Mini Chocolate Strawberry Pie and The Last Day of Our Giveaway!

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It's the last day to enter our giveaway, and to celebrate~we made pie! Chocolate Strawberry Pie to be  exact! These pies are the perfect make ahead mini dessert for parties, family dinners, or backyard get togethers. They actually taste best if made ahead of time and then refrigerated until you are ready to eat them. They are easy to put together with filo dough crust, chocolate pastry cream and fresh strawberries!

Chocolate Strawberry Pie

(makes 16 pies)

 1 roll (1/2 box) Filo Dough

1/2 stick melted Butter

1 1/4 cups whole Milk

2 oz Semi Sweet Chocolate

3 Egg Yolks

1/4 cup Sugar

1 tablespoon Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons Cocoa Powder

2 tablespoons+2 teaspoons Cornstarch

1 teaspoon Vanilla

approx 12-15 Fresh Strawberries

Whipped Cream (I used canned)

Filo is easy to work with as long as you keep it covered

at all times. It does not like air! Open your roll of filo,

set it next to your work area, and place a piece of saran wrap over the 

filo sheets. I used 5 sheets to make 4 crust cups.

 Take one filo sheet and place it on a cutting board or 

other work surface. Using a pastry brush, and starting at the 

edge, going toward the center, brush your melted butter over the filo.

When you are done, take another piece of filo from your stack,

 and place it over your buttered piece. Brush this piece just like you 

did the first one. Continue doing this until all 5 pieces are brushed with butter.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cut out 4" circle of the filo. I apologize for no pics.

I used a 4" lid and cut around it with a paring knife.

Place the filo dough into a regular size muffin tin.

It is not necessary to spray or grease the tin.

You will only get about 4 circles out of every 5 pieces.

To get sixteen pieces, do this a total of 4 times.

Bake your filo for 8-9 minutes.

Let cool and remove from pan.

In a saucepan, warm the milk on low heat. In a separate

bowl, while the milk is warming, mix together the egg yolks,

sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and cornstarch. Once the  milk

is steaming, add the semisweet chocolate to the steaming milk.

Whisk until it is fully incorporated.

Add half of the chocolate milk to the egg mix. This is 

called tempering the eggs. 

 Once you add the milk, 

whisk the egg mix constantly. You are getting the eggs

used to the heat of the milk without cooking them.

Add the milk and egg mix back into the pan 

with the rest of the milk. Keep stirring.

Heat the milk and egg mix for 1-2 minutes until the 

custard reaches 170 degrees and becomes very thick.

Remove from heat, and add vanilla.

Chill before filling crust cups.

To fill the crust, slice a strawberry into 1/4's and place 

1 piece into the bottom. Cover with chocolate pastry cream.

If you are preparing a lot of these and want to have

as much done as you can ahead of time stop here.

Do the rest right before serving.

Fill the top of the chocolate with whipped cream.

Top the whipped cream with a strawberry, sliced

lengthwise, or a whole strawberry is you have 

one that is small and not so heavy that it falls

down into the whipped cream. 

Thanks for joining me today!

This is the last day to enter our giveaway.

The giveaway closes at 11:59pm PST tonight.

You can enter by leaving me a comment telling me what your favorite mini dessert is.  

You can  go back to the post for the last week and enter on those days by leaving a comment on that page. For 2 extra entries, like us on our fan page on facebook, and follow us here at The Freshman Cook. 

 The winner will be announced tomorrow. Good Luck!!!

Apple Pie Bundles

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These Apple Pie Bundles are a great way to finish out our week. Rumor has it that fall is just around the corner, bringing with it all the wonderful fall food flavors and colors. I can't wait! But right now, I am sitting in the air conditioning, attempting to wait out the record high temperatures we are experiencing this week. Oh, please, make it go quick. I'm begging!

1/2 cup Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg

4 cups Apples

1/4 teaspoon Cornstarch

 1/2 cup Water
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice

Place water in a pot.

Add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice and cornstarch.
Bring to boil. Let boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add apples and return to boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 6-8 minutes.


Pie Crust
(adapted from Perfect Party Food)
(I apologize for no pictures. My camera died while I was
making this recipe, but I didn't know it. It kept taking pictures,
but even though I was using a card, and I checked to make sure the
pictures were there, it didn't keep them. As soon as I am done here,
I am off to get a new camera)

2 1/2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening
1/2 cup unsalted Butter~Cold
3-5 tablespoons Ice Water

Put the flour and sugar in the food processor and pulse a few times.
Add the Vegetable Shortening and pulse again to mix it up.
Add the butter cut into cubes, and pulse until the mix
starts to pin itself against the sides of the bowl. Scrape the sides.
Sprinkle with 3 tablespoons of water and pulse 4-5 times again
until the mix comes together. The mix should still be a little crumbly.
Wrap the dough in plastic and set in the fridge for at least 1 hour.


Flour your work surface and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough.
I used a 6" round plate to cut my discs. I cut around the plate
with a pizza wheel.

Then I set the discs on a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.
I piled apple pieces in the middle of the dough.
Then I pulled the dough up to the middle of the circle, and cinched
it together to form a bundle. If any of the crust broke open,
just squeeze it back together.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Let bundles completely cool before moving them
off the baking sheet.

Caramel Sauce
1 1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Water
1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

In a heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water
over low heat. Stir the sugar until dissolved. Turn the heat to high,
and let the mix cook until the mix becomes carmelized and amber in color.

Take the pan from the heat and add whipping cream, 2 tablespoons at a time.
Be careful, as mixture will bubble up. Continue adding the cream and mix
together thoroughly. Let cool, then refrigerate.

To Serve: Place the bundle on a plate.
Drizzle with the caramel sauce.

 Serve with ice cream, if so desired!

Enjoy!


Thank for joining me today!