Making the Most of the Blizzard

A pretty parfait glass, a mound of beautiful clean snow, and a jar of preserved cherries. It's either that, or the household pets are heading for the blender......

The Fabulous Bean Pie

In honor of Black History Month, I'm kicking off my blog postings for February with the bean pie.

Several years ago, my law partner decided to celebrate my February birthday by bringing me a bean pie. He doesn't  bake, and didn't want to attempt baking something for someone who bakes passionately and often, so he thought he'd bring me a dessert that I might not have had previously. And he was right: I ate my first bean pie on my birthday several years ago in Baltimore. Until that time, I had never even heard of bean pie. But as soon as I tucked into it, I was hooked. And have yearned for a bean pie ever since.

So, first, the basics: bean pie is actually made from beans. Most likely from Navy beans, though I suppose you could use any of a number of different kind of beans for the pie's base. But traditionally bean pie is made using Navy beans. Here's what Wikipedia says about bean pie:  "A bean pie is a sweet custard pie whose filling consists of mashed beans—usually navy beans—sugar, butter, milk, and spices. Bean pies are commonly associated with soul food cuisine. Additionally, they are associated with the Nation of Islam movement: its leader, Elijah Muhammad, encouraged their consumption in lieu of richer foods associated with African American cuisine, and the followers of his community commonly sell bean pies as part of their fund-raising efforts."

My law partner had bought that bean pie of long ago on the street from a Nation of Islam vendor, but when in subsequent years I'd request another bean pie for my birthday, my partner would say he couldn't find the sellers anymore. I was pretty sure there were bean pies to be had in my hometown, so I asked some of my African-American friends if they knew where I might find some sellers. Sure, they told me; you can always find the bean pie guys in two places - one, on Cold Spring Lane near Morgan, and, two, on North Avenue near the JFX. So I set forth.

I never did find the guys on Cold Spring Lane, but I probably had just missed them. I did locate a bean pie man on North Avenue at the JFX, near MICA. He told me he's there every weekday until 6 PM. From him you can get two bean pies for $5 or four for $10; these are the individual-serving-size bean pies, baked in disposable aluminum pans and wrapped in cellophane. They are exactly the bean pie of my memory - sweet, buttery, and a close cousin to the pumpkin or sweet potato pie.

Does the pie taste like beans, you ask? Not at all. In fact, I'd venture to say that if you didn't know you were eating a bean pie, you'd have no thoughts of beans. You'd probably think you were eating a sweet potato or pumpkin pie. The texture is creamy like that, and spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla; this fragrant combination puts you in mind of pumpkin pie for sure. It bakes to a beautiful golden/mahogany color that invites you to climb right inside it and be comforted.

The street version of bean pie was so good that I just had to try my hand at making my own. Again, I asked my African-American lady friends (they who knew where I could find the street vendors) if they'd ever made their own bean pies. They hadn't; but my friend Cathy, who is an outstanding cook, said she could envision making it just like a custard pie, and she'd puree the beans rather than mashing them, just to be sure she got the texture as creamy as it should be.

I decided to make mine in the food processor and I further decided to use a frozen pie crust rather than make my own. I made that crust decision because the joy of a bean pie is in the filling; the crust is rather an afterthought. I think you could make a slammin' bean pie from scratch, however, if you were to make your own crust. For my foray into bean pie-making, I used a Mrs. Smith's deep dish frozen pie crust, and it worked just great.

There's a wonderful website called Sister Nadine's, which bills itself as the home of the world famous bean pie, and I consulted her recipe for sweet potato pie as a guide for my bean pie. (Her recipe for bean pie doesn't appear to be on her website.) I have a cookbook called Sweety Pies, which contains a bean pie recipe, and I consulted that as well; and the glorious Cakespy did a tribute to bean pie a while back, and included an online recipe for bean pie. And if you really want a shortcut, you can even order bean pie mix online here! For my spice combination, I relied on a couple of pinches of "sweet rub" that I had just bought at the Fresh Market in Quarry Lake; this was a combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, clove, allspice, and vanilla.

These spices were so fresh and glorious that as soon as I opened them, I wanted to bake all day. They were the perfect addition to my bean pie - which, BTW, I made using canned Navy beans, as I didn't really want to spend a night soaking dried beans in water.

Why do we associate bean pie with "soul food" or African-American culture? Probably at least in part because it continues to be sold as street food by members of the Nation of Islam. Also, I suspect, because beans are a good source of protein and traditionally cost less than meat, historically people of more modest economic means learned how to feed themselves with beans. The author of Sweety Pies says that her mother always advised her to keep a stock of beans in case times became hard, because beans were filling and had a long shelf-life.

 

Here's my recipe for bean pie, made in my food processor. You could make your own pie crust, and you could use dried beans that had been soaked overnight; I used a frozen crust and canned beans, and the pie turned out to be velvety and delicious, though not quite as dark as the pies I bought from the authentic source. I don't know whether the commercially-made pies used different beans, or why their pies turned out to be a deeper color than mine. You can order commercially-made bean pies from Sister Nadine by clicking here, or you could catch the pie man at North Avenue and the JFX on any given weekday. My recipe would be better doubled, because it uses half a stick of butter and half a can of condensed milk, but this is the recipe I used for one single large pie:

 

Bean Pie

 

1 frozen pie crust

1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened

1 +1/2 c. canned Navy Beans (this is probably all the beans in one can)

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1/2 c. evaporated milk

1/2 tsp. Baldwin's vanilla

3 eggs

2 pinches sweet spice rub from Fresh Market, or cinnamon and nutmeg to taste

 

Defrost the pie crust for 15 minutes, prick it with a fork, and bake it for about 12-15 minutes more in a 375-degree oven. While the crust is baking, drain the beans in a colander to remove most of the liquid.

 

Place the beans in the bowl of a food processor and process them to a paste, continuing to process them until no visible beans appear in the bowl. Add the eggs, sugar, and vanilla, and continue processing. Add the milk and spices. Taste the mixture for seasoning and adjust it to suit your own taste. Pour the mixture into the pre-baked pie shell and lower your oven's temperature to 350. Bake the pie for 50-60 minutes, according to your oven, making sure that the crust doesn't burn before the custard has set. If the crust is getting too brown during the final minutes of baking, cover it with aluminum foil. Bake the pie until it sets in the middle, then allow it to cool thoroughly before serving.

 

Chocolate Hangover: The Chocolate Affair

Ever think there could be too much chocolate in your life? The 19th annual Chocolate Affair left me wondering exactly that - but then, oddly enough, I'm not a huge chocolate fan. I like chocolate, don't get me wrong; but I'm much more of a vanilla hound, personally. Nonetheless, an event like the Chocolate Affair wasn't one I could pass up, my being in the sweet blog bizness and all, so, camera in hand, I happily trucked off to M&T Bank Stadium last night for the fun.

The Chocolate Affair benefits the splendid Health Care for the Homeless and this 19th annual celebration really packed the crowd in. I loved the special event tee shirt, seen below in two shots so you can appreciate its full "Mr Hanky-ness" (I had to buy one):

But of course the whole point of the evening was consuming chocolate, and there were tons of options, from truffles to cupcakes to brownies to ice cream and beyond. We had definite favorites. First, there were the salted chocolate bars from Pete Truby's Salazon Chocolate Company. Salazon is a local company making three styles of organic chocolate bar, all of them salted. Of course we tried all three: original dark chocolate with sea salt, dark chocolate with sea salt and turbinado sugar, and dark chocolate with sea salt and cracked black pepper. We fell in love with all three, but if it were legal to do so, I'd have married that chocolate bar with salt and black pepper. The tastes absolutely exploded in my mouth. You can buy Salazon chocolate bars locally at many Whole Foods stores, at Graul's, Ma Petite Shoe, Roots, and other outposts. Click here for the full list. You'll be hearing a lot more about Pete Truby and Salazon Chocolate Company, including an upcoming feature on this here blog. That's Pete below, kindly posing for a photo.

I could hardly tear myself away from the Salazon chocolate bars to snork down an exquisite chocolate and hazelnut drink served in a tiny martini glass by two wonderful guys from Chef's Expressions catering company.

Each of the offerings from Chef's Expressions was intricate and beautiful, and the tastes were out-of-this-world delicious. That chocolate hazelnut drink was almost all I needed to consume all night - it was that creamy and rich and decadent. It was, in a word, perfect. You might not think that a general caterer would pay so much attention to the chocolate arts, but these guys seriously have it goin on.

What else did we especially love? Possibly tied for all the love in our hearts was a savory chocolate and goat cheese truffle from the Brewer's Art:

We loved this truffle because of the unexpected combinations of goat cheese, cocoa powder, pumpkin seeds, and ancho chili. We loved this truffle because the goat cheese came from local organic producer Firefly Farms! We loved this truffle because it was the perfect two-bite food, and because it was surprising, innovative, and incredibly delicious. And we loved this truffle because it came from a brew pub, not a bakery, and stole our hearts. In short, we loved, loved, loved this damned truffle. Loved. It.

We saw all kinds of fantastic, beautiful chocolate displays (though for display, our hearts went out to balloon wizard Tom Lilly, who made that cute monkey guy shown in the top photo.) Linwood's did an amazing chocolate caramel shortbread treat. Sugarbakers showed an adorable cupcake display (which some rather ardent ladies next to me were knocking me down to get to); their Smith Island cupcake caught my eye. No, the cupcake isn't 10 layers like a Smith Island cake - it's a petite yellow cupcake with the characteristically dark, glossy chocolate Smith Island-style icing, and some yellow cake crumbs on top:

Next to Sugarbakers we were charmed by Canton Dockside, who brought brownies seasoned with Old Bay and topped with raspberry sauce:

Freaked out at the thought of Old Bay in your brownies? You've tried baking with chili in your chocolate, haven't you? So? And we couldn't leave without trying the delicious German's chocolate and mochaccino brownies produced by Bistro Brownies, who, we are happy to say, deliver in the Baltimore metro area!

Well, after all that chocolate, it's a good thing I have two gym memberships and a weekend of being snowed in ahead of me. Next year I'll get to the event earlier to avoid some of the sharp elbow-throwing. This is a very popular event, for a super-worthy cause, and it's a whole lotta fun. Me, I'm gonna be staking out the Brewer's Art table next year if they participate again. Because that truffle was a superstar!

Chocolate Nutella Cupcakes for Valentine's Day

Since Valentine's Day is kind of an infantile holiday anyway (or, as I used to call it when single, the National Day of Disappointment), to me, Valentine's Day desserts should be cute, not dramatic. I know there are people who knock themselves out making gorgeous chocolate heart-shaped cakes with raspberries and blah blah blah, but, really, to me, Valentine's Day is about conversation hearts and red-hots candies and things like that. But in a nod to tastes slightly more grownup, I decided to make some Valentine's Day cupcakes with Nutella (TM) icing, rather than plain old sugary chocolate icing.

There are three keys to these cupcakes: first, use your favorite chocolate cupcake recipe. Mine comes from the book Hello, Cupcake! but you can use any chocolate cupcake recipe you like (or even, if you're in a rush, a box mix. Sprinkles make excellent mixes you can buy at Williams Sonoma. Delicious and easy!) So, Step One: make your favorite chocolate cupcakes.

Step Two: melt some Nutella in the microwave. While the cupcakes and the Nutella are both still warm, spread the Nutella on top of the cupcakes. This will yield a beautiful, shiny, smooth icing top for the cupcakes.

Step Three: decorate with your favorite Valentine's Day decorations. I used sprinkles from King Arthur Flour, conversation candy hearts, red hots candies, and pink candy corn, with cupcake papers from the Cake and Wedding Cottage. I made some cupcakes in a tiny one-bite size, and some in the standard cups. The decorations will adhere best if you apply them while the icing is still warm. It will take the Nutella some time to re-set itself after being melted, so allow the cupcakes a while to sit and cool down before serving; you can speed the process along by popping them into the fridge for a while.

If you're not familiar with Nutella spread, it is a hazelnut-and-slightly-chocolate-flavored spread that people tend to either love or hate; there doesn't seem to be any in-between when it comes to Nutella. The hazelnut flavor is very prominent and for these cupcakes I did not dumb it down by adding sugar or adding it to cream cheese; I just spread some warmed Nutella on top of rich, decadent cupcakes, and I think the result is really satisfying.

19th Annual Chocolate Affair

Tonight from 6 - 9:30 PM, M&T Bank Stadium once again hosts the annual Chocolate Affair, all for the benefit of Health Care for the Homeless. BICC students will be on hand to demonstrate how to make truffles, magicians will roam through the crowd, lots of cool auction items will be available, and the music will flow - all for a stellar cause. And, oh yeah, there will be chocolate, from some of the area's finest chocolate confectioners (including one of our faves, Ma Petite Shoe! Shoes and chocolate! Stop it!) My BFF Kathy and I will be there, so if you see two middle-aged ladies together who look like lawyers, that's us - please say hi! I'll be wielding my camera and blogging all about it.

Cake Love Closes in Canton

I'm sad to post that Cake Love's beautiful outpost in Canton has closed effective January 31. Here's what Cake Love's website says about the closing:

To our Neighors and Supporters,

We regret that CakeLove in Canton, MD has closed, effective January 31, 2010. We are grateful to have been part of this vibrant community. When we opened in February 2008, we received a warm welcome from a local marching band, the Baltimore mayor, a ribbon cutting, and many of you. We truly appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

Please visit one of our other CakeLove locations in VA, DC, and MD.

Many thanks for the support over the past two years,

CakeLove

Lots of people have had a lot to say in the blogosphere, particularly in the comments to Elizabeth Large's blog in the Sun, about Cake Love and its passing. The most common complaint I've heard or read is that the cupcakes weren't fresh. I definitely agree that freshness could be a problem at the Canton store; in fact, very little was ever actually baked inside that store, because there were no real ovens on site. The baked goods were largely based off-premises and brought in to sell at the Canton store, which negatively impacted their freshness.

But my chief complaint about the Cake Love location was that nobody who worked there really seemed to care too awfully much about the customer. I ordered at least half a dozen cakes, of different flavors, from Cake Love; none of them - and here I say none of them - was ever ready on time. We always had to go back a second time to pick them up, or stand around waiting while they were "decorated." Birthday cakes didn't have "happy birthday" written on them. And as many have noted, the bakery didn't open until noon - a very un-bakery-like habit, since most bakers are up before the sun and ready with at least cinnamon rolls and muffins for the morning commuters.

Some people didn't think the homespun way of putting icing on the cupcakes was very appealing. One of my favorite baking bloggers once sent me a scathing email about Cake Love in which she said that the way they iced their cupcakes was just like a second grader would do it, slapping the icing on with a spatula and calling it a day. I have to say, this never bothered me. Cake Love wasn't about decoration; it was supposed to be about taste. And if a bakery is going to put all its eggs in the taste basket, so to speak, the taste had better be awesome. And at least at the Canton store, with the freshness problems, the taste wasn't so awesome. In fact, when I took a cake decorating class at the Canton store, I learned that the cakes were about 10 days old before they were iced and decorated; we had to begin working on the cakes by first scraping off the layer of crumbs that had developed on the tops and sides of the cakes from their sitting around for so long. Freshness, I agree, was an issue.

But I will say this about Cake Love: Warren Brown, the owner, does a ton of good works in the community. He is generous with his time and talents and gives to worthy causes. With his charm and charisma and personal story, he has also inspired people who might not otherwise bake from scratch to do so. So he's a great ambassador for scratch baking.  I also think that the Canton location, right there in yuppieville, is a tough place to make a living selling cupcakes. Young people are health and weight conscious, and they are not going to pop in for some icing every day, no matter how tasty the product. Times are tough for bakeries; the estimable Dangerously Delicious Pies, which has fantastic product,  has had to close a couple of locations and dial it back in the current economic climate. The cupcake stores who are thriving are doing so not only by catering to the girls' night out parties but also to the kids' birthday parties, where cute and elaborate decorations are required; Cake Love's cupcakes didn't have that extra zing. Finally, I do think the cupcake era is coming to an end (I recently read an article somewhere suggesting that doughnuts are the new cupcakes), and since the Canton store didn't dependably have many offerings other than cupcakes, the store couldn't ultimately succeed.

There are still some great bakeries in Baltimore, of course: Patisserie Poupon (the Mac Daddy of all Baltimore bakeries); Bonaparte Bakery in Fells Point; Puffs and Pastries in Hampden; The Fenwick on Harford Road; The Woodlea on BelAir Road; Atwater's in Kenilworth, Belvedere Square and Catonsville; Dangerously Delicious Pies; and, if you're willing to venture out into the hinterlands, Touche Touchet Bakery in Columbia. If you still have a Cake Love jones, you can find Cake Love locations all around the D.C. area.

Sweet Happenings in Baltimore this February

Wednesday, February 4 brings us the 19th annual Chocolate Affair at M&T Bank Stadium to benefit Health Care for the Homeless. More than 50 vendors, including the stupendous Glarus Chocolatier, will participate. Click here to purchase tix.

Anisha Jagtap has added a second-floor cafe space to her precious Hampden bakery, Puffs and Pastries, and is now participating in Hampden's First Friday celebrations. On First Fridays (the first Friday of each month) at Puffs and Pastries you can enjoy some beverages and sweet treats while enjoying the rotating art exhibits the bakery has launched as well as commune with the artists. And you'll be just a few doors away from one of our other favorites on The Avenue - Ma Petite Shoe, the land of shoes and chocolate! Ma Petite Shoe also participates in First Fridays, as do many other Hampden merchants like the awesome Double Dutch Boutique, Red Tree, and Shine Collective. We love them all! The stores stay open late on First Fridays - the next one happens on Friday, February 6!

Saturday, February 13 will be celebratory for two reasons: first, it's my birthday! And because it is my birthday, Mr B M S and I will be whooping it up in the sun and sand of South Beach, Miami, which will unfortunately mean we'll have to miss the Architectural Confectionaries Contest at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. And this just sounds like an awesome event, which I'm sorry we'll be missing: people will be building replicas of local buildings "of historical significance" out of locally-made sweets! You can either make your structure at home and for a $5 entry fee bring it to the BMI for judging in the morning; or for $8, you can participate on the spot in the afternoon and construct your entry onsite with confections supplied by the museum! The structures built on-site will be judged at 2:30 PM. I can just envision a Bromo Tower made out of Goetze's Caramels...... Reservations are required; follow the link above.