2009 September « Bake Me More

“Silk (adj.) – smooth, soft, lustrous, delicate, luxurious…”

Any questions? Webster’s defines this pie nicely.

This nearly effortless recipe provides a most decadent dessert. I prepared this for a good friend’s birthday. Better yet, the recipe yields two pies, one to give, and one to indulge in. Enjoy.

French Silk Pie

Ingredients:

2 baked deep dish pie crusts, homemade or frozen
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate (3 squares)
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs (pasteurized)
8 – 12 ounces whipped topping

Directions:

Cream butter in a stand mixer, then add sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in the microwave at 50% power for 3 minutes, stirring every minute. Once the butter and sugar are well mixed, add vanilla and melted chocolate. Add eggs one at a time, mixing on low for at least one minute before adding another egg. After the last egg is added, continue to mix on low for another minute or two, scraping the sides and bottom. The mixture will be light, fluffy and “silken”. Spoon the mixture evenly into pie crusts. Refrigerate for at least an hour then top with whipped topping. Garnish with chocolate as desired. Keep refrigerated.

*This recipe contains raw eggs. I use pastuerized eggs, which you can do too, but if you are really uncomfortable, here is a link another recipe that cooks the eggs.

French Silk Pie (with cooked eggs) c/o Recipezaar

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Today was all about pounds. Pound cake that is, enter: 1 dozen eggs, 7 sticks of butter, 6 cups of sugar and 6 of flour and more. Buying all the ingredients took some pounds off my wallet too. It was worth it though. The first pound cake your traditional Sour Cream Pound Cake, which I baked in round pans and made into a 3 layer birthday cake – see this post - it’s a keeper.

This recipe however brings a “twist” to the standard pound cake. A wonderful twist I might add. Per my husband, “I think I like this one better that your sour cream pound cake”. It came together beautifully. It’s a 5 star rated Southern Living recipe that I found on MyRecipes.com. I won’t hesitate to bake it again. If you prefer, you can substitute milk for the bourbon.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened (3 sticks)
1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
3 cups sugar
6 larger eggs
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup bourbon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

Directions:

Beat butter and cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy, 5 to 7 minutes. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until the yellow yolk disappears.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with baking spray.

Sift together flour and salt; add to butter mixture alternately with bourbon, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat batter at low speed just until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla and pecans. Pour batter into pan.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour 20 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes or until a wooden pick comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from pan; cool completely on wire rack.