father's day fruit tart with oreo cookie crust

Usually by the time Father's Day comes around, we have had a ton of cake. In between multiple birthdays (including my own) and Mother's Day, we always have cake. So lately I have been making pie for Father's Day!

This time I decided to go with a simple yet refreshing no-bake cheesecake pie, decorated with fresh fruit. So I used this Martha Stewart recipe, except I decided to go with an Oreo cookie crust instead of the graham cracker crust. (This recipe at Crazy for Crust makes the perfect chocolate cookie crust, in my opinion!)

After letting the pie chill in the fridge overnight, I was ready to decorate with fresh raspberries the next morning. I wanted my raspberries to spell out the word "DAD", so I used cookie cutters to make marks in the pie as a guide.

And then I just fit my raspberries inside the outlines!

So simple! And tasty! The creamy pie filling, with chocolatey cookie crust, and fresh tart raspberries - the pefect combination!

Stay tuned to see what I make for Father's Day this year!

Happy Father's Day!

rum raisin pie for father's day

By Father's Day each year, we are usually all caked out. With our youngest son's birthday in February, both of our moms and my brother's birthdays in March, my birthday in April, Mother's Day in May, and my husband's birthday in May as well, that's a lot of cakes that we have eaten by June! So by the time Father's Day rolled around last year, I figured the hubby would enjoy a nice pie instead!

One of my husband's favorite ice cream flavors is rum raisin, so when I saw Martha Stewart make this rum raisin pie recipe on her show, I knew that I would make it for him. The recipe starts out with making a flakey pie crust, which is first blind baked (with parchment paper and dried beans or pie weights).

I suggest freezing or chilling your pie dough after you've rolled it out and placed it in your pie dish - I skipped this step and look how much my pie crust shrank after baking! Doh!

Anyhow, after your baked pie crust has cooled, sprinkle golden raisins in an even layer on the bottom of the pie shell. Next you will make a quick custard on the stove, with a bit of rum stirred in at the end. This custard is poured over the golden raisins in the pie shell, and then the pie is baked until the center is set.

Once out of the oven, let the pie cool.

To decorate the pie, I made a little fondant "dad" topper, which I painted gold using edible cake paint. (I had just recently made this gold fondant monogram topper for a baby's first birthday cake, and was still feeling inspired!)

The pie ended up having really good flavor, but I must not have been diligent enough while stirring my custard on the stove, because the texture of the pie was a bit on the grainy side.

Nevertheless, it was a good tasting pie, and perfect for our Father's Day celebration.

Hope you have a happy Father's Day!

father's day peach pie

For Father's Day this year, I decided to make a pie instead of a cake, since we had just finished a whole slew of cakes recently (my birthday cake, Mother's Day cake, Grant's birthday cake ...). Since we had fresh peaches in the fridge, and a few baby nectarines on our tree in the backyard, I decided to make peach pie, with pie crust cutouts on top to spell out D-A-D! (If you remember, I had wanted to spell out M-O-M in my Mother's Day cake, but that didn't quite work out).

I sliced up my peaches and nectarines, and tossed them with sugar, flour, and a pinch of salt. Then I made my favorite all-butter pie crust recipe, formed it into two round discs, and let them set in the fridge for about half an hour. Once chilled, I took out once disc and rolled it out big enough to fit my pie plate, gently eased my pie crust into my pie plate, and then crimped the sides.

Then I poured in my peach filling mixture. (The little teeny pieces of fruit are the baby nectarines from our tree!)

Then I baked it in a 425F oven for about 15 minutes to get the crust going, and then reduced it to 350F to bake for another 45 minutes or so.

Once the pie was done, I took out my second disc of pie crust dough from the fridge, rolled it out, and used alphabet cookie cutters to cut out pieces to spell D-A-D. (I only used less than half of the second disc of dough). Then I sprinkled on some sanding sugar and baked them on a cookie sheet at 375F for 10-15 minutes.

Once the cutouts were done, I placed them on top of the finished pie. (Note: you could also place the pie crust letters on top of the unbaked pie, and then bake the entire thing together, but I find that the cutouts don't retain their shape as well).

Mmmmm, pie...

Hope you all had a Happy Father's Day!

panna cotta with fresh berries and balsamic vinegar

For Father's Day this year, I asked my husband what he wanted to do.  He decided that he would love for the family to spend the day at a lake near our house, so I obliged and planned a day of hiking and a picnic lunch.  For lunch I made ham and cheese sandwiches with farmer's greens, while my mom made sticky mochi rolls filled with shredded dried pork (pork sung) and chinese pickled mustard greens.

 

For dessert I had planned on making little portable jars of panna cotta and fresh berries, but I had waited too long to make them and didn't have enough time to let them set in the fridge.  So I figured we'd have them when we came back from the lake, and instead made them in cute star-shaped ramekins - a recent birthday gift from one of my best friends (thanks Reggie!).

I used Ina Garten's panna cotta recipe, which uses heavy cream, yogurt, gelatin, sugar, and vanilla to create a tangy and delicious and panna cotta.  I poured them into my ramekins until they were almost full, leaving some space at the top for the berries topping, and then let them set in the fridge.

After they were set (about 5 hours later), I topped them with fresh blueberries and raspberries.

Then I made the balsamic strawberry topping from the same panna cotta recipe, which combines sliced strawberries with balsamic vinegar and sugar, and poured that over the fresh berries.

I also made a few in the little jars that I had planned on, just so I could see my original vision come to life.  Aren't they cute?

I think these would also be great for a simple Fourth of July dessert!

father's day - triple chocolate mousse cake with strawberries

For Father's Day this year, I wanted to make something with chocolate and strawberries.  So I decided on making triple chocolate mousse cake once more, but this time with strawberries.

I planned on baking a 6-inch cake, so I baked the bottom layer (chocolate cake) in a 6-inch removable-bottom cake pan.  But I had forgotten that cakes tend to shrink a bit after being baked!  Since there were gaps on the sides between the cake and the cake pan, I knew I wouldn't be able to pour the mousse layers directly on top, so I created a 5.5-inch cuff using parchment paper and a cardboard bakery box.

Once I had my homemade cake ring, I lined the edge of the ring with halved strawberries, with the cut-side facing out.  Then I filled it with the middle layer of white chocolate mousse.

After letting the two layers set in the fridge for about half an hour, I proceeded to make and fill my top layer of bittersweet chocolate mousse.  Then I let the whole cake set in the fridge for the rest of the afternoon, and then decorated the top with more halved strawberries.  And I left the leaves on to add a splash of green to the cake.

I thought the end result was beautiful, but my husband commented on how funny it was that I was making a Father's Day cake that looked so girly!  Ooops!

The cake ended up tasting great, although the bottom layer became kind of soggy from the halved strawberries.  Next time I'll try adding a thin layer of mousse before adding the strawberries, and hopefully that will protect the cake layer from getting too wet.

Happy Father's Day honey!  Next time I promise the cake won't be so girly!  Or soggy!