Dessert

Flaky Pie Crust

Makes two flaky crusts. This is Sarah's favorite style crust, though not really mine (not that I like cooked pie crust much anyway -- raw pie crust, on the other hand, is a delicious calorie bomb). This dough is quite easy to assemble as pastry goes, and it is easy to work.

Miyoko's butter succeeds in this recipe, though its melting point is lower than cow butter, so I tend to return it to the fridge more often to try to retain the layers of fat that produce the flakiness.

Ingredients Step
225 g low-protein flour (mixture of cake and/or AP)
1 T. sugar
½ t. (4 g) salt
Stir together.
8 oz. (1 c. / 2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold Cube, stir to cover each cube in flour, and then smash each cube briefly with fingers or a fork. Alternatively, loosely cut in. (Don't use fingers with Miyoko's butter.)
½ c. cold water, with ice cubes Toss together with dry ingredients. Knead a few times against bowl until it comes together.
Turn dough out onto floured surface. Roll it out to a 10x14"-ish rectangle, flipping the dough repeatedly to check that it isn't sticking. Be generous with flour so it doesn't stick; it won't hurt anything.
Fold edges toward middle, then use the middle gap as the spine of a book and fold again to make a long skinny hot dog rectangle. Fold the dough in half hamburger-style to make a thicker, squatter rectangle. (The folding can be rough and imperfect. We're just creating layers of fat separated by layers of flour.)
Cut the squat rectangle in half, making two squares. Dust the cut edges with flour if needed.
Return both halves to fridge so the butter can set up again. (You can skip this step if it's still quite cold.)
To make a bottom crust: Roll out one half into a circle. Place it on the pie dish. Use scissors to trim all but 1½" around the edge. Wrap in plastic wrap and return to fridge to set up for at least 2 hours before baking.
parchment paper To make a top crust: Roll out one half into a circle. Use scissors to trim all but 1½" around the edge. Prepare a piece of parchment paper on a cutting board, then place crust on the parchment (using a parchment layer stops the dough from picking up flavors). Wrap in plastic wrap and return to fridge to set up for at least 2 hours before baking.
When assembling, turn the top edge under the bottom edge. Press edges together with the tines of a fork or by using fingers to scallop.

Source: Serious Eats (but I learned about this technique originally from the Chicago Tribune, which currently has an aggressive paywall)

Blueberry Pie

Makes 1 pie with two crusts.

A full cup of sugar is decadent. The sugar doesn't really change the structure much, so you can decrease it to taste.

Substituting cornstarch with arrowroot starch does not work.

Ingredients Step
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
1 pie crust Line a pie plate with a crust. Place pie plate on a cookie sheet to stabilize and catch drips.
2 T. cornstarch (not arrowroot)
freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemon
2 t. vanilla
2 t. brandy
Thoroughly combine into paste in small mixing bowl.
4½ c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)
up to 1 c. sugar
paste from above
2 T. butter, chopped
1 T. flour
heaping 1 T. sour cream
scant ¼ t. cinnamon
Gently stir together in large mixing bowl until just combined.
1 crust Pour berries into bottom crust, then cover pie with a top crust that has decorative vents.
Bake for 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake until golden brown and bubbly (maybe 45-55 minutes more).
Cool completely before serving.

Source: The Grit

Honeycake

A delicious rich, moist honeycake, best made the day before you plan to serve it. You'd think it'd be cloyingly sweet, but it's perfect.

This recipe yields two tall 8x4" loaves, but even one loaf is far too much for a nuclear family -- this cake is best to bake for a party (or two). I tend to cut it into 12-16 slices per loaf (it slices beautifully), and then cut each slice in half, so the full recipe produces 48-64 pieces and yields around 20-30 servings. Alternatively you can bake it as 24 cupcakes.

If you want to store the cake more than a few days, you can wrap it three times in plastic and then freeze it.

Ingredients Step
Grease and line two 8x4" pans with parchment to create handles, and place the pans on a baking sheet to stabilize them. Fold the edges of the parchment over the sides so it can't fall into the batter (which it is very prone to do).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
445 g (3¼ c + 2 T) flour
1¾ t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. kosher salt
4 t. cinnamon
½ t. cloves
½ t. allspice
Whisk together.
½ c. (110 g) brown sugar
1½ c. (300 g) white sugar
1 c. (200 g) neutral oil
1 c. (320 g) honey
3 eggs
1 t. vanilla
1½ c. orange juice
¼ c. rye or whiskey
Add to well in center of dry ingredients, then slowly stir together to make a well-blended batter, pausing to scrape as needed.
Slowly and carefully pour into prepared pans. The batter will be runny, and that's okay! Place in the preheated oven to bake.
Bake until a cake tester can be removed cleanly at multiple spots (and make sure to test multiple places). It might take anywhere from 40 minutes to 60 minutes for the cakes to bake, depending on their density. They will look runny, then increasingly puffy and cooked, and it will take a while past looking totally cooked for them to actually be totally cooked.

Source: Deb Perelman (Smitten Kitchen), originally from Marcy Goldman's Treasure of Jewish Holiday Baking

Oat Milk Chocolate Pudding

Delicious. Yields 4 half-cup servings.

High quality chocolate chips a la Guittard will work in this recipe. Cheap chocolate chips won't melt appropriately; you'll want to finely chop a bar.

Ingredients Step
65 g (⅓ c.) sugar
30 g (⅓ c.) cocoa
2 T. cornstarch
⅛ t. salt
In a saucepan, stir together.
2 c. milk Slowly stir in, stirring until smooth and combined.
Heat mixture over medium-low head, stirring constantly, until the pudding thickens. It will bubble and coat the back of the spoon (about 5-10 minutes).
3-4 oz. (85-115 g) chocolate, finely chopped Add and stir vigorously, until the pudding is very thick and smooth (about 30 seconds).
1 t. vanilla Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Pour into ramekins. Cover each ramekin to avoid forming a skin (possibly with plastic wrap).

Source: Ali Slagle (NYT Cooking)

Spice Cake

Uncle Gene's favorite.

You can substitute butter for shortening and slightly scant the buttermilk to make up for the liquid difference.

Ingredients Step
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2¼ c. (270 g) cake flour
1 c. sugar
1 t. baking powder
¾ t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 t. cloves
¾ t. cinnamon
½ t. nutmeg
Sift dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Grease and flour two 9" round cake tins (1½ inch deep).
¾ c. brown sugar
¾ c. shortening
1 c. buttermilk
Stir into the flour mixture, then beat for 2 minutes.
3 medium eggs Add and beat in for 2 minutes.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake 20-35 minutes, obeying the toothpick test.
Cool slightly and remove from pans.
1½ c. brown sugar
¼ c. cream (ideally clotted cream or cream from the top of non-hydrogenated milk)
2 T. butter
1 T. vanilla
As you remove the cakes from the oven, prepare the frosting: Bring ingredients to a boil and boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, then use a hand blender to beat until creamy, adding a little cream if necessary to make it easier to spread. Spread it onto the cake while the cakes are still warm.
Cut cake while warm.

Source: my grandma