coconut cream pie bars.

Whenever I watch tennis, soccer, or any really athletic sport (sorry golf), I at some point appreciate how fit those people are. The thought sometimes continues, in-between admiring Rafa's outbursts of greatness and Djokovic's insane flexibility (can you tell I've been watching the French Open?). Commercial breaks come, and I start to plot out a regime of health foods & exercise to get my heart pumping on the level of the players I was just watching. The game comes back, and an exciting rally reinforces my vow to reform my life.

Eventually, the game ends. And instead of immediately going for a hike or run, I stay on my bed, stalk foodgawker, and decide to make coconut cream pie bars. Well ... everyone has their own thing to love, right?

orange clove bars.

I feel like it's the little things that make the biggest differences in life. A little argument could blow up into the biggest deal, or reveal deeper issues. Or in a more positive light, getting lunch during Restaurant Week at Buddakan in Philly with someone I haven't talked to in forever, but was easily able to hold a conversation with, could turn out to be a very relaxing day trip.

intense pumpkin pie.

I know Thanksgiving passed, but I heard a Christmas song today that referenced pumpkin pie.

"When they pass around the coffee and the puuuummmppkin pie."

So this pie is still relevant. The "intense" part of the name is a reflection of how I like to live life - intensely. Running the Big Chill (5K) in the freezing cold at 9am on a Saturday? Intense. Breaking down 50 boxes and getting a major paper cut on my wrist at work? Intense. Brushing my teeth this morning? Intense.

Whether you agree with me on the above is irrelevant - just know that making this pie is not a simple process. It is totally different from the pumpkin pie recipe I posted 2 years ago. [Wow has it been two years?!] This one involves a cooked filling, ginger, candied yams, and heavy cream. Sounds pretty good to me so far ..

pumpkin pie bars.

Let me tell you about a fantastic baked good I recently had. I would say it is the best pumpkin item I've ever had.

Okay. Imagine a homemade yeasted bread. Sort of like really fresh bakery bread. It's not too sweet, which works in this case. Now imagine a ton of crumb pieces the size of ping pong balls (maybe a little smaller, but not by much) embedded on top of the bread. The crumbs are brown sugary, cinnamony, and buttery. What with the crumbs and dusting of powdered sugar, you don't notice the inside until you cut into the loaf. What do you find?

Swirls. Thick, massive indulgent swirls of straight up pumpkin pie, in the bread. Sometimes you get a slice that is more pumpkin pie than bread. You find that good things finally happen to good people.

cream cheese fruit tart.

I always feel a little bad about incorporating fruit into batters and baking them. I would so much rather find ways to include seasonal summer fruit into desserts raw, in their natural form.

This tart was actually eaten on the fourth of July ... aren't I a little late. But it can be delicious even during less patriotic times; it's definitely an everyday, perfect make-ahead tart.

millionaire's shortbread.

Doesn't the name of these bars sound fancy? You don't need to own a yacht (or yachtmaster!) and wear  limited edition $50 Gucci t-shirts to make / eat these.

They have a shortbread crust, similar to that of my recent eggnog cheesecake. Its high fat to flour ratio makes for a crumbly, absolutely delicious base to the bars.

Sweetened condensed milk is reduced until thick and slightly golden in color, before being poured atop the buttery crust. The milk turns into a light, milky caramel that is sweetly fragrant, and firms as it sets.

Finishing off the entire bar is a layer of chocolate, melted down with just a touch of ghee (butter is traditionally used). That last little addition prevents the chocolate from hardening to a stiff, un-cut-able shell, and lends a silkier mouthfeel to the chocolate.

eggnog ricotta cheesecake.

Coming home is the most wonderful thing ever. I am always reminded of how important family is, and that there is more to the world than just education, although that's obviously important too.

I have also become enlightened in many different ways. For one, my parents are an unending source of wisdom. And humor. Yesterday my dad mentioned how he totally expected me to come home with a puppy, as I've been wanting one for a while. 

I said our current dog would act motherly towards the puppy. He responded by saying no, the puppy would just be annoying to my current dog, and bite her legs all the time. 

My mom countered by pointing out that my little brother doesn't bite my legs all the time, so why would a puppy bite my dog's legs?

apple pie bars.

"In one moment, I lived centuries." It's my favorite line from one of my favorite songs. Well, that's what the lyrics translate to, anyhow.

Although not quite as melodramatic, I feel the same way about these past two weeks. It's been a whirlwind of meeting new people, doing new things, and getting new perspectives.

It's been exciting! Interspersed among there I've had random food quests and cravings. These apple pie bars - the perfect homey autumn dessert - were obviously included.

toasted marshmallow squares.

Hey guys ... I'm forcing myself to break away from buffers, muscle contraction, and fluids momentarily to bring you these delicious squares I recently made.

I needed to bake. You know that point when food becomes an emergency more than a want? Yeah. I needed to bake today, or else I don't even know. 

I'm planning on doing crazy, outrageous things after my MCAT .. like shopping. Responding to my friend's texts. Talking to my parents. Baking something interesting. And maybe, just maybe, getting my nails done. 

pear galette, with vanilla pastry cream.

I think my brother has been watching a significant amount of "Chopped." Recently, he told me he wanted to bake something "interesting."

By he, he meant me. And by interesting, he meant something super good & out of the norm of cake and cookies. Well, the younger brother kept yelling "flambe!!" .. me and the older one just kind of ignored him. I eventually decided on a fruit dessert, and also made a point of making them come with me to A&P to buy pears, because jeez, if I'm baking for them, they need to do at least a little bit for me.

chocolate cream pie.

Dudes. Not going to lie, I am blatantly using this chocolate cream pie to reflect on things that have been going on lately.

This weekend, I had probably the craziest, most ridiculous, and most rewarding experience of my undergraduate life. Rutgers University Dance Marathon was this weekend, from March 31 - April 1. You can read about it at marathon.rutgers.edu.

I was (originally wrote "am" but realized it's over now ... well AD apps are out next week, so we'll see!) part of Catering, which is a job of incredible manual labor, dedication, and hard work.

pumpkin pie.

I'm aware it's December (isn't that crazy?! it's already the end of the year!) and that pumpkin pie is a more fall thing. Frankly, I don't give a damn.

Look at me going all Rhett Butler.

"almond joy" pie.

Hello, dear friends. I am not a fan of fibbing when it comes to food. If I'm minding my own business on tastespotting and see some tender vanilla cupcakes topped off with an orange-tinted frosting, I get excited and think, oh maybe it's mango frosting! what a novel idea! mango? in frosting form?! that sounds amazing! And the hype continues for the entire 1 second or so it takes for the page to load & for me to scroll down and see that my hopes & dreams have been shattered by reality. Because in reality, that frosting was neither mango nor papaya. It wasn't even orange. It was artificial coloring that allowed cream cheese frosting to masquerade as something so much more than it actually was.

I hate that.

And so I'm going to keep it real here & tell you from the beginning (I would say "get go," but I am entirely unsure of where that phrase originates/what it even means) that this pie is not some fabulous translation of a favorite candy bar into a delicious pie.

Let me rephrase that. This pie certainly IS fabulous. But it is very loosely based around the idea of an Almond Joy.