A Tale of Two Pies

Hello everyone and welcome to another blog entry by your favorite BJJ/baking enthusiast. One of my recent Food Network obsessions is a show called “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”. Every week they pick a topic such as Guilty Pleasures or Cheesy and they have on food related celebrities such as chefs or critics and they talk about the best thing they ever ate in that category. I absolutely love listening to these culinary gurus gush over their favorite foods, it’s almost, and I mean ALMOST as good as getting to try them myself!

Now here is where the coolest part comes in, they tell you WHERE you can go get them. And in case you miss it you, can go on their website (http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-best-thing-i-ever-ate/index.html) and find the address and web site of the restaurants. Fortunately for me, a great number of these restaurants are in the NYC area. So my list of restaurants I want to try is growing by leaps and bounds! Sometimes, there will be a dish that I really, really want to experience for myself but it won’t be available anywhere in my area. In this case, I have to get a bit creative.

The first time this came into play was as a result of the “Snack Attack” episode where Candace Nelson hyped the deliciousness of the Donut Muffins made at Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg, California (www.downtownbakery.net). Now watching these delectable, massive, muffins being made sent my salivary glands into overdrive! They were coated with cinnamon & sugar goodness and just looked too amazing to imagine!

So I immediately began searching for a recipe that I could try myself and low and behold, this is the one that I found: http://www.finecooking.com/recipes/doughnut_muffins.aspx . And goddamn if they did not come out absolutely amazing! Definitely one of the best things I have ever made or eaten! I was extremely happy with the way they came out and they are definitely a treat which I will need to make again soon!

Onto the subject of which this blog is titled, A Tale of Two Pies! The next time I was subject to geographical disappointment was the episode entitled “Guilty Pleasures” and the deliverer of my dismay was the Ace of Cakes himself, Duff Goldman. Duff’s most favorite guilty pleasure is indigenous to Baltimore, Maryland and created by the folks over at Dangerously Delicious Pies (www.dangerouspies.com) and known as the Baltimore Bomb Pie. This amazing treat is made by taking your standard pie crust, filling it with broken pieces of the sinfully decadent Berger Cookies (www.bergercookies.com) and pouring vanilla chess (a vanilla chess is a kind of custard) over that before baking it.

I really, really wanted to try this pie! However the cost to order one and have it shipped was really prohibitive. So, I again decided to take things into my own hands or kitchen as it were. I ordered some Berger Cookies and picked up the ingredients to make the vanilla chess and pie crust. I also remembered that when watching the episode I had turned to my lovely bride and remarked how much the Berger Cookies reminded me of our very own NY classic, the Black & White cookie. Inspiration had struck me and struck me hard! I decided to make one Baltimore Bomb using Berger Cookies and one Bellerose Bomb using Black & Whites! I stopped at one of my favorite local bakeries, the Gourmet Bake Shop in New Hyde Park (http://www.gourmetbakeshop.com/default.html) and picked up some ridiculously fresh Black & Whites.

Early Saturday evening I began my most recent culinary adventure with the two best Sous Chefs a guy could ask for in my lovely wife Erin and beautiful daughter Lyric. We set out to make the pies as per my recollection from the aforementioned show with a bit of guesstimating in a few areas. Namely, how many cookies to put in and how would we know if they were done? Now I knew how long they were approximately supposed to bake as far as the chess were concerned, which I was sure would be thrown off by the presence of the cookies. As well as knowing how custard should look once it’s baked, not liquid, but solid. The pies took a little over 45 minutes to bake and looked really fantastic when they came out, especially the Bellerose Bomb with its chunks of cookies popping up all over the place!

Next came the hard part, how long do we have to wait for the pies to set? I knew for sure they would have to be refrigerated for a time to allow the chess to set but I had read a bunch of different things as far as that went. Erin made the call that they should set overnight and so they did! Despite my HUGE disappointment in having to wait!

Finally after dinner last night came the moment of truth, the pie tasting! We cut ourselves a small slice of each, knowing that they would both be extremely sweet and decadent. How did they taste? DELICIOUS! Lyric could not decide which she like best, saying that she liked them both, although I think some of that may have been not wanting to make me feel bad if she did not like my version better. Erin liked the Baltimore Bomb better enjoying the extreme fudginess of it. I, however, liked the Bellerose Bomb better as I could pick up all the distinct flavors from the vanilla chess, the Black & White Cookies, and the icing from the cookies. These are definitely pies that require a big glass of milk in order to be consumed! I think that the next time I make the Baltimore Bomb I will use a few less cookies, as I think we may have gone a bit overboard! Overall though I think these were both unique culinary triumphs for yours truly and the loveliest helpers a baker could wish for!

I know you think the story ends here however it does not! Erin and I will be in Baltimore on April 1st and 2nd and we will be heading over to Dangerously Delicious Pies to try the original Baltimore Bomb to see how ours stacks up! Who knows, I may drop a little knowledge on them and suggest they try their hand at the Bellerose Bomb! Thanks for reading and I’ll catch you next time!

Photos of my Culinary Exploits can be found here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154376&id=745503906&l=402c1e0710