Charmed Meat Pies with Paprika Aioli

We're delighted to welcome back our own Ellery Adams. PEACH PIES and ALIBIS, the third book in her delightful Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries is coming out on March 5th!

By Guest Blogger Ellery Adams

Ella Mae LeFaye of the Charmed Pie Shoppe knows that you’re about done with winter. You’re about done with cold weather and grey skies. Well, here’s a wonderfully tasty, slightly spicy hand pie that will warm you right down to your toes. That’s the magic of  homemade food, isn’t it? It makes you feel cozy and loved and happy.

However, I must warn you: this is the kind of pie that makes a man go weak in the knees. Ella Mae made it for Hugh Dylan, her handsome fireman, and now things between the two of them are really heating up! When Peach Pies and Alibis comes out next week (March 5) you can read all about it! Until then, here's the recipe:

 

Dough

2 ½ cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

½ cup vegetable oil

½ cup ice water

Filling

 

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound ground beef chuck

2 large garlic cloves, finely minced

1 onion, finely diced

3 tablespoons tomato paste

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon allspice

½ teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

3 splashes of Tabasco sauce (add more if desired)

1 egg beaten with tablespoon half and half (egg wash)

Paprika Aioli

¼ fresh lemon juice

5 garlic cloves, finely minced

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 ½ teaspoons (sweet or Spanish)

2 tablespoons sugar

1 ½ tablespoons tomato paste

1 ½ cups mayonnaise

In a large skillet, melt the butter. Add the ground beef and cook until no pink is showing. Add the garlic and onion and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onion is translucent. About 8 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste, cayenne, cloves, thyme, and allspice and cook for 3 minutes. Season with hot sauce and let cool. Transfer the filling to a food processor and pulse until chopped.

Preheat the oven to 350° and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. On a floured work surface, roll out each disk of dough to a 12-inch round. (If you don’t want to make the dough by hand, Pillsbury pre-made piecrusts will work just as well). Using a 4-inch biscuit cutter, stamp out 6 rounds from each piece of dough. Brush the edges of the rounds with some of the egg wash and place a rounded tablespoon of filling to one side of each circle. Fold the other half of the dough over the filling and press to seal. Crimp the edges with a fork. Transfer the pies to the baking sheet and brush with the egg wash. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown.

While pies are baking, blend together all the ingredients for the paprika aioli. Serve in individual bowls for dipping.

Name the spiciest food you’ve ever tasted! 

And before I go, here's the blurb for Peach Pies and Alibis!

ISBN - 0425251993
Price - $7.99
Available at your local bookstore or Amazon.com, Indiebound.com, Barnes & Noble

Ellery Adams serves up a mystery that’s a real peach...

Ella Mae LeFaye’s Charmed Pie Shoppe is wildly popular in Havenwood, Georgia—which is not surprising since Ella Mae can lace her baked goods with enchantments. The shop’s extraordinary success seems destined to continue when Ella Mae meets an engaged couple who hire her to handle the dessert buffet at their wedding.

But Ella Mae has a lot on her plate. She is also searching for the origin of her magical powers—and hoping to determine if the spark of attraction she feels for the handsome Hugh Dylan is authentic or just her new abilities gone awry.

Then Ella Mae discovers a high-standing member of the community dead, and a wedding guest becomes seriously ill at the event she’s catering. Now she’ll have to use all her sleuthing skills and culinary talents to prove her pies don’t contain a killer ingredient . . .

His and Hers No-Fuss Summer Pies

Happy Anniversary MLK!

Leave a comment today, and you might win the Rolls Royce of ice cream scoops: a Zeroli!

AND...today is your last chance to leave a comment and be entered to win this week's grand prize, a fabo Cuisinart ice cream maker

As you might have guessed from my ice-cream themed mysteries and my ample ampleness, I dig dessert. Among my circle of friends, my reputation as the Dame of Desserts, Sultana of Sweets, Pasha of Pastries means I'm bringing some confection or other to every gathering ... including this cyber-celebration for MLK's anniversary.

This is not a hardship for me. Not at all.

In the summer, though, it's tough to commit to anything that requires hours of oven time. Our air conditioner has a hard enough time keeping up with the Texas heat without also compensating for my cooking. Over the years, these two low- and no-bake pies have emerged as the all-round crowd favorites for summer picnics, barbecues, and pool parties.

Mr. Wendy, love of my life and father-figure to my cats, loves the Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie (possibly even more than he loves me). I, on the other hand, am partial to the Caramel Knowledge Pecan Pie. I'll let you pick your poison ... or, if you're not too worried about sugar shock, make one of each.

Black Bottom Banana Cream Pie

Crust:

1/2 c. unsalted butter
3 ozs. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 c. chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (about 7 ozs.)

Ganache:

1/2 c. whipping cream
1 Tbs. unsalted butter
4 ozs. semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3-4 ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 - 4-serving boxes of instant vanilla pudding
2 3/4 c. milk (skim is fine)

For crust, stir butter and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat and mix in cookie crumbs. Lightly butter a 9-inch pie plate. Press crumb mixture in bottom and up sides of pie plate. Chill in refrigerator about 30 minutes.

For ganache, heat cream and butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until butter melts (but do not boil!). Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate and vanilla until smooth. Reserve 2 Tbs. ganache and pour remainder over crust. Chill about 30 minutes.

Thinly slice bananas and arrange over ganache. Following package directions for pie filling, prepare vanilla pudding and pour over bananas. Drizzle reserved ganache in a spiral on the pie, then draw a toothpick from the center to the edge of the pie at intervals around the circle. This will create a spiderweb design.

Chill the whole pie for 3 -24 hours.

* Note that you can make this dessert in a 9x13 dish. Simply make a time and a half the recipe (so use 1 1/2 sticks butter for the crust instead of 1 stick). Press crust just in bottom of pan. You'll need 3 boxes of instant pudding.

Caramel Knowledge Pecan Pie

Crust:

1 1/2 c. chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (about 7 ozs.)
5 Tbs. butter, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Filling:

3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 c. light brown sugar
6 Tbs. light corn syrup
3 c. pecan halves
3 Tbs. whipping cream
2 ozs. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

Blend all crust ingredients in food processor. Press mixture into bottom and up sides of 9-inch pie plate. Cover crust and freeze while making filling.

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in heavy medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring often. Boil 1 minute. Stir in nuts and cream. Boil until mixture thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in chocolate until chocolate is melted and well-incorporated.

Pour hot filling into cold crust. Using spoon, evenly distribute nuts. Bake until filling bubbles all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. (The last time I made this, I made Bailey's whipped cream: 2 c. whipping cream, 2 Tbs. sugar, and 1/2 c. Bailey's, whipped until soft peaks form.)



* This recipe, also, can be adapted for a 9x13 pan. Just use a time and half of all measures. (So instead of 1 1/2 c. cookie crumbs, use 2 1/4 c. cookie crumbs.)


Wendy Lyn Watson writes the Mysteries a la Mode, featuring amateur sleuth Tally Jones who solves murders in between scooping sundaes. I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM is available now, and SCOOP TO KILL is available for pre-order.

You can follow Wendy on Facebook or Twitter, too!