Malteser Bunny Chocolate Malt Mousse Pie

My name's Gem...and I'm addicted to Malteser bunnies!! So much so that when I saw them roll around on the shelves sometime in February I grabbed a few bags of the minis knowing they would make an excellent Easter dessert! Wrong! Of course we hunted them out in my baking cupboard one night when we were in need of a Netflix accompanying chocolate fix! Never mind I said, I'll buy more! So it's the evening before Easter Sunday and I ask the lady in Morrison's where their Easter aisle is and she tells me it doesn't exist anymore!! Fortunately they had a few lone bunnies left by the tills so I grabbed those..and decapitated them so they would fit in my tart! Note to self: don't eat the contents of your baking cupboard without assurances you will find back up!!

It wasn't a big deal in the end - half the bunny for my pie the other half for my mouth - everyone's a winner! Except for the bunny I guess.

This Oreo crust takes the pie to the next level of decadence! and the chocolate ovaltine mixed into the mousse gives it that nice malty kick. There was no need for pouring a whole bag of maltesers in the middle of the pie...other than the fact that my mantra is you can never have too much chocolate! you could equally cover the whole thing in cream instead because it is tooth achingly sweet (in the best kind of way) and the cream does help to cut through the sweetness...but please sprinkle a few maltesers on top at least if you do!

This was the perfect end to our Sunday roast lamb feast and it was the perfect sugary fix to get our bellies ready for the sugar coma of chowing down on our chocolate eggs from our egg hunt that was to come!

Malteser Bunny Chocolate Malt Mousse Pie:

Serves 10

Adapted from Beyond Frosting

for the crust:

275g Oreos

6 tbsp unsalted butter

for the filling:

225g cream cheese, cold

60g dark chocolate

1 tbsp unsalted butter

65g chocolate malt powder

115g caster sugar

2 tbsp double cream

for the decorating:

315ml double cream

65g cup icing sugar

7 Malteser bunnies

175g Maltesers

Grind up oreos in a food processor until they resemble fine crumbs.  Melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds and stir in with the oreos.  Press the oreo mixture into a 10" tart pan.  Refrigerate crust until filling is ready.

Remove cream cheese from fridge and beat on medium speed in an electric mixer for two minutes until light and fluffy.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

In a small microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate chunks and butter.  Melt for 30-60 seconds and stir until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Pour melted chocolate over cream cheese and mix to combine.

Add malt powder and caster sugar to the cream cheese mix and beat well until incorporated.

In a separate bowl, whip 350ml double cream together with the icing sugar.  Remove 2 tablespoons of the whipped double cream and fold it in to the cream cheese mix.  Cover the rest of the cream with clingfilm and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Pour chocolate malt mousse filling into the oreo crust and let set in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

Just before serving, remove the whipped cream and put it into a piping bag fitted with a star attachment.  Pipe around the edge of the pie.

Cut the heads off the malteser bunnies, or if using minis use the whole bunny.  Place alternately in the swirls of cream.  Place a single malteser in the other swirls.

Using a sharp knife, chop some of the maltesers in half.  Pile up the half and whole maltesers in the middle of the pie.

Eat and enjoy!

I am sharing this for Cook, Blog, Share over at Super Golden Bakes

Ferrero Rocher & Nutella Fudge Cream Pie

So I know I promised you a Nutella break for a while...but I just can't keep away from the stuff!

Also, I'm having a hard time shifting my baby weight - because did you know that baby weight doesn't fall off itself, and it also doesn't fall off when you eat brownies and cupcakes and huge slabs of dairy milk and toblerone nightly!

So my husband suggested we abstain from any chocolate or baked goods during the week, and that we can 'treat' ourselves on the weekend! Do you know that I can't recall the last time I even went for one single day without a chocolate fix??? So this was a really big deal! At the end of our first week, I felt like I had just run a 20k marathon - does that even exist? See I'm so busy eating the whole pan of brownies I don't even know what distance marathons are run in, but anyway it felt like a massive massive achievement!

So to reward myself for being so good for a whole 5 DAYS I made this beast of a pie! because I may or may not have been dreaming it up the whole week long!

...and what a way to break a diet! Nutella? check, Chocolate? check

 

 Oreo crust? check



 Ferrero Rocher's? check



 Double cream? check

 Oh and don't forget the Nutella drizzle!

You can't finish off a beast of a cream pie like this without copious amounts of warm drizzled Nutella!

It is super rich and pretty sweet because of the addition of the Nutella to the chocolate fudge filling - both of which are absolutely fine by me but if you're not into super sweet fillings (then why are you following my blog?!) then perhaps you'd want to increase your dark chocolate to Nutella ratio.  I do think the cream balances it all out nicely though and it would certainly make a great dessert at any dinner party, for a Nutella lover, or just to sit in front of the T.V with on a rainy weekday night ;)

Ferrero Rocher & Nutella Fudge Cream Pie:

Serves 14

From Cupcake Crazy Gem

  For the base:
18 Oreos, crushed
60g unsalted butter, melted

For the Nutella fudge filling:
397g condensed milk
100g milk chocolate
100g dark chocolate
 200g Nutella
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract

9 Ferrero Rocher's, halved

For the topping:
250ml double cream, whipped
2 tbsp Nutella
3 Ferrero Rocher's, chopped

For the frosting:
1 tbsp cream cheese
3 tbsp icing sugar
3 heaped tbsp Nutella

4 Ferrero Rocher's, halved

Grease your pie dish with a thin layer of butter.

Crush the Oreos in a blender.  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave.  Mix the butter in with the Oreo crumbs until the mixture is sticky and when you roll it in a ball it holds its shape.  Spread the biscuit layer into the bottom of the pie dish, pressing down with the back of a teaspoon.  I used my hands to press the remaining crumbs into the sides of the dish to ensure the crust was evenly distributed.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes whilst making the fudge filling.

In a medium saucepan, add the condensed milk, chopped dark chocolate, Nutella, salt and vanilla.  Stir over a medium-low heat until melted.  Get your Oreo crust out of the fridge and spread the fudge layer on top, save back a small amount - about half a cup.

Now the fun part: chop 9 Ferrero Rocher's in half.  Press them into the fudge layer - filling side down.  Spread the remaining fudge on top so most of the Ferrero's are hidden.

Whip double cream in the bowl of an electric mixer on high for 3-4 minutes until peaks start to form.  Meanwhile melt 2 heaped tablespoons of Nutella in a small microwaveable bowl for 30-60 seconds.  Spread your whipped cream on top of the fudge filling.  Smooth it out.  Dip a knife into the bowl of melted Nutella and flick it across the top of the cream, repeat several times.  Chop up 3 Ferrero Rocher's and throw them on top of the cream.  

To make the Nutella frosting, beat the cream cheese with the icing sugar until creamy and then stir in the Nutella.  Put the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a star attachment.  Pipe 8 swirls evenly around the edge of the pie.  

Cut four Ferrero Rocher's in half.  Alternate each half between filling down and filling up and press them into the frosting.

Eat and enjoy!

Nutella S'mores Fudge Pie

Sometimes I feel like I have a disorder...that is going to prevent me from ever baking anything without nutella again!! Like my hand literally has to reach for the jar of Nutella anytime I whip something up! I'm sorry to some degree, variety is the spice of life and all that, but in my opinion Nutella adds a new dimension of tastiness to every bake so for that I'm not sorry! 

To be fair, I also had one of those monster size bigger than your head jars of Nutella from Costco that I needed to use up before we moved...so now we have, and the jar is empty, and so with the exception of my next blog post there will be a Nutella lull for a while and regular varied blogging will resume :)

 

Have I told you before there are 27,345 reasons why I need to move to North America? Well...there are! and S'MORES are definitely in the top 10 of all the reasons!  So when our good friends invited us over for a farewell meal I knew I wanted to bake something s'more-licious, since they are marshmallow lovers, and I came across this pie! and as I was whipping it up I thought 'hey I know I'll sub out half the chocolate and add in Nutella instead'...

so the Nutella S'mores Fudge Pie was born!

and after toasting up the marshmallows under the grill, of course there was really only one thing to finish it off with - and that was more Nutella! because nothing makes my heart happy like drizzled Nutella...and sitting around a fire making s'mores - so I felt like this sort of combined the two!

Bake this up today...it will cure your North American blues for about a day until you wake up and realise you need to live somewhere where root beer, graham crackers, and marshmallows as big as your fist are freely available at your local supermarket!!

 Nutella S'mores Fudge Pie:

Serves 12

Adapted from Pixelated Crumb

22 graham cracker squares (digestives/hobnobs can be subbed if you are in the UK)

165g unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup semi-skimmed milk

3/4 cup double cream

100g milk chocolate

40g dark chocolate

140g Nutella

2 eggs

pinch of salt

15 marshmallows - cut in half
3 tbsp Nutella (for drizzling)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C.

 In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs and melted butter until evenly coated.  Press mixture into a 10" tart dish (you may have some crumb mixture left over).  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until just starting to brown.

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cream and milk.  Warm over medium-low heat.  Add in both chocolates and Nutella and stir until mixture has melted and is smooth.  Slowly add the whisked eggs and mix until smooth.

Pour the chocolate filling into the baked pie crust.  Bake for 18-25 minutes, or until chocolate filling is set and does not move when pie is lightly shaken (if there is slight wobble still this is okay because the Nutella prevents it from setting up as much as if you only used the chocolate).  Remove from oven. 

Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife cut the marshmallows in half.  Place halves in concentric circles until you completely cover the top of the pie.  (I left gaps in mine because I remembered how when you bake marshmallows they spread alot...however because you are only grilling them they don't expand at all so I had to go back and add in more marshmallows! so make sure the whole thing is covered first time around!)  Place the pie under the grill, watch it closely because the marshmallows toast quickly between 1-4 minutes, and they will turn to charcoal in about 2 seconds if you aren't watching them like a hawk!

Melt 3 tbsp Nutella in a bowl in the microwave for approximately 45 seconds.  Fill a piping bag, and drizzle across the top of the pie first in one direction and then in the opposite direction.

Chill the pie in the fridge to set for at least 2-3 hours. 

Whilst the pie can be eaten cold, it's best and at it's most s'more like when slightly warmed.  Heat the slices in the microwave, one at a time, for 20-40 seconds until the marshmallow is a warm gooey mess and the Nutella has melted into it.

Eat and enjoy!

Oh my Sweet Cherry Pie, an apology and an announcement!

Sooo it's been a while! and for that I'm truly sorry but in between packing up our lives in Vancouver (sob), embarking on a 3 week west coast road trip through the States, landing back in England and spending a week in Leeds to meet my adorable nephew Ellis (who was born 15 days late...but arrived on the day we got back - perfect timing or what!) and heading to Glasgow house hunting and finding somewhere to live because we are moving up there next week it hasn't really left me with much free time! 

Along with all those excuses, my last few weeks in Vancouver were actually pretty low key on the baking front because I was pretty sick the 5 weeks before we left as a result of finding out this VERY exciting news...

yes, our little family of 2 converse lovers will be turning into 3 in February! 

Baby Braithwaite is on the way, and we could not be more excited! 

I'm now into my second trimester, and so I'm really hoping the sickness is behind me and that I can get on with some more baking! Also, I haven't had any weird cravings as yet but have found that I've gone off all my favourite foods like pulled pork, cupcakes and root beer!! It was pretty upsetting...especially as it co-incided with our American road trip! so I'm hoping my liking of all my favourite treats will return at some point soon too!!

I also have a zillion bakes waiting impatiently in my drafts folder for me to blog, so I promise this blog will be seeing a lot more action in the coming weeks!

For now, while we still have some of summer left I'll leave you with this cherry pie! Cherries are something I had always decided I wasn't a fan of.  I think this is due to the fact that in general I hate cherry flavoured things like yoghurt or sweets so in my mind that meant I surely couldn't like actual cherries.

Outside our house in Vancouver, a little unassuming tree suddenly burst forth an abundance of cherries at the beginning of June.  It was producing so many we literally didn't know what to do with them! So, I decided I should give one of them a try one day, and what do you know it was completely delicious! 

So as a new cherry convert, when our friends from church invited us over to an awesome pulled pork Sunday afternoon feast I decided to whip up this cherry pie! 

I used shop bought pastry because it was so hot I didn't want to faff with making my own!

It was sweet and fruity and moist, with just the right amount of crunch from the flaky pastry and served up with creamy vanilla ice cream you can't really go wrong! 

Sweet Cherry Pie:

Serves 10

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Dough for a double crust pie, I used pre made but if time allows make your own

4 cups pitted fresh sweet cherries (do yourself a favour and buy a pitter, unless you have a helpful and willing husband to do the job on your behalf - it did take a loooong time though!)

4 tbsp cornstarch

2/3 cup granulated sugar (or up to 3/4 if your cherries are not so sweet)

1/8 tsp salt

1/4 tsp coconut extract (or almond if you can't get coconut)

1 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small bits

1 egg, beaten with 2 tbsp water

coarse sugar, for decoration

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F/200 degrees C.

Stir together the cherries, cornstarch, sugar, salt and coconut extract gently together in a large bowl.  

Roll out half of the chilled dough (use larger piece if you've divided them unevenly) on a floured work surface to 13-inch round.  Gently place it in a 9-inch pie pan by rolling it around the rolling pin and unrolling it over the pan.  Trim the edges to a half-inch overhang.

Spoon filling into pie crust, discarding the majority of the liquid that has pooled in the bowl.  Dot the filling with bits of cold butter.  

Roll out the remaining dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface, drape it over the filling, and trim it leaving a 1-inch overhang.  Fold the overhang under the bottom crust, pressing the edge to seal it, and crimp the edge decoratively - I use a fork, nothing fancy!  Brush the egg wash over the pie crust and sprinkle with the coarse sugar.  

Cut slits in the crust with a sharp knife, forming steam vents, and bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes.  Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C, and bake the pie for a further 25-30 minutes, or until the crust is golden.  Let the pie cool on a rack.

Eat, and enjoy! 

It is also worth mentioning that our cherry pie wasn't the only dessert that turned up! A delicious double layer chocolate cake, and an enormous angel food cake with whipped cream and strawberries completed the spread! and I'm happy to say we managed to scoff the lot! with only crumbs left over!

The BEST Key Lime Pie!

So my love of key lime pie is pretty well known! I will pick a restaurant solely based on the fact that they serve key lime pie for dessert, without evening glancing at the rest of the menu! but who can blame me? It's a pretty rare occurrence to see it on a menu over here...and pretty non existent to see it on a menu back in England! So I usually make do with making my own!

We were heading to dinner at our friends house the other weekend and I knew that key lime pie was also our host's favourite dessert, and since I am now able to buy a whole bag of real key limes over here I knew there was no other option but to whip one up! 

I started with scouring the internet and finding this Martha recipe.  Martha never lets me down! I was excited for the baking to commence!

After baking the graham cracker crust first and then baking it again once you bake the filling, I was worried the crust would be slightly overdone.  I also had lovely visions in my head of little piped swirls of cream just around the edge of the pie, in order to let the real star of the pie shine through...however those plans fell apart when my cream wouldn't whip to a stiff enough consistency (the curse of Canadian 'whipping cream' strikes again!).  By this point I had pretty much convinced myself this was not going to be a good pie so I didn't bother taking any photos.

A few hours later and we were at dinner with our friends and the time came for dessert.  They were ooh-ing and aah-ing over the look of my pie and I told them not to get too excited as I didn't think it was going to be great, and then we all ate a slice and it was the best key lime pie I have ever made.  The crust was perfect, and not overdone like I had assumed.  The filling was soft and wonderfully smooth and oh so tart, something the lime lover in me was loving! and despite me not wanting to cover the whole pie with cream it actually worked really well to balance out the tartness of the key lime layer.  I said I wished I had taken some pictures of it after all! and so our friends promptly lent me their camera and let me snap a few pics! Just the kind of friends every food blogger loves! It was in the corner of a dimly lit lounge so they are not great photos by any means but I just couldn't stand the thought of this recipe not being shared!

A few people back in the UK have been asking me about key limes and sometimes if they find slightly smaller regular limes they think they have struck gold and come across key limes.  I know of no shop in the whole of the UK that sells key limes.  Whole Foods say they can order them in for you, but when I tried this they couldn't come up with the goods! So I took a pic of a persian lime (the kind that we get in the UK) next to the key limes they sell here to let my friends across the pond see the difference.

I know calling it the 'best' key lime pie is slightly presumptuous and everyone's tastebuds are different but our friends quickly followed their first slices of the pie with seconds, and I had to restrain myself on the whole bus ride home from not eating the remainder of the pie in the dish I was holding! so to me that sums up a pretty tasty pie!

Martha's Key Lime Pie:

Serves 4 (greedy key lime loving people) or 8 normal people :)

From Martha Stewart

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

5 tablespoons caster sugar

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup freshly squeezed key lime juice

1 tbsp grated key lime zest, plus some lime slices for garnish

1 1/2 cups double cream, chilled

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a medium bowl.  Mix well.  

Press into a 9 inch pie plate, and bake until lightly browned, about 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Lower oven to 325 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, gently whisk together condensed milk, egg yolks, key lime juice and zest.  Pour into the prepared, cooled crust.

Return pie to the oven and bake until the center is set, but still quivers when nudged, for about 15-17 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Shortly before serving, combine cream and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment.  Whisk on medium speed, for about 2-3 minutes, until soft peaks start to form.

Spoon over cooled pie.  Cut 6 lime slices.  Cut a small slit into the centre of each slice and then twist the slices and push them gently into the top of the pie.

Eat and enjoy!

Chocolate Oreo Fudge Cream Pie

I'm so very sorry for my absence! Had I been more organised I would have scheduled some post during our transatlantic move, but it all happened so last minute! Our visas came through two Saturday's ago (finally!) and we booked our flights that same day and then left a week later! We have been in Vancouver for 5 days now and there aren't enough superlatives to completely describe just how amazing this place is! I knew I was going to love it, but I love it even more than I thought I would!

I'm working on a monster post incorporating all our pictures from our first few days and if you're interested you can follow along with our Canadian adventures over on my other blog...also I've done something I never usually do.  We've been without internet and the blogs were mounting up in my google reader so today when I logged on and it said I had 737 unread posts I clicked 'mark all as read'.  Shocking, I know, but that number was just way too many for me to get through but if you have blogged something super awesome in the past few days you know I would have loved then please be sure to leave me a comment and I'll check it out!!

Now let's talk about pie...

Chocolate Oreo Fudge Cream Pie, to be exact!

I had a little farewell dinner with my best friend Jade the other weekend.  She was going to be cooking up a Mexican feast and so I said I'd bring dessert.  I told her to tell me 3 of her favourite flavours so I could bake up something delicious, she came back with something like lemon, blackcurrant and something else that was fruity and then she added that she might like to substitute one of those for Oreo! Now I love a fruity bake every now and then, but I was wanting something decadent so I went with the Oreo.

I knew I wanted a pie base made out of crushed Oreos,



I also knew I wanted a chocolate fudge layer (made by melting cookie crumb chocolate for that added Oreo crunch!)



and then I thought I might as well throw some whole Oreo's in that layer too and not just regular ones but Double Stuff ones!



and then I knew I wanted a creamy frosting like topping to finish off and cute little mini Oreo's adorning the sides of the pie.



I searched the internet for a while to see if anyone else had baked up something similar, but I couldn't find anything so I just went ahead and made my own.



This was seriously delish...Oreo lovers, you owe it yourself to make this immediately!

Chocolate Oreo Fudge Cream Pie:
Serves 12
From Cupcake Crazy Gem

For the base:
18 Chocolate filled Oreos, crushed

60g unsalted butter, melted

For the chocolate fudge filling:

397g condensed milk

300g Galaxy Cookie Crumble milk choc

100g dark chocolate, I used 75%

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

12 Double Stuff Oreos

For the topping:

113g Philadelphia cream cheese, don't scrimp on the good stuff!

45g icing sugar

125ml double cream, whipped

Oreos

Grease your pie dish with a thin layer of butter.

Crush the 18 Chocolate filled Oreos in a blender.  Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave.  Mix the butter in with the oreo crumbs until the mixture is sticky and when you roll it into a ball it holds its shape.  Spread the biscuit layer into the bottom of the pie dish, pressing down with the back of a spoon.  I used my hands to press the remaining crumbs into the sides of the Oreo dish to ensure the crust was evenly distributed.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes whilst making the fudge filling.

In a medium saucepan, add the condensed milk, both chocolates, salt and vanilla extract.  Stir over a medium-low heat until melted.  Get your Oreo crust out of the fridge and spread fudge layer on top.  Save back a small amount, about half a cup.

Now the fun part: Press 12 Double Stuff Oreos into the fudge layer.  Spread the remaining fudge on top so the Oreos are hidden.

Beat cream cheese and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Whip the cream in a separate bowl.  Fold it in with the crushed oreos into the cream cheese mix until incorporated.  Spoon on top of fudge topping.

Drizzle with melted chocolate and decorate with mini Oreos

United Bakes of America Round One... and a Key Lime Pie for the state of Florida!

So to kick off the United Bakes of America challenge...I baked the Key Lime Pie from Warren Brown's fantastic book.  

Let's start by talking about how this amazing little pie came to be.  One of my favourite parts of this book is hearing all the little back stories that go along with each dessert.  It obviously originated in Southern Florida and we all know that Florida gets pretty hot so back in the mid 1800s before refrigeration it was impossible to keep fresh milk.  So in stepped sweetened condensed milk - in fact Key Lime Pie is directly linked to the development of it, so we owe a lot to Key Lime Pie! 

Key limes themselves are actually native to Malaysia, they were brought over to the Caribbean in the 1500s by the Spanish and from there they made there way over to Florida.  They are smaller than Persian limes, usually the size of walnuts and they have green-yellow skins and so are definitely distinguishable from Persian limes.  

One thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to make it authentic, I'm talking real key limes! I was in contact with Whole Foods who told me they could get in key limes whenever I wanted but unfortunately it came to nothing in the end.  I scoured every American grocery website for Key Lime Juice but was coming up with nothing.  I even contacted a very famous cupcake company here in the UK who sells both Key Lime Pie and Key Lime Cupcakes to ask them where they get their Key Lime Juice from only to be told that they just use regular limes and it works just the same!

I was a little bit dismayed! I am fully aware that using regular limes would still produce something edible but then it would just be Lime Pie and not Key Lime Pie.  That would be like me making an apple pie with Granny Smith Apples and then calling it a Bramley apple pie - that just wouldn't make any sense! so why do people continue to use the title Key Lime when they have in fact used regular limes! So I took matters into my own hands and called on my amazing friend Kathi, remember I told you she helped me out a few posts back - well this Key Lime Juice arrived at my house no less than a week after I sent out a desperate plea of help for some! and I haven't stopped baking with it since!

I was SO excited to bake a REAL Key Lime Pie! so of course since I was going all out I had to make my own homemade graham crackers too so it could have an authentic graham cracker crust!

It was definitely worth all the effort involved! I made it for my mom's birthday last week as she is a huge Key Lime Pie lover and we all agreed that we could definitely taste a difference and that it was the best Key Lime Pie I've had while in the UK. Who could turn down a creamy tart filling on a crunchy graham cracker base topped with soft meringue?

Also, you may notice that my filling was yellow.  Authentic key lime filling is always creamy yellow and should never under any circumstance be tinted green - that's a direct order from Mr Brown and since he knows more than a thing or two I was more than happy to follow his orders!



Key Lime Pie:
Serves 16
From United Cakes of America

For the crust:
200g graham crackers

3 tbsp caster sugar

100g unsalted butter, melted
1/8 tsp salt

For the filling:
2 large eggs

2 egg yolks (save the whites too)

1 tin (396g) sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup key lime juice

For the meringue:

2 egg whites

1 tbsp caster sugar

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C.
Grease a 9x3" round pan and line the bottom with parchment.
Crush crackers into crumbs in a blender, or with a rolling pin and a zip loc bag.  Toss them with the melted butter and sugar until combined and press the mixture firmly into the base and the sides of the pan.
Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Beat 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks lightly with a whisk (set aside your 2 whites for the meringue).  Add condensed milk and whisk until blended.  Whisk in Key Lime Juice slowly, as you add it the custard will thicken.  Pour the filling into the pre prepared crust.  Set the pan in a water bath with 1/3 warm water surrounding the pan (I didn't do this and my filling turned out fine).  Bake until filling is lightly browned on top and doesn't jiggle when gently shaken.  Let cool to room temperature.

Turn the oven up to 200 degrees C.
Beat the two reserved egg whites with a wire whisk in a free standing mixer until stiffened.
Drizzle in the sugar and continue to whip until stiff peaks form.  Arrange meringue on top and place the pie in the oven to lightly brown the top, about 5 minutes.  

So there you have it a Key Lime Pie for Florida....

and what do you do with leftover homemade graham crackers - whip up some s'mores of course! yum!

now let's get on to checking out the other amazing American treats that were baked up this month by all the awesome bloggers who entered the United Bakes of America!

First up was Ros from The More Than Occasional Baker with these absolutely drool worthy Hershey's Cookies 'n' Cream Brownies.  She made a recent trip to Asda and was impressed by their array of baking goodies especially their American ones so she picked up a bar of this Cookies 'n' Cream chocolate and baked it into the middle of some moist, fudgy and delicious brownies - sounds like a winning combo to me! 

Next up were some awesome Oreo Surprise Cupcakes by Cakes from Kim, despite not being a biscuit person and preferring a digestive even when she does indulge in the odd biscuit (I know what a shocker!) Kim has developed an Oreo obsession (haven't we all!) So when the theme for her first Clandestine Cake Club was favourite things she whipped up an Oreo layer cake and made these Oreo cupcakes too, complete with a whole Oreo cookie waiting to surprise you at the bottom - now that is the kind of surprise I'm talking about! 

Charlotte from Lottie's World of Cakes and Bakes whipped up this very elegant Hershey's Kisses Chocolate Tray Bake.  Not only did she pipe row upon row of beautiful pink and brown ruffle frosting but she finished off her tray bake by strategically placing Hershey's Kisses all over it! which I thought was a rather inspired way to use those little Kisses! and these extra special Kisses actually came all the way from New York! now that's a well travelled Kiss! 

Kit at I-Lost in Austen baked up this stunner of a Rose Chiffon Cake.  The Chiffon cake was apparently invented by Harry Baker in my favourite place in the whole world - California - back in 1927.  I have never had a Chiffon Cake myself, but it is meant to be known for being light and fluffy with moist crumbs that just melt in your mouth - doesn't that just sound dreamy! 

Susie from Fold in the Flour made this very impressive Jubilee Royal Velvet Cake.  I know you may be thinking what's American about that! but actually if you took away the crown and the Union Jack flags it could very well be a Patriotic dessert for any American themed bash with it's red, white and blue layers of velvet cake! Not only that, but the recipe used came from Sprinkle Bakes - an amazing American blogger  from Tennessee who invents the most show stopping cakes! Susie made the blue sugar crown on top herself and I think it adds a definite flair to the overall finish! 

Cake Fairy baked up our 3rd Oreo offering which I was only too glad to see because in my book you can never have enough Oreo treats! This Chocolate Oreo Cake has ground up Oreo crumbs in the cake and is sandwiched with some Oreo cream cheese frosting, I love the colour of it - you can tell there's a bit of Oreo overload going on in there! 

The final bake was sneaked in by my sister Mara who blogs over at Creative Crafter.  She made Chanterelle Choc Chip Cookies, from a new recipe book she picked up by Kate Zuckerman, a New York pastry chef.  She said don't let their appearance deceive you, as they are super crispy and chewy and make your house smell heavenly whilst they are baking! 

I loved seeing all the American inspired bakes you came up with this month! and cannot wait to see what next month brings! 

I will be planning to bake Smith Island Cake which originates from Maryland next month.  

You have the whole month of June to join along with me with any American ingredients or American recipe or State inspired dish you can come up with.  Email it to me by June 30th to be included in the round up.  

If you're new to United Bakes of America, then there's a reminder of the rules here.

Mango Coconut Cream Pie

I am really consciously trying to spread out my coconut posts! but the fact of the matter is everything I have been baking recently is coconut related so you're just going to have to bear with me for the next few weeks if you are a coconut hater - I know it tends to evoke strong reactions from people! 

I actually baked this pie waaaay back over the Easter break.  We had a little Caribbean night at my parents house with Jamaican goat curry from my husband and some mango and lime cordial we had bought at a farmers market, so I decided a Mango & Coconut Cream pie for dessert would finish off the night nicely! 

I also had fun using my sisters iphone to snap a few pictures as I went along! I could eat juicy Mango everyday of my life and not get sick of it - it's delish! 

After making the coconut cream filling, desiccated coconut gets stirred in...

and then the mango gets mixed in.  

This is all put on a hobnob biscuit base and left to set in the fridge.

Whipped cream and a sprinkling of toasted shredded coconut finished it off, and I even caramelised a few bits of Mango too.

The filling wasn't quite as firm as it typically is when I have made Coconut Cream Pie in the past, I think the moisture from the mango must have affected it so I would probably suggest adding some more cornflour to the recipe below to help it become firmer.  

This is a perfect bake for those summery days to take you away to somewhere more tropical! 

and don't forget there are only 2 more days left for you to enter your American inspired bakes for the United Bakes of America challenge! 

Mango Coconut Cream Pie:

Serves 14-16

Adapted from Cupcake Crazy Gem

Base: 

300g Hobnobs/crushed biscuits

110g unsalted butter (melted)

Filling:

 140g caster sugar

30g corn flour

240g coconut milk

240g whole milk

10g vanilla bean paste

30g unsalted butter (cut into cubes)

60g/3 egg yolks

60g/1 large egg

160g fresh mango, chopped into cubes

50g desiccated coconut 

Topping:

475g double cream

80g coconut milk

56g caster sugar

 A handful of shredded coconut (toasted)

75g chopped mango

2 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp lime and mango syrup

Preheat oven to 150 degrees c.

Melt butter in a pan on the hob (or in microwave in short low heat bursts).  Crush your biscuits up in a food processor.  Mix the butter into the biscuits and spread your biscuit base into your pan.  Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Whilst that is baking, pre mix the caster sugar and the corn flour together with a whisk in a saucepan.  Add the coconut milk, whole milk, vanilla bean paste, butter, egg yolks and whole egg into the pan as well.  Heat all ingredients on a medium-high heat on the hob for 5 minutes, or until all of the butter has melted and all the ingredients are well mixed together.  Mix for a further five minutes until the mixture thickens (the original method I followed instructed you to do figure of 8's with your whisk at this point, I'm not sure if it's actually necessary but I did it anyway!).

Remove your pan from the heat.  Leave the filling to cool.  Add the desiccated coconut and stir it in. Chop up mango into cubes and add it to the coconut filling. 

Pour it into your biscuit base that you have removed from the oven.  Leave it to firm up in the fridge for an hour or overnight.

Sprinkle a few handfuls of shredded coconut or however much you would like for your decoration on to a baking tray.  Place it under the grill and watch it as it can burn very quickly! You want it so that it is lightly toasted, with some pieces brown but not necessarily all pieces.  Approx 3-5mins.  Take out the oven and leave to cool.

Add the double cream and coconut milk to your mixer.  Whip on medium speed until it begins to thicken. Add the caster sugar a little at a time, increase the speed to high and whip until stiff.  

Remove your pie from the fridge and top with the coconut cream.  

Sprinkle the now cooled toasted coconut on top.

In a small saucepan, add the chopped mango, caster sugar and I used a teaspoon of the lime and mango cordial but a teaspoon of water would also work fine.  Heat until it is just about to boil.  

Once cooled sprinkle the caramelised mango in the middle of the pie.

Eat and enjoy!