Spritz Cookies

This week, for my softball team treats, I needed something that was going to be quick and easy. My whole week was all booked up so I did not have time to go to the grocery store and I had to do the baking in the morning, before work. This past Easter, my mom gave me a Cookie Press. I remember unwrapping it and being very excited about a new baking tool. Eric looked at it and asked why my mom had given me a caulking gun for Easter. Boys!

This recipe is good. The cookies are so light and fluffy, like little clouds of sugary heaven. The almond flavor comes out strong, so I'd use less almond extract if you're not into that. I liked it.

Side Note - I will be on vacation next week in Montana! I will not be blogging but I will be baking so look forward to seeing something hopefully resembling a Huckleberry Pie the following week...

Butter Spritz Cookies

from Food Network Kitchens

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2 sticks unsalted butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

2 tsp baking powder

2 cups sifted flour

Sprinkles for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

In a mixer with a paddle attachment, add the sugar and the butter. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla and almond extracts and mix to incorporate. Sift together the baking powder and the flour. Add the flour mixture. Mix until combined. Separate dough out into 3 equal pieces. Refrigerate for 20 minutes. Add first dough piece to the cookie press, leaving the other two in the fridge until you need them. Using the cookie press, press cookies onto cookie sheets. Top with the sprinkles of your choice. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until firm, but not yet browning.

Napa Tour + Red Wine Cupcakes

My little brother graduated from college this past spring and, for one of his gifts, my parents organized a limo tour of the Napa Wine Country. We tasted at three different wineries, had a picnic lunch, and took a cave tour at Beringer Vineyards. I'm proud to say that, even with the wine flowing and my judgment impaired, I was able to stick to my stick budget and not come hope with a case of wine. Instead, I just appreciated the tasting and enjoyed spending quality time with my family.

When I came across this recipe for Red Wine Cupcakes a few weeks ago, I knew I just had to bake these to bring on our trip. They were so yummy! The wine flavor was subtle and became much more prominent the following day. I just LOVE the color of the icing! That's all natural color, no dye added. Believe it or not, I piped this icing on with a star tip. It looked very pretty. Then I took these babies out in the hot sun (I think it was in the high 90s that day) and the icing melted down into a pink blob. I swear they were only outside for less than 5 minutes but that was all it took. I still think they looked pretty but more like an abstract cupcake than one you'd find in a bakery. The cupcakes baked up in a funny shape, more like a mountain peak. I'm not sure what caused this but they still tasted amazing so who cares?

Red Wine Cupcakes

from Shazam in the Kitchen

Cupcakes

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking powder

2 1/4 cups AP flour

2 Tbs cocoa powder

1/2 cup Cabernet + 2 Tbs (I just used 2 Buck Chuck)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cupcake tins with liners.

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter, sugar, and eggs until smooth and creamy. Mix in the vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk together the baking powder and flour. Gradually mix into the wet mixture until combined (don't over mix).

Add red wine and mix until just incorporated. Add cocoa powder.

Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool completely on wire racks.

Brush all of the cupcakes with Cabernet. (Uses about 2 Tbsp total)

Frosting

1 cup blackberries (plus extra for garnish)

1/2 cup Cabernet

1/2 cup butter

3 cups powdered sugar

milk

Place blackberries and Cabernet in small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Reduce until blackberries mash easily and wine is syrupy. Strain, pressing on seeds to extract all the liquid. Blackberry Cabernet sauce should equal a little less than a quarter cup.

Beat butter in mixer until creamy. Alternately add powdered sugar and milk until a semi thick spreading consistency is reached. Add Blackberry Cabernet sauce. The frosting will be a little on the soft side add more powdered sugar if necessary to get to desired consistency. Frost cupcakes and garnish with a blackberry.

The Sweet Side of Carmel + Big News

Last weekend was Eric's birthday so he made plans for us to book a pet-friendly hotel room in Monterey. We have a couple big vacations coming up in the next couple months and the anticipation for those has been making us extremely stir-crazy at our jobs. It was nice to have this little trip to look forward to. The plan was to spend Saturday in Carmel during the day and visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium on Sunday. Eric was happy to visit Carmel, a spot that holds sentimental value to him. He's been visiting this cute, little beach town with his family for many years. Every year, they would get sandwiches for lunch at the same deli and dessert at the local bakery. Unfortunately the deli has since gone out of business but the bakery was still hopping. We purchased this Alligator Bread concoction that Eric had been telling me all about. Isn't it so cool?

If you ever find yourself in Carmel, be sure to stop by the Carmel Bakery. The Alligator Bread was super cute but I would definitely recommend the chocolate dipped macaroon or the thumbprint cookies. So good!

After lunch and dessert, we shopped around town for a little while. The town is SO BEAUTIFUL! There are flowers everywhere. I took tons of pictures but here's a sampling...

We then made our way to the beach. I sat there in the sand, watching Eric play with our little doggie, feeling truly relaxed and happy. We were probably there for about an hour but I eventually was ready to move on and get some dinner. As I packed up our things and began to make my way back to town, Eric grabbed my hand and told me to wait. I turned around to see him down in the sand on one knee, asking me to marry him! I was so surprised and excited. Of course, I said yes.

Monterey was never in the plan, it was just there to throw me off the trail. We ended up staying at a super cute bed & breakfast in Carmel, The Garden Court Inn. Our breakfast delivery even came supplied with milk bones for our little one. The service there was fantastic and I would recommend them to anyone wanting a quaint and charming stay in such a beautiful town.

White Chocolate Fudge-Filled Oat Cups

Allow me to introduce you to the best thing I've experienced this week. The highlight of my week. The cutest little dessert snack I've ever made. Drum roll please...

The Fudge Filled Oat Cup!

I decided to bake these for my softball teams this week. This is becoming a trend I hope I can keep up with. I play on two teams every week so I've been baking things to share at the games. Last week, I brought Lemon Bars. The week before that was the Gooseberry Thumbprints. It's a fun break between the more difficult and complex recipes because I need to choose something snack-sized. What should I bring next week? Any suggestions??

I got this recipe from Chocolate and Whine. This is one of my FAVORITE blogs. The author, Stephanie, is funny. I count on her to bring me laughter during my not-so-enjoyable work day. Check her out!

These oat cups are amazing. I received tons of compliments and they disappeared quickly. I loved the contrast of salty and sweet. Although the recipe is fairly simple with few ingredients and short bake time, it is time consuming to shape the dough into the cups. Plan on the recipe taking a couple hours. For me, this made about 40 cups with a little extra fudge left over.

White Chocolate Fudge-Filled Oat Cups

from Chocolate and Whine

Oat Cups

1 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 cups oatmeal

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Filling

2 cups chopped white chocolate

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° and grease your mini muffin tin.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and brown sugar until creamy. Add the oatmeal, flour, salt, and cinnamon and mix until combined. (my mixer was struggling a bit here, I would suggest using a wooden spoon. Add chopped walnuts (optional) and mix until incorporated. Drop dough by tablespoon into the greased wells of your mini muffin tin. Press down on the dough so that it lines the walls and bottom of the well and forms a cup. Bake for 5-6 minutes.

While crusts are baking make the fudge filling by heating the milk and chips over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract. Continue to stir the fudge sporadically throughout the rest of baking these or it will start to harden.

Remove the partially baked crusts from oven (they should not be brown). If they’ve puffed up during baking, gently press them back down using a spoon and not your fingers. Fill each mini crust with fudge. If you miss and get some on the tin, wipe it off before putting the tin back in the oven (it'll burn otherwise). Return to oven and bake for another 3-4 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool at room temperature. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes or until firm.

Using a sharp knife, gently pry the Fudge Cups out of the tin. They should pop out if you greased properly and the cups are firm.

Renegade Craft Fair

WARNING - this post does not include a recipe. It does, however, tell you about the super-fun experience of attending the San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair.

I first heard about this fair from a couple bloggers I follow and decided it would be something cool to check out. I invited my 12-year-old niece, Christina and we had such a fun girl's day out. The weather was beautiful, the parking was easy, and the fair was a blast!

The artist I was most looking forward to seeing was Jessie Oleson of CakeSpy. Her blog has always been one of my favorites and I also love her artwork. Here is a description of what CakeSpy is (taken directly from their profile page):

Cakespy.com is a Dessert Detective Agency dedicated to seeking sweetness (literally) in everyday life. We do this by writing about bakeries, conducting baking experiments, and picking the brains of bakers and food artists, and finding awesome products for lovers of baked goods. The Cakespy crew is comprised of about 6 or 7 Cake Gumshoes throughout the US, and is headed up by Head Spy Jessie Oleson.

Aren't her cupcake watercolors just so adorable? I bought a few little things from her including some buttons and magnets, as well as this postcard I now have hanging at my desk at work:

Right next door to the CakeSpy table, was Cynically Delicious selling some pretty awesome cupcakes. Just look at these flavor choices:

Of course I had to go with the Slumdog Selleck because a)I love cardamom, and b)I love Tom Selleck. It had a chocolate mustache garnish!! Christina went with the MJ:

We then went on to browse the hundreds of tables and booths, filled with hand stitched, carved, painted, and sculpted crafts. The creative juices were overpowering. I was definitely inspired to learn some new crafty skills. I purchased some unique gifts for people. All in all, a successful trip and I cannot wait until next year!

Side note - I was shopping specifically for a new purse but couldn't seem to find one that was jumping out to me. I passed the booth for ichi.v and met Vichelle Mixon, the designer. I loved her style but couldn't really find the size I was looking for. I got to talking to Vichelle and she has generously offered make me a custom bag. Check out her website. Her bags and purses are just so beautiful. They are durable and reasonably priced. I can't wait to show mine off!

Baked's Peanut Butter Pie

I am very happy to announce that I am now a Baked Baker!

I have joined my first baking group. We are baking our way through the book Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito. Each week, it's someone in the group's turn to select a recipe. On Monday, they post to the blog and let everyone know which recipe they've selected. They also answer some preselected questions to let the other bakers know a little about themselves. Last week, it was my turn to select the recipe. You can read my Monday post here. Then everyone has the entire week to bake the recipe and post all about it, letting everyone know what substitutions or additions you made or any tips you have for the other bakers. For my week I chose the Peanut Butter Pie. This pie came out so professional looking and tasted amazing. You can read about my experience with the recipe here. Also, click here to check out everyone's experience with the pie or browse through the site for recipes done in the past. I can't wait to try out more recipes in the book and am looking forward to making some friends along the way.

Peanut Butter Pie

from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Chocolate Cookie Crust

30 chocolate wafer cookies (about 6 oz)

1 Tbs sugar

6 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

In a food processor (or with a rolling pin), grind the cookies to a fine powder. You should have about 1 1/2 cups. Put crumbs in a bowl and add sugar and whisk together. Pour the melted butter over the crumb mixture and mix until well combined. Press into a 9 inch pie dish or spring-form pan. Chill in the fridge while you make the filling.

Hot Fudge Sauce

6 oz milk chocolate, finely chopped

6 oz dark chocolate (65% cacao), finely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup light corn syrup

Put both chocolates in a medium heatproof bowl and set aside. In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over medium heat. Add the corn syrup and stir to combine. Remove from heat and pour over chocolates. Let mixture sit for 2 minutes. Slowly whisk the mixture in a circle. Pour about 1/2 cup of hot fudge on chilled crust and spread over the bottom. Pour the rest of the room-temperature fudge in an airtight container for topping the pie later. The leftover fudge will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Peanut Butter Filling

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 Tbs pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Put the cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla, and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until well combined and completely smooth. Set aside. In a clean bowl, use the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to whip the cream until soft peaks form. Pour whipped cream into peanut butter filling and gently fold in with a rubber spatula until the mixture is uniform in color. Pour mixture into the prepared crust and freeze for 4 hours. Once frozen, cover with foil and freeze for up to 3 days.

If at 1st you don't succeed, there's always Ina!

All this baking and blogging has gotten me very excited, very ambitious. I want to try recipes I've never tried in my entire life, baking everything from scratch, using ingredients that are seasonal or only found in specialty stores. I read myself to sleep with cookbooks and Cooking Light Magazine and then I dream about what my next project will be.

This all sounds very fun (or perhaps very crazy) but recently, I've discovered a flaw in this challenging baking style. Every time I bake something, I learn something. This something gets stored in the back of my brain for later use. Tips for how to improve something's texture, ingredients I should add or remove, another method of photographing the end product. I save these tips for next time. But how will there ever be a next time if I keep wanting to try new things every time I bake?

One of my softball teammates brought this all to my attention last week. I had shared my Gooseberry Thumbprints at our game and she put in a request for what I would bake for the team the following week (In addition to being Team Manager, I've now officially assumed the position of Team Mom). She wanted Lemon Bars. Now, if you remember, Lemon Bars were one of my first posts, just about a month ago. I reflected on that post and everything I learned for next time.

This time around, I went with Ina Garten, a.k.a. The Barefoot Contessa's Lemon Bars. I LOVE her recipes. I've never made anything of hers that wasn't outstanding and these lemon bars are no exception. They have the perfect ratio of crust to filling, which was something I found lacking in the previous recipe, not enough filling! Also, I learned the hard way that lemon bars are not something to be "eaten right out of the oven." They need to sit. Like ALL NIGHT. This time, I was patient and they were SO perfect the next day. I learned something very important this week. Trying something new is fun, but trying something again and perfecting it is extremely rewarding!

Lemon Bars

by Ina Garten from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

Crust:

1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 cups flour

1/8 tsp salt

Filling:

6 extra-large eggs at room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar

2 Tbs grated lemon zest (3-4 lemons)

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 6 lemons)

1 cup flour

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press it into a 9 by 13 baking dish, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides. Chill in the refrigerator while the oven preheats to 350 degrees F.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the filling is set. It will be light brown around the edges and will not jiggle in the center if you tap the sides of the pan. Let cool to room temperature, preferable overnight.

Cut off browned edges and cut the rest into squares and dust with confectioners' sugar.

Orange Buttermilk Scones and Fresh Lime Curd

Growing up, we would sometimes get a special treat for breakfast. Most often, my dad would make us pancakes or french toast. Less often, but oh so wonderful, my mom would bake fresh scones. She'd use Garvey's Traditional Scone Mix, purchased at Williams-Sonoma, and they would bake up so perfect and beautiful. Dense and covered with sugar, served warm straight from the oven, we'd crack them open and spread on some lemon curd. What a wonderful way to start any weekend.

I had some leftover buttermilk in my fridge that needed using so I began searching through buttermilk recipes. When I came across a highly-rated Buttermilk Scone recipe on FoodNetwork.com, I started day-dreaming about the scones my mom bakes and began searching for a lemon curd recipe as well. Lemons were out of stock at the market so I decided to make lime curd instead.

The scones turned out just OK. They were more cakey that I would have liked. I think I added too much flour when I was trying to work with the dough. It was really sticky and difficult to roll out. The lime curd, however, turned out so tasty. Tangy and sweet, just how I imagined it would be. I have a lot of curd left over so I will have to find some other use for it in the next couple weeks.

Orange Buttermilk Scones

adapted from M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger

3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup orange juice

zest of 1/2 large orange

1 Tbs heavy cream, for brushing

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Add butter and mix with a pastry cutter until a coarse meal is formed. Add buttermilk and OJ and mix just until combined. Stir in zest. Transfer dough to a floured board and divide into 2 parts. Roll each to 3/4 inch thick rounds. Cut each round into 8 wedges and place slightly separated on a greased baking sheet. Brush the tops with the cream, and bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Lime Curd

adapted from Alton Brown

5 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

4 limes, zested and juiced

1 stick butter, cut into pats and chilled

Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Meanwhile, combine egg yolks and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute. Measure citrus juice and if needed, add enough cold water to reach 1/3 cup. Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth. Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan. (Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.) Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon (this took about 20 minutes for me). Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next. Strain into a clean container to remove zest and cover by laying a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the curd. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

I was worried when I went to use the curd the next day. I pulled it from the fridge and the top layer was a bit stiff and it was still a bit watery underneath. I whisked it all together and which thickened it back up. Very good curd!

Gooseberry Thumbprints and The Red Apple

Does this ever happen to you? Someone will tell you about a fantastic restaurant, you just can't wait to feast on their famous entrees, but you show up and find that it is closed that night, or worse, out of business? Or maybe you have a recipe you can't wait to try, but after getting so excited to serve it to your friends, you can not find the key ingredient anywhere because it's out of season or only grows in some country far far away? Or you walk into Coldstone, your mouth watering over your favorite creation - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with bananas and chocolate sauce mixed in, only to find that they don't even offer Peanut Butter as an ice cream flavor anymore (I swear they used to!)? Well, if you are familiar with this feeling of utter disappointment, then I feel your pain. When food lets you down, it is a sad day.

This is how I feel every time I drive up to my parents cabin and pass the sign for The Red Apple. People always tell me about this place. "You've never been?" "Wow, you are missing out." "Best apple doughnuts EVER!" But I swear I've never seen this place open and I've been driving by it my whole life. Do you know how hard it is to pass a sign that says "Hot Spiced Cider" when it's snowing all around you and you are freezing and there's no where else to turn? I do. It sucks. Well, by some strange miracle, this past weekend The Red Apple was OPEN. I was so excited that I nearly ran us off the road staring at the full parking lot and fresh fruit stands out front.

We stopped in and bought as much as we could carry: apple doughnuts, an apple fritter, fresh apple cider, and a jar of Wild Gooseberry Jelly. We devoured the doughnuts immediately but were able to wait until we got home to try the fritter so I could get a picture to share. It was SO GOOD. Thick, flaky pastry crust and gooey filling with big chunks of apple. I talked to one of the owners, Lloyd to ask about the mysterious hours of operation. He said that, up until this season, the place was run by an elderly couple who was having trouble keeping it open all the time. Since Lloyd and his wife, Chris have taken over, the place has been open Thursday through Sunday since May and will stay that way until Christmas! I can't wait until my next visit!

Have you ever heard of Gooseberries? I haven't but was happy to discover that they grow in the hills that surround Arnold, Ca (where our cabin is located). The Red Apple makes their own scratch jellies and I was so intrigued by the name Gooseberry, I had to pick that one. I baked up some thumbprint cookies and filled them with the jelly and then drizzled some orange blossom honey on top. These cookies are delicious! They are moist and chewy. The jelly is sweet and buttery. To stop myself from eating all of them, I brought them to my softball game last night to share with my team. I received lots of compliments and so will you. I suggest baking these as soon as possible:

Ricotta Thumbprint Cookies with Gooseberry Jelly

barely adapted from Very Small Anna

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

6-8 oz. ricotta

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 cups AP flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp fine salt

jelly - I used Gooseberry but any flavor will work

honey - I used orange blossom but any kind will work

Preheat the oven to 350. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the ricotta, vanilla and egg and continue to mix in medium until incorporated. Sift together the dry ingredients, then gradually mix into the rest of the dough. Once a fluffy dough has formed, scoop it by Tbsp onto a parchment- or Silpat-lined baking sheet, placing each piece of dough about 2″ apart (12 cookies per baking sheet). Don't over-handle the dough. Use an additional spoon to scoop it out of the Tbs and onto the baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom. Makes about 30 cookies, depending on how big you make them. Once you remove them from the oven, wait 30 seconds to 1 minute, then make an indentation in the top of each one with your thumb. Move to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cookies are cooled, arrange them side by side on parchment paper. Fill the thumbprint with jelly and then drizzle honey over the top. You can also sprinkle the tops with sliced almonds or chopped pistachios. I left those off but think they would have been a nice addition.

Cabin Trip and Frozen Strawberry Pie

I spent a lot of time this past weekend reflecting on how lucky I am. I tend to do this when I find myself in a natural and beautiful setting. I will get all emotional, thinking that there are so many people less fortunate than I. People who have to work hard just to put food on the table, or people who live in environments that most of us would deem unbearable, or even people who have everything they could ever want but just don't know it, always feeling unsatisfied and wanting more. Laying on an inflated raft out on Alpine Lake, surrounded by good people, good food, and good beer, I am completely at peace. How could I ever be bothered or unsatisfied or unhappy when I have this beautiful place within reach? My parents own a cabin in Big Trees, Ca and I have been going up there my whole life. Wine tasting in the fall, snow in the winter, hiking in the spring, and sunny lakes in the summer. I wish I could spend every weekend, year-round, up there. Unfortunately, life's small surprises and responsibilities always seem to keep me from visiting as much as I would like. But when I do find that rare, open weekend, I consider myself the luckiest person alive.

For 4th of July this year, I went up to the cabin with some buddies to celebrate the long weekend. Here's some pics from Lake Alpine:

We were really making an effort this trip to eat healthier than the usual, burgers and chips. We brought up lots of fresh fruit and had barbecue chicken and corn on the cob. If it wasn't for all the beer, I probably would have lost some weight this weekend. Oh well, good times call for good beer! I still wanted to bake a dessert so I decided to try frozen pie and take my first stab at a whole wheat crust. I used whole wheat pastry flour that I bought at Whole Foods and also got the recipe from the Whole Foods website. As soon as I tasted my first bite I decided that I do not like whole wheat pie crust. Yuck! It tastes so bland and boring. But I'm determined to start trying to make healthier substitutions while baking, so this is just the first try of many more. The pie itself was refreshing but not my favorite. It frosted over a little too much, but I think all of this can be blamed on the high altitude and the settings on the freezer that I'm not used to. Here's the recipe:

Whole Wheat Pie Crust

from WholeFoods.com

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/8 tsp salt

7 tbs very cold butter

ice water

Strawberry Pie Filling

(I kinda made this up but it's loosely based on something my Aunt made for dessert years ago)

3 6 oz containers strawberry yogurt

6 large strawberries

1 cup cool whip

Mix flour with salt in a medium bowl or food processor. Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter. Add ice water, 1/2 tbs at a time, until dough forms into a ball. Gather up and pat into a disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes. When ready to use, roll dough out on a lightly floured surface into a 10-inch circle. Place dough in pie plate and carefully unfold, fitting loosely and then pressing into place. Trim the edges and crimp for a decorative crust. Cool to room temperature.

For filling, blend strawberries and yogurt together in a blender. Stir in Cool Whip and pour filling into cooled pie crust. Chill in freezer for a couple hours. Once frozen, garnish with some sliced strawberries.