Curtains for NPR Kitchen Window

Bang Bang Pie's Shaker Lemon Pie from Outside the Pizza Box: Chicago's New Pie Scene

I came back from the woods to the sad news that NPR's Kitchen Window had folded. The blog, which was edited by Bonny Wolf and featured weekly stories and related recipes, was not only a great writing outlet for me, but it was something I looked forward to every week. With its illuminating pieces by respected food writers on a single theme, highlighting a specific ingredient, or exploring traditional foodways, it was a trusted source of great food writing and great recipes. I'm going to miss it (though I'm glad to still be able to work with Bonny via her excellent site, American Food Roots). 

Fig-Pistachio Tarte Tatin from The Pies of Late Summer

In celebration and a bit of mourning over the end of Kitchen Window, here's a little round-up of some of the stories and photos I did for them. Don't stop there though--the Kitchen Window archive remains alive, and there you can find an examination on sorghum's move into the mainstream, a collection of recipes from Tasmania, a meditation on a meal celebrating early African-American cookbook authors, and much more. I hope it remains up in perpetuity.


Beignets from Fat Tuesday: The Many Different Doughnuts of Mardi Gras

Speculoos Icebox Pie from Belgian Sweets Not Just for 'Sinterklaas'

Peppermint Pattie Tart from Get Freshly Minted This Holiday Season

Blueberry Buckle from Cobbled Together: American Fruit Desserts

Belgian Holiday Treats on NPR

I'm back home again in Indiana. I got in last night to my family jumping up and down (mostly mom), a blazing fire in the fireplace and A Christmas Story (which is set in Northern Indiana, the elementary school looking uncannily similar to my brother's and mine) on the television. Tonight we had a little music party with old family friends; my parents made beef chalupa, I made pimento cheese and pie and homemade peppermint patties (gotta keep it alliterative), and we all chipped in on cheese and veggie plates.

But I haven't seen my grandmother yet. Tomorrow, though, for Christmas Eve, she'll come over with tins full of sugar cookies and pizzelles and speculaas, and probably try to clean the kitchen until we make her sit down on the couch and tell me stories about the Christmases of her childhood. A few weeks ago on NPR's Kitchen Window, I shared some stories of my hers and my own, of our Sinterklaas celebrations, a transplanted tradition from her Belgian and French heritage.

In the piece, you'll find recipes for the Belgian windmill cookies--speculaas (or speculoos)--that were ever-present in my grandmother's cookie jar, oliebollen-- a Dutch/Belgian apple doughnut, lukken--a Belgian waffle cookie typically enjoyed on New Year's, and Speculoos pie--made from speculoos cookie butter and featured here previously. Though Sinterklaas is a few weeks gone by, these treats would make excellent additions to your own music parties, fireside chats, or other holiday traditions, new or old. You can find the whole story and the recipes here. Many thanks to Sebastiaan Zijp, Victoria Lau of Ice Cream Jubilee, my Belgian relatives, editor Bonny Wolf, and my wonderful grandmother Georgette Harding for their generous help with the story.

Speculoos Icebox Pie

My grandmother Georgette is half Belgian and half French, so her cookie jar was always filled with the Belgian/Dutch ginger snap-like windmill cookies, speculaas or speculoos. Later when I studied abroad in France, I was pleased to find that many cafés there served miniature speculoos with coffee, and I've also been given them as a snack on an airplane. Aside from that, I didn't really consider baking them or using them in other recipes. They were something I ate at home for Sinterklaas/St. Nicholas Day on December 6th or when my grandmother brought over a tin on Christmas.

That was until my housemate Bobbie introduced me to Speculoos Cookie Butter. I recall having something like it when I was younger--a jar shipped over from Belgium or bought at the German imported goods store--though I remember it being some type of swirled blend of speculoos cookies and hazlenut, like a gingery Nutella. Speculoos Cookie Butter, however, is a Trader Joe's product (though on the label it indicates its made in the Netherlands, and there are other varieties) made from crushed up speculoos cookies, ground to the texture of peanut butter. It is smooth and buttery, slightly spiced with little granules of sugar, and totally dangerous and really addictive!



I was very excited to find this recipe for Lemon Speculoos Layer Cake by Desserts for Breakfast, and I made it for Bobbie's birthday, as several times now I've caught her in the kitchen with just a spoon and a jar of speculoos. It was really REALLY good, and the use of the cookie butter for the frosting got me thinking...what about a Speculoos Pie??!??

Last winter I made this Nutella Icebox Pie, and I figured that since Nutella and the cookie butter were essentially the same consistency, I could swap out Nutella for Speculoos. I changed the sugar amounts a bit, and added a chocolate ganache on top.

Speculoos Pie

Ingredients

For crust:

1 package Oreos (or chocolate sandwich cookie substitute)

3 Tblsp. butter, melted

For filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. powdered sugar + 2 Tblsp.

3/4 c. Speculoos

1 c. heavy whipping cream

1 tsp. vanilla

For chocolate ganache:

3.5 oz. 60-70% dark chocolate (unsweetened), broken into pieces
1/2 c. sugar 

scant 1/2 c. heavy cream 

1 tsp. sea salt

Directions

For crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pulse cookies in a food processor until they form a fairly fine powder. Mix in melted butter and sugar until well incorporated. Pat filling into a 9 or 10-in. pie plate. 

2. Bake crust for about 7 minutes, let cool, then put in the freezer while you prepare the filling.

For filling:

1. In a bowl, mix the cream cheese and 1/2 c. powdered sugar using a hand mixer, about one minute. Add 3/4 cup Speculoos and beat until fluffy, about three minutes (continue even once it's combined so filling gets fluffy). 

2. In a separate bowl, beat 1c. of heavy whipping cream, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of powdered sugar until stiff peaks have formed- approximately 3-4 minutes. Starting with 1/3 of the whipped cream mixture, fold the whipped cream into the Speculoos mixture. 

3. Once it's combined, add the remaining whipped cream to the Speculoos mixture, folding gently until thoroughly mixed. Pour the mixture into the cookie crust. Freeze pie for about 20 minutes, meanwhile, make the chocolate ganache. 

For chocolate ganache:

1. Put chocolate, sugar, heavy cream, and salt into the top of a double boiler. Put water in the bottom of the boiler and place on medium heat until filling is melted, glossy, and thick.

2. Drizzle the ganache over the chilled pie and place in the freezer  for at least 1 hour. Remove pie from freezer about 20 minutes before serving and serve while still slightly chilled.

I've actually been sitting on this recipe for a while, as it strikes me as a recipe for the holidays, particularly because of the association of speculoos cookies and Sinterklaas Day. Even though it's technically an icebox pie, it would be really wonderful eaten round the fire with a cup of Belgian hot chocolate and a game of Scrabble or Miracle on 34th Street on the television.

 I, however, made it back in September for our friend Joe's going away party in Charlottesville. He was moving to Nashville to join a touring country band, so we needed to celebrate him in style, that is, with a pie and decorative flags citing an old Hank Williams number. Regardless of what time of year you make it, though, or for what occasion, it'll make whoever you share it with look like a bunch of happy kids who just got a bunch of sweet treats (like a Speculoos Pie) in their wooden shoes.