Not Everyone can be Ned the Pie-Maker 

Tuesday, November 24 - Yes, I loved the show Pushing Daisies, but I'm not a big pie baker. I am a cake baker more than anything. Most people are the best at one baked good and then make everything else okay, but are most successful at one thing they bake. For some people it's cookies, others it's pies, for me it's cakes. But my roommate and I decided we'd make mini pies for this Thanksgiving since there will only be three of us eating at our apartment. Anything more than that is overkill and will have us with way too many leftovers. I mean, our turkey is already eight pounds which means I need to figure out some good recipes that aren't just sandwiches for the leftovers. 

For the pies, my roommate made the pie crust and I made the pecan pie filling, she made the pumpkin pie filling. 

I decided on a vegan pecan pie filling. The ingredients looked delicious and I'm really excited about it. I made half of the recipe so that I wouldn't be wasting any of it due to the fact that we were only making four mini pecan pies. 

If you're interested in trying it, here's the recipe I made - https://www.makingthymeforhealth.com/the-best-vegan-pecan-pie/

If you want to do it halfsies, here are the measurements:

1 tbsp vegan butter

1/4 c coconut sugar

1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch

3/4 c pecans

6 tbsp coconut milk

2 tbsp maple syrup

A major flaw you'll find in the recipe I linked to is that the recipe doesn't explain to you when you what to do with the cornstarch. You are to whisk the cornstarch into the milk before hand so that it will act as a thickener and won't be lumpy in your pie filling. 

Megan, my roommate made the gluten-free pie crust and pumpkin pie filling. If you're interested in the crust, here's the baker she got the recipe from: https://www.paleorunningmomma.com

Now, the truth is the first batch were in the oven a little too long so we had to do a take two on Wednesday. The recipe included the pumpkin pie filling and it is A LOT OF FILLING so it takes longer than we needed. And although they weren't in as long the pecan pies were burned. But even with halfing the pecan pie filling, I had enough to make four more mini-pies. 

I also jushed up some apple cider for us to drink on Thanksgiving Day on Monday night to go with our pies. 

Lemon Meringue is a Memory

When Pamela and I were recording the Thanksgiving episode of our podcast I asked her what some of her favorite dishes were with her family. She said that lemon meringue pie was her favorite pie even though it isn't technically seasonal and how she'd learned how to make it over the years so that when she can't go home for Thanksgiving, she can still make her favorite pie on that day. She's gotten the hang of it so much that now she experiments with it. 

It reminded me how my late paternal Grandmother would always make a special lemon meringue pie for me to take home after Thanksgiving dinner in North Carolina. She'd watch me take so many slices she recognized I really liked it and would make my own. The last one she made me, I had a feeling it might be her last and I couldn't eat it. I could feel that something was on the horizon and couldn't bring myself to eat the pie. That next spring, she passed away and during the conversation with Pamela I realized I haven't had a lemon meringue pie since. I can't bring myself to eat it. How sad. A pie that once brought me so much joy and gave my Grandmother joy to make an extra one just for me I haven't eaten since she died almost 18 years ago. 

Food holds so many memories. I don't know if I haven't eaten it because I only want to remember the ones she made me or if I'm afraid no one else's will ever be as good? But making pies this year for Thanksgiving I am hoping will be a therapeutic act for me. Thinking about how much baking and cooking are an inheritance in my family and how sad my Grandma Taylor would be (Yes, her name was Ella Mae Taylor which is super southern) if she knew I never ate another lemon meringue after she died. Life keeps going, you can't freeze it even as much as you sometimes want to. We have to move ahead, grow and learn to live in the new normal. I know this year is not easy, but I believe in us, I believe in you. With everything going on in the world, there are always things to be thankful for even when you're still grieving. We can be thankful that we had the people in our lives we did for the time that we did and that we get to have memories of them and the kindness and love they showed us. This Thanksgiving I'll be remembering Ella Mae making pies in her kitchen and smiling as she'd see her children and grandchildren eat them. And then I'll thank God that I get to have memories of her smiling and handing me my own pie to take home to show how much she loved me. 

Happy Pie-making Friends!

 I wanted soul food and all I got was this darn pandemic

Every year since my Mom passed away I usually go down to North Carolina to see my paternal family to have Thanksgiving dinner with them. I LOVE it! I don't love Tarboro, North Carolina but I sure do love my family. They are funny, have minimal filtration and are wonderful cooks. They have been a sanctuary especially these last four years. So when the coronavirus pandemic threatened to end my soul food streak, I was pretty sad.  I've been avoiding doing a lot of cooking for the past few years. You may have noticed that this blog has a post from 2014 and nothing after that because a few months later, my Mom died and through the years cooking has been more difficult for me. It reminds me of my grief and loss and has slowly begun to no longer bring me the joy it use to. So being forced to celebrate Thanksgiving in New York without family this year is a little triggering as you can imagine. That is why I'm going to try to make it as fun as I can. Thankfully, I won't be doing the cooking alone which will help tremendously and if anything goes horribly wrong whoever is reading this blog will get a great chuckle out of it. 

How Is It Going?

Monday, November 23 - So far today, I've recorded a special Thanksgiving episode of my podcast, Theatre Geeks Anonymous which you will be able to hear on Thanksgiving Day. It's our present to ourselves and all the geeks who listen to our pod. If you've never listened and your interested, here you go! 
I've taken the turkey out of the freezer to thaw and am really struggling with whether to brine or not to brine. You can brine your turkey as it thaws so I may brine it on Wednesday morning for the last 6-8 hours of it's thaw time before smothering it with herbs and vegan butter before it goes in the crockpot before I head to bed. My podcast co-host Pamela is a good cook as well and she talked me into seriously thinking about brining. Neither of us have done a turkey before this year so we're figuring it out. We'll see if I brine.  I'll keep you posted. 
Tonight I have a fun Friendsgiving social hour planned with the think tank I started with some friends in the spring called the Think Tank for Theatrical Innovation. This group is filled with some of the most majestic human beings and I am so excited to talk to them about nothing and everything while we eat and drink tonight! 
Lastly I'm thinking about re-watching my church's service from yesterday. It reminded me about perspective and gratefulness during a plague and how to give God glory for the good He has done. I still have a job, friends, a home and so do my siblings and extended family. We are a blessed group and there's a lot to be thankful for this year even if 2020 had some plot twists nobody wanted. 
Tomorrow I'll share some photos of the sides we're cooking, but for now, enjoy the photos of past Thanksgivings with my family in North Carolina. 

Not only is Gotham the, "City that Never Sleeps" it's also the "Artists Mecca".  We come from our little towns in the middle of nowhere or lands where we grow up feeling that we don't speak the language to find our voices here.  So, needless to say, a majority of my friends are artists and I love that!  Why, because I'm one and they get me. Well, as much as one can get me, I'm definitely a different breed but, who doesn't feel that way?
So, about a week after my last blog post a dear friend of mine had a birthday.  She's an Actress going to auditions at the crack of dawn, waiting in line to not even get seen, callbacks, more auditions... etc. You know the deal.  So, because last year we were both preoccupied with trying to move here to the Big City during her last birthday; I had been holding on to this recipe for all that time, chomping at the bit to make it for her.  Her favorite cake is spice cake and I'd wanted to make this recipe ever since I'd seen it in a 2007 October issue of Family Circle that my Mother had sent me back then.  So, when I met Jennie, which is now two years ago, I decided this was the person I would make it for.
I was excited about this cake because I LOVE THE FALL!  I love the colors, the cool weather, sweatshirts, warm blankets, hot tea and all of the flavors fall bring with it.  Saying that, I feel that spice cake is one of the quintessential fall desserts.  It has a nutty yet warming quality about it and a beautiful coloring that is perfect for the season!

As usual, I've changed up a few of the ingredients but, it's pretty much the same.  I'll post a link to the original recipe but, post my ingredients here on the blog. 

Chocolate-Glazed Spice Cake


Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 c. solid vegetable shortening

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp all-spice
1 tsp ginger

1 c. packed dark-brown sugar
3/4 c maple syrup
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 c.  Vanilla Rice Milk

Filling:
8oz cream cheese, softened
1/4c. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 c. Vanilla Rice Milk
3 c. confectioner's sugar

  

Chocolate Frosting:

1/2 c. heavy cream

 1 c. semisweet chocolate chips

The explicit instructions to putting this cake together are listed here:
Chocolate-Glazed Maple Spice Cake
I didn't top the cake with walnuts because Jennie doesn't like nuts much and I'm not a big fan of walnuts myself. So, instead I put flowers on top and I think it's quite pretty.
I want to give you an explanation for why I changed certain things in the recipe and be upfront about how it turned out and what I would do differently.  I'm no professional and I like to be forthcoming about what the real journey was from start to finish.

Things I would not worry about, do differently or do again:
1.  I would have put a layer of bread on top of each cake layer as it cooled.  I wasn't happy with the moistness of my cake, I felt it was a bit dry.  A slice of bread on top is supposed to help keep the moisture in.
2. The cake looked much bigger in the original picture and I worried it was too small.  Don't be fooled.  Jennie had about 20 or so people at her party.  Everyone had a piece and there were leftovers to boot!
3. I added milk to the filling so that it would be a bit looser and easier to spread.  This idea worked well.
Some goals I have are to find a good substitute for shortening, butter and heavy cream.  Any suggestions?  Please post a comment if you know good alternatives to this and I will try them and post my adventures on this blog!


Of course the entire point of making the cake was to see this happen with it! ;-)

I hope you try this cake during the Autumn season and it warms your soul!

Ebony