I'm still alive.
To mark one month in my new city I decided to pretend for a moment as though I am settled. My apartment hates me; I'm still living out of boxes; I've suddenly got a new nephew AND niece (who, I'm told, have requested an entire wardrobe of quilts and booties and bibs and hats and so on), I'm being put on a big project at work, I'm supposed to bake and bring four dozen cupcakes to work Wednesday morning and in general you name it, I'm probably ignoring it. But I'm trying to get better about doing stuff, as my "I just moooooved" excuse window is closing fast, so I decided to buckle down and do TWD this week. Well, sorta.
1. I totally cheated on the crust. I know, I know, Dorie's pie crust is very simple and super good--but somehow I just knew that if I waited to make a pie crust...well, I'd still be waitin'. It's been so long since I did a regular 8-5 + commute that I underestimated how little energy I would have when I make it home. (Seriously, I'm mostly living on apples these days.) So the crust is frozen and not a fancy bougie brand either.
2. I cheated on the main ingredient. I think I've blogged here before about not understanding Fall Pumpkin Mania. I've yet to have a pumpkin anything that didn't smell much better than it tastes. So like a good native Southerner I just *happened* to have sweet potatoes in the cabinet, and of course I like sweet potatoes a great deal.
So since I didn't have to fiddle with a crust, I was able to throw the pie together easily after work while I worked on sewing a new winter cape. Multitasking.
It was really easy to make the caramel and I smashed up the potatoes and everything by hand. I realized that I spazzed and caramelized ALL the sugar instead of half, but that would be good, right? I mean, sweet potatoes--this would be plenty sweet already, right? I poured the filling in the partially baked industrial crust and hoped for the best, thinking "gee this looks like a chocolate pie!"
It baked, and baked, and baked. I left it in the oven 10 minutes extra and it was still jiggly but I needed to go to bed. So I took it out, and it turned out to be fine. It still looked like chocolate!
I tried a piece and um, yeah.
Why does my pie taste like chocolate? It totally has the consistency of a sweet potato pie--a rather buttery one--but tastes EXACTLY like a bittersweet chocolate pie. I don't know what to think of it. It's too much for my brain to take. I am thinking I should have 1) not made the sub and/or been more careful about my sugar addition. So it's a fail for me, but I suspect it's the baker, not the recipe. I hope everyone else had better results! Thank you Janell for choosing it!
11 comments:
Poor you! I just moved too, and I was wondering how long I could use it as an excuse. I have niece/nephew demands too, but I don't work that hard, and my commute is short. i still eat apples for dinner, though. Another thing we have in common is that my pie didn't work either and it was all my fault. I do love pumpkin pie, and must try sweet potato pie too. Just maybe not with this recipe, cause I'm not a chocolate fanatic.
Umm, okay, this is approaching the length of your post. Sorry.
:)
I'm impressed at your dedication! Sounds like you have a lot on your plate. Have a great week!
Your pie looks great! I love chocolate pie, so I wouldn't be disappointed if that is what it tasted like.
My pie cooked and cooked too and never came out right. I did not like this. Bitter tasting as well. I messed up and not even sure I know what I did wrong but it is back to regular pumpkin pie for me. I give us both an A for effort this week!
hooray for a new nephew and niece! and hooray for a little baking and sewing. I hope things slow down soon and you get some time to relax.
Chocolate sounds okay to me!!!
wow, that is so glossy and beautiful!
Actually a bittersweet chocolate pie sounds delicious to me. :~)
It looks gorgeous, I'm sorry the flavour was a disappoint.
I didn't like my first pie either. The caramel was just too dark and bitter for me. What was Dorie thinking? The lighter version was much better in my opinion.
Anyway, thanks for baking along with me this week!
@Mary: I love long comments!
@Cakelaw, Beth, Valerie: I like chocolate pies, too, but not when they have the texture of sweet potato pie. Bleah.
@Peggy, Janell: I wonder if we overcooked the caramel? The recipe said to get it very dark...but I might try it again one day cooked not so much.
@Cindy, Tia, Maura: Thanks, y'all!
I'm thinking you overdid the caramel. I ended up making two batches of caramel because the first had a hint of burniness about it. Sometime when your life is less full you might want to try again.
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