
PO Box 1322
Nederland, CO 80466

And show evidence that your machine is either reduced in charges to $12 -or- that you have changed your sign to state the new daily maximum price.

Failure to refund my $3 -and- show photographic evidence of fixing your sign within 7 calendar days (allowing an additional 2 days for mail) will cause me to report this as charge fraud to the City of Denver along with all credit card bureaus that are listed on your sign. While $3 won't matter to me, I would expect this would initiate an investigation of all similar charges by your lots. If pursued by either the City of Denver, Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover I would be perfectly happy to testify in this matter. Please note that refunding this $3 does not guarantee my lack of reporting to the mentioned agencies, my final decision will be based upon the level of courtesy shown by your response.

Sincerely,
Geoff Baysinger

PS. I probably never would have noticed the overcharge if your parking attendant had not given out this improper ticket.