Haussner's Hon

I have said it a thousand times, I’m not a sweets person.  But there are two desserts from my childhood that I find myself craving.  Both are from storied old school Baltimore restaurants; the fabled pine nut roll at Tio Pepe’s and the strawberry pie from Haussner’s.  The truly frustrating part is it’s very hard to find a recipe for either on the magic eight ball of the internet.  This, of course, only intensifies the mystique surrounding them and my desire to eat them.  

My Dad was a member of both the Baltimore and Washington D.C. Wine and Food Societies and he would host a dinner for each about once a year.  These parties were a big deal, well, they certainly were a big deal to a little girl.  Prior to the party we would move the dining room furniture in to the living room (more space) ‘Don’t hit the walls Morg.  Careful, careful.  Goddamnit. I hit the wall.’ The silver also had to be polished and the decanters had to be washed, these were my jobs while my Dad handled dinner.  The dinner menu went like this: the main course was shad roe if it was available, if not, cornish game hens or beef tenderloin served with asparagus or green beans and a side of either wild rice or potatoes.  The appetizers were always a selection of cheeses and pate from Charlie at the Cross Street Market and these were assuredly served with stone ground wheat crackers in the sky blue box. And the dessert was always, always the pine nut roll from Tio’s and the strawberry pie from Haussner’s.  

Around five o’clock we would climb down to the wine cellar where my Dad would excitedly make his selections.  Making proclamations about who he could fool with what wine during the blind tasting part of the evening.  “Old so-and-so won’t know what hit him, oh yeah boy! Won’t know what hit him!  Woo!’  Then I would assist my dad in decanting his wine selections. And for the record, sometimes he cheated and used a Melita coffee filter.  ‘Don’t say anything Morg!  Dear God!  Some people say it changes the taste of the wine, it’s malarky! Malarky!’ Then I would wait, not so patiently, for the guests to arrive.  I would help gather coats and greet people.  Once everyone had arrived I could perform my parlour trick of sniffing and blind guessing a wine to my father’s beaming pride.  Then it was off to bed to the smell of shallots and meat juices and to the sound of clinking glasses and laughter.  

In the morning, while my Dad was still sleeping off all his hard work, I would come downstairs to the wine stained kitchen and help myself to the leftovers for breakfast.  Nothing says bachelor dad like sitting on the kitchen counter eating pate and strawberry pie for breakfast.  A great breakfast and one I always looked forward to, it was only improved when I was old enough to drink coffee with it.  What made this pie so special were the contrasts.  A buttery crust with a creamy vanilla under layer hiding beneath sweet and tart fruit with crispy almond slivers on top.  It was hard to stop eating, especially when interspersed with bites of pate on stale stoned ground wheat crackers.

Haussner’s closed years ago, taking the pie with it.  That pie was part of Baltimore.  I feel like they should have at least given the recipe to the Maryland Historical Society.  Research didn’t really help, none of the recipes I found on the internet felt right, they were either missing the cream layer or loaded in fake flavoring or color.  And while I don’t doubt Haussner’s may have used artificial enhancers, I could not.  I decided I would have to make my own version; more of an ode to the Haussner’s pie rather than a recreation.  A trip to the farmer’s market last week had beautiful tiny strawberries, tart and precious, nothing like red behemoths at the grocery store, these were my inspiration.  Three things were imperative: creamy filling, crispy almonds and glazed strawberries.

So before I dug in to this pie I was a little hesitant.  It certainly wasn’t a pretty pie.  I don’t have a piping bag. I just sort of squirted the whipped cream of all over the place, which is obvious from the picture.  I also made a couple junior mistakes, like forgetting pie weights until 1/2 way through baking the pie shell.  And there was a good level of improvisation that shouldn’t happen when baking.  But when I took my first bite I surprised myself, it tasted a hell of a lot like childhood.  There was an eye roll followed by an expletive and I gobbled down the rest of my piece. And I was kicking myself for not purchasing pate instead of Spanish chorizo at the farmer’s market the day before.  

If you too miss Haussner’s strawberry pie, give it a try.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed and I’d love to hear your thoughts.  

Haussner’s inspired Strawberry Pie - Serves 8

Pie Crust - Adapted from the Bouchon Cookbook

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

8 ounces (2 sticks or 16 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cubed

1/4 cup ice water

1/4 cup toasted almond slivers, ground in food processor

Flour

Make the dough a day ahead.  Place 1 cup flour and salt in standing mixer with dough hook attachment, turn on low and add the butter a handful at a time, in about 4 batches, increase to medium speed and when butter is incorporated, stop machine, scrape down sides or dislodge dough from mixing arm, turn on low again and slowly add in remaining flour, followed by the water, mix until just incorporated.  Remove and divide in to two, wrap one disk in plastic wrap and freeze for later use.  Return the other half to the mixer and add in the ground almonds, turn on low until incorporated.  Shape in to a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Roll it out on floured surface to about 12” in diameter.  Place in a pie pan, top with parchment or aluminum foil and place pie weights or dried beans on top.  Bake at 350 in the center of the oven for 45 minutes or until lightly browned at the edges.  Place on a wire rack and cool completely.

Pastry Cream - Adapted from the Baltimore Sun

1 cup milk

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

This can also be a day ahead. Scald the milk in a sauce pan, set aside.  Meanwhile whisk together the egg yolks and sugar.  Temper the egg yolk mixture by slowly adding the milk, whisking until incorporated.  Return the mixture to the sauce pan and working over a medium heat continue to whisk.  The mixture will begin to thicken, it may look lumpy, keep whisking.  I found my mixture to be done when it had a pudding like consistency and appeared to ‘breathe’ when I stopped whisking it for a moment. Remove from heat. Add the vanilla and butter and stir to incorporate.  Cover the surface with buttered wax paper.  Allow to cool to room temperature before putting in the fridge.

Whipped Cream

1 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Whip together the cream and vanilla to desired consistency. 

Strawberry Topping

3 1/5 cups strawberries, hulled, and sliced if necessary

2 tablespoons strawberry preserves

1/4 cup almond slivers, toasted

Spread the pastry cream in to the bottom of the pie shell with a spatula.  Top the pastry cream with the strawberries.  Microwave the preserves for about 30 seconds.  Using a pastry brush, gently brush the preserves on to the strawberries.  Let cool in the fridge for a couple hours.  When ready to serve, pipe the whipped cream around the outer edge of the pie and sprinkle with the almond slivers.

Fall Cloud

Last summer we took the kids to a Braves game. We took our seats in the outfield; Jim and I were happily situated with gigundo $8 water flavored beers and the kids had just finished off nutritious Turner Field pizza and nachos when the cotton candy man barked by. I asked ‘Kids do you want cotton candy?’ Our son said ‘YES! YES! YES! Cotton candy!‘ Singing now ‘Cotton, cotton candy! Oh, I love cotton candy.’ But our daughter looked at me quizzically and concerned. I’d never seen consternation from this 4 year old. ‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘Well, it’s cotton candy. It’s, it’s it’s...Jim - what is it?’ Confused look. ‘It’s, well it’s basically fluffy sugar and... it’s pink!‘ What an odd question; were we bad parents? She looked at us, blinking, unconvinced. There is nothing that that little girl loves more than sugar and the color pink, except maybe pork products. ‘Your brother is having some. Would your brother eat anything bad?’ ‘No.’ ‘OK, we’ll get one and you two can share.’ Trepidatiously ‘Okaaaay’. Jim flagged the man down and big bag of puffy pink and blue was delivered. She was still very concerned about the contents of that bag. She eyed it and cautiously watched her brother open the bag, dig in and eat it. She continued to blink at the bag. At least Jim is always a man with a plan. He peeled off a piece and held directly in front of her, she leaned in and grabbed it with her mouth. Now, I am going to do my best to describe what happened next. As she grabbed and it started to melt (as cotton candy does) the sensation took her by surprise, she literally shook from head to toe, an all over body spasm, then, she squealed with delight, her eyes lit up, she smiled ear to ear and then she opened her mouth wide for Jim to feed her more. Jim handed her the bag, she ate until her tongue and lips were quite blue from artificial food coloring and she had sufficiently sugared herself out. After the game we all headed home with our little girl still clutching the plastic bag containing the leftover puff of cotton candy. I have never seen such delight over a food stuff.

The other day I was making macaroni and cheese with butternut squash, which is really, really awesome, but not the point of this blog. One of the directions for the mac-n-cheese is to combine the cream and the squash using a food processor or blender but the recipe warns not to over whip the cream or, well, you’ll end up with whipped cream. Well I understood why not, but thought ‘Why not?’. So another day I whipped them together. A few moments with the hand mixer and I had a bowl full of a pouffy orange fluff. I dipped my finger in, cautiously. It was delicious. I didn’t squeal but I did utter an expletive. Maybe it’s not as mind blowing as the cotton candy but it’s really good.

What to do with it? I’ll tell you what I did with it but I’d love to hear what you would do with it.

Fall Flavored Whipped Cream with Fried Herbs - Makes 20-24

1 3-4 pound butternut squash, cut in half

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 baguette

2 garlic cloves cut in half lengthwise

thyme

sage leaves

1 tablespoon olive oil

vegetable oil

salt + pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 400. Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds. Salt + pepper the squash and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for an hour. Remove from oven and let cool. Scrape the squash from the rind and combine with the cream. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Using a hand mixer whip until fluffy and light.

Pre-heat the broiler. Slice the baguette in to 1/4” rounds, rub the garlic on the bread slices, lightly brush the bread with a very little olive oil. Toast in the oven for 30 seconds, leave the door slightly ajar so you can keep an eye on the bread, do not take your eyes off of the bread until it has been removed from the oven.

Fill a shallow pan with 1/4” of vegetable oil, heat, add in sage and thyme, alternating. The sage will take about a quick count to 10 and the thyme a quick count to 5. Be careful when frying the sage, throw it in and stand back, it will sound like fireworks going off. Apparently thyme contains a lot of water.

Top the crostini with the whipped cream and the fried herbs.

Handle with Care

Just like a pack of cigarettes, or a bottle of wine this blog entry comes with a warning label. It is the highly volatile combination of children + high levels of sugar. It surely delights, but it can backfire, resulting in sugar highs followed by sugar lows, meltdowns, tears and grumpy parents. Let me backtrack by saying Jim and I are those parents, you know the ones, fruit is the snack, we make most everything from the ground up, very rarely anything processed (everyone has a home for Kraft mac-ncheese) and nothing that has been specifically marketed to children.

I don’t know what possessed Jim but one day he came home with a box of Cap’n Crunch. I opened the cabinet and it was like a snake lurking in there. Jim doesn’t buy sugar and he doesn’t buy premium cereal products. And he seemed pretty pleased with himself. Now, I must confess, as a child I was allowed to eat whatever cereal I wanted and the Cap’n was at the top of the list; Cap’n Crunch Berries, Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Pebbles, Sugar Smacks, you name it, if it was sugar laden and sure rip a layer of skin off of the roof of your mouth I ate it.

Jim offered the kids bowls of the Cap’n, no fools, they seized the opportunity. After that the Cap’n hung around in the cabinet for a bit and not because of lack of interest. One day Cap’n Crunch French toast popped in to my head . There is a restaurant in my motherland of Baltimore that makes such a dish; I’ve never been to this restaurant but I have seen this dish profiled on the FoodNetwork. I cobbled together my version by poking around the internet. Let me say the Cap’n Crunch French toast was beyond a hit with the kids, I mean it was like the freaking Superbowl of breakfast dishes. However, it did have the aforementioned side effects and after about 2 hours of the ups and downs everyone was sent to their rooms for a time out. Jim then threw out the remainder of the box. It was like handing a junkie their first hit. The kids continually ask for it and talk about it if it were the family pet, our response ‘NO! Maybe in like another 5 years.’

Well, with my god-kids here for the week I thought I might try it again. Every year they come and we manage to squeeze in some oozy, gooey, sugary something. I asked Jim ‘What do you think of the Cap’n Crunch French toast?’ His response ‘No. No and no! That’s on you. I’m going to work.’ Uh-huh. So consider the warning label, they’ll love you for it but they might make you pay. So I warned the kids, we can have it but any crazy sugar influenced behavior and the Cap’n will never grace our range top again. They heeded the warning seriously. As my own editorial comment I’ll add that I don’t care for sweets, I could live my whole life without a doughnut, but the Cap’n in French toast form, well, he’s alright.

Cap'n Crunch French Toast - Serves 6

1 cup cream

1/4 cup sugar

3 extra large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 slices of bread

4 cups Cap’n Crunch

Butter

Whipped Cream

1 cup cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl. Using a large zip lock bag smash the cereal, I use the backside of a metal measuring cup. Put the cereal in another large bowl or casserole. Preheat the oven to 200 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Heat a skillet to medium and add the butter. Dip the bread in to the batter for about 1 minute, let the excess drip off and coat both sides in the cereal. Place in skillet and cook on both sides until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side. Remove and place on baking sheet in oven to keep warm. Repeat. Whip together the cream and vanilla to desired consistency. Serve the toast with the whipped cream and maple syrup.