Boiled Apple Cider Maple Pie

I've been making a certain boiled cider pie recipe for a while but usually for other people so I rarely got to try it myself.  Then a couple of years ago I made it for Thanksgiving and apparently was disappointed enough with the result that I told my friend who was hosting to remind me to retire the recipe.

Well, it's a good thing she keeps notes because she she reminded me the following year, I had totally forgotten and was thinking about making it again!

This year, I remembered that she had told me to retire the pie, but I was still intrigued with the idea of a pie that used boiled apple cider as a base so I decided to do some research and see if I could find another recipe to try.  I found one called Apple Cider Chess Pie that sounded pretty much like what I wanted to make and lo and behold, when I clicked on the link, it turns out it was my recipe!  Apparently I had had the same idea last year, developed a pie based on Sister Pie's salted maple pie, posted it on Food52, and then completely forgot about it!

Unfortunately when I went to make the pie this year, I realized I had forgotten the butter in the ingredient list but I couldn't figure out how to edit the recipe on the Food52 website, so I figured I should document it here, which I probably should have done in the first place.

Boiled Apple Cider Maple Pie
makes one 9" pie

Your favorite pie crust, blind baked and cooled (I like Erin McDowell's All Buttah Pie Dough)
4 cup apple cider

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 
3 large eggs, divided
Kosher salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
Dash of freshly grated nutmeg
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Boil the apple cider in a large saucepan until reduced to ~1/2 cup. When it gets close to that point, it will get thick and very bubbly so make sure to watch it closely so that it doesn't boil over. It should be about as thick as maple syrup and will get even thicker upon cooling. This may take around 20-30 minutes, depending on how large your pot is. Transfer the boiled cider to a pint-sized measuring cup and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In the same saucepan (no need to clean it), melt the butter. I like to brown my butter for extra flavor, but you can just melt it too.

In the measuring cup that the boiled cider is in, add enough maple syrup to reach 1 cup total (i.e. ~1/2 cup of syrup). Add to the melted butter and whisk in the brown sugar, a pinch of salt, and nutmeg.

In a medium bowl, whisk 1 egg with a splash of water and small pinch of salt. Brush the crimped edges of the blind-baked pie crust with the egg wash. Then add the remaining 2 eggs, egg yolk, heavy cream, and vanilla extract to the bowl and whisk to combine.

Slowly add the egg mixture to the boiled cider mixture and whisk to combine. Place the pie crust on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pour the filling in until it reaches the bottom of the crimps (you may have some extra filling, in which case you can pour it into a small ramekin and bake it alongside the pie for a baker's treat).

Bake for 45 - 60 minutes until the edges are puffy and the center only jiggles slightly. When done, wait until it has completely cooled to slice and serve. It will slice best if chilled in the refrigerator.

Previously:  Passion Fruit Nian Gao with Red Dragon Passion Fruit Spread

Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Last month for Easter my church decided to throw its first Pancake Breakfast!  I've always had a secret desire to be a line cook and man a griddle, churning out pancake after pancake.  I guess I wanted to see if I could handle the pressure, a la MasterChef or Top Chef.  Well let's just say that it was fun and I can't wait do it again next year, but only if I had a second person to help me pour out the batter.  I was too busy to get a picture of the pancakes, but here's a shot of just some of the bacon we made to go with the pancakes.

The recipe we used was based on Alton Brown's "Instant" Pancake Mix, and it produced the lightest, fluffiest pancakes I've ever had.  Even after making several hundred of those puppies, I couldn't believe how good they were when I finally got to eat one.

I was going to just post about the recipe we used, but then I started thinking about all the variations I could make:  blueberry pancakes, banana brulee pancakes, and then it hit me.  I needed to make bacon chocolate chip pancakes.  Better yet, candied bacon chocolate chip pancakes.  Boom!  I think I just won at life.

Candied Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancakes
makes six 5" pancakes

2 strips of bacon
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons melted butter (or 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 tablespoon melted bacon fat)
3 tablespoons chocolate chips
Butter or bacon fat for greasing
Real maple syrup

Preheat oven to 325°F.  Evenly sprinkle the brown sugar onto the bacon and bake for 20 minutes or until just crisp.  Allow bacon to cool and then chop.  Save the bacon fat if you like (I was able to pour off about 1 tablespoon of bacon fat which I used in the pancake mix along with the melted butter).

Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and sugar in a medium bowl.  Separate the egg white and egg yolk into two small bowls.  Mix the buttermilk with the egg whites and the melted butter (and bacon fat, if using) with the egg yolks.  Make sure the melted butter/fat isn't too hot or else you'll end up cooking the egg yolks.  Mix the buttermilk and egg yolk mixtures together.  Pour the liquids onto the dry ingredients and mix with a whisk until just combined; there will be some small lumps.  If the batter if too thick, you can thin it out with a few tablespoons of milk if you like.

Heat up your pan or griddle.  Lightly grease with butter or bacon fat and wipe off with a paper towel.  Because of the high content of fat in the batter, you will probably only need to grease the pan this one time.

Pour 1/3 cup of batter onto the pan.  Scatter about some chocolate chips and chopped candied bacon on top.  Cook until the edges are dry and the bottom is golden brown.  Flip the pancake and cook the other side until dry.  It's better not to overcook the second side since the chocolate might burn.  In between each pancake, wipe off any melted chocolate with a paper towel.

Serve warm with real maple syrup.

Lots of real maple syrup.

Oh, yeah....

Next:  Serendipitous Chocolate Chip Cookies
Previously:  Easy Chilaquiles with Fried Egg and Avocado
Five years ago:  Coconut Curry Noodles with Collard Greens and Broccoli

Bacon Caramel Maple Ice Cream

I wasn't planning on doing another post on bacon and caramel after posting about bacon fat caramels and bacon caramel corn. But then I met the girl behind 3am Confections, Erika, and she started telling me about the bacon caramels that she makes, and I just knew I had to have some. These actually aren't on her website, but she made me a batch anyways and even hand-delivered them to me! Like the caramels I made, they're topped with Maldon salt and diced bacon. Unlike mine, they're butter based instead of made with bacon fat, which means they're not as soft at room temperature. Another huge difference is that she fries the bacon with a secret ingredient that gives the bacon a subtle kick.

After eating four of these in a row (because I couldn't stop myself), I decided to assert some self control because I wanted to immortalize these in an ice cream. At first I was thinking of just dicing them up and adding them to a sweet cream base so as to really highlight the caramels themselves. But then I came up with the idea of adding them to a maple ice cream since I do so love dipping my bacon slices in maple syrup. I based the maple ice cream on the maple walnut ice cream recipe from Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.

Bacon Caramel Maple Ice Cream

makes about 1 pint

1 large egg
4 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 tablespoons maple syrup, grade B
1/2 cup 3am Confections bacon caramels, diced (about 8 caramels)

Whisk egg until light and frothy. Add sugar, a little at a time and whisk to dissolve. Add heavy cream, milk, and maple syrup. Cover and chill.

Freeze mixture in ice cream maker until almost firm, then fold in caramels. Transfer ice cream to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

I found the maple flavoring to be really subtle; if I had some, I probably would add some maple extract to the ice cream base to bring out the maple flavor even more. The recipe in the Ben & Jerry's book suggests using a grade C maple syrup which would probably help as well.

The caramels get pretty hard, but not to the point where it will crack your teeth or anything. If it's something you're wary of, though, I'd suggest dicing the caramels finely so that you don't get a big hard gob in your mouth.