Pecan Pie a la Shusha

"This pie I always for some reason bake with my younger brother, who loves it. When I bake I always like to have people around. I think baking is something you should do together."

By: Shusha Biton

Pecan Pie

Crust
100 g of butter, melted and warm
3/4 cup powder of powdered sugar
1 egg
2 cups of flour

Filling
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup of dark brown sugar
100 g of butter
1/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 ½ cups chopped pecans
1 ½ cups whole pecans
1 tablespoon heavy cream

1. Prepare the crust. Mix melted butter and powdered sugar. Beat in the eggs. Add flour and mix just until the dough is smooth and combined. 
2. With your hands, work the dough in to a template (with loose bottom). Flatten out the edges of the crust with a knife. Pick with a fork and freeze until assembly.
3. Prepare filling. Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
4. Heat maple syrup, brown sugar and butter and stir until the sugar and butter is completely melted. Cool slightly. Important!!! Divide the mixture evenly in to 2 bowls - one bowl, add sugar and eggs and whisk immediately (hot mixture so it is important to work quickly). Stir in chopped pecans. Pour in to the pastry crust and bake immediately for 30 minutes, until filling stabilizes the margins but still soft in the center.
5. Arrange whole pecans with your hands on the baked pie (Be careful, it's hot). Mix all the contents of the second bowl with heavy cream and pour over gently (heat slightly if the sauce is not liquid).
6. Return to the oven to finish baking for  another 10 minutes.
7. Remove from oven, let cool (preferably extract the pie from the pan while still warm) and refrigerate for two hours to make it stable.

Serve:
Slice and serve cold or slightly warm, with ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Tart

Picture by Oren Cohen

"My life is all about cooking and baking, and I love sharing my life with other people."

By: Shusha Biton

Chocolate Tart 

Crust 
100 g of sugar
200 g of butter 

300 g of flour 

1 egg  

Zest of one lemon 

A drop of vanilla extract

Filling

200 g of dark chocolate, good quality, at least 60% cacao

200 ml cream

Day one: 

1. Mix all the ingredients for the dough. Work with it until uniformed.

2.  Wrap the dough with nylon and refrigerate over night. This dough is enough for one big tin, or approx. 7-8 smaller (the one on the pic is 8 cm).
 

Day two:

1. Heat the oven to 170C degrees.

2. Take out the dough from the fridge approx. 5 min before starting to work with it. 

3. Roll the dough and place it in a baking tin, not to thin. Pick small holes in the dough with a fork to prevent it form swelling (you can also, if ambitious, put baking paper on the dough and add rice to the tin. That way it will stay in place in the oven).

4.  Bake for 15 minutes in the oven until a nice golden color. Let cool.

5.  Melt the chocolate.

6. Boil the cream and add the chocolate. If you want you can add nuts, coconut, chocolate pieces, or even hard candy to the ganache. Mix well. Let cool.

7. Add the chocolate filling to the tin with the pie crust.

8. Put in the fridge until it's completely cold and stiff.

9. Decorate with nuts, candy or fruit. 

  
Enjoy! 

© 2012 Jill Schweber and Channa Waje, all rights reserved