Pie Pops with Nutella Filling

This week I was tasked with baking something for the Buchanan Library story time participants.  I wanted to make something Valentine's Day related and did some aimless searching on the Internet.  This is far more fun than working.  I thought about getting some smaller heart shaped cookie cutters.  I have a BIG one.  I even went so far as to put a set and a few other things in my cart on Amazon.com.  I purposely spent more than $25.  Love that free shipping. 

Uh-oh.  Yes, I had forgotten that free shipping was only if I spent $35.  I could spend 9 more dollars for free shipping, or spend $14 and get just what I wanted shipped.

 

Well, that irritated me.  So I went to A.C.Moore and looked there.  I found cutters for Linzer cookies from Wilton .  You cut out two heart shapes from rolled out cookie dough.  Then cut a smaller shape in the middle of one of them.  Sandwich the two hearts together and fill the center cut-out with jam.  Bought it.  No shipping charges.

I also wanted to visit The Cook's Nook, a store for, wait for it, COOKS.  As long as I was making the trek into Roanoke, I thought I would check out the store and see what they had. It was full of fun stuff for baking and look what I found.  A Tovolo pie pop kit.

 

The premise here is you cut out circles of dough.  Then you fill the center with a sweet or savory filling, add a stick and the top crust, press and bake.  Then you have pie on a stick.  How cute it that?

Because it was for a Valentine's Day themed party, I chose a chocolate filling.  Next time I want to try the onion, bacon and gruyere filling.  And maybe leave out the sticks.  That is for display and I just want to gobble them up.  No gobbling at the moment.  Diet. sigh

Pie Pops with Nutella Filling

2 Pie crusts, I used store bought
butter
flour
raw or Turbinado sugar for sanding

2 cups Nutella
2 eggs, divided use
1/4 cup flour, plus for dusting

 

First make an egg wash.  Crack one egg in a small bowl.  Add 2 Tablespoons water and whisk.  Set aside.  Save the whisk to stir it up from time to time.

 

Pre heat the oven to 350°.  Prepare the baking pan that came with the set. 

 

It has little depressions that keep the pie pop from being flat on the bottom.  It has a non-stick coating, but I buttered and floured it just in case.  Butter and flour the inside of the little red cutters.

 

Sprinkle some flour on your very clean and dry counter top.  Unroll one pie crust and cut out as many shapes as will fit without overlapping.  Use the top grid to press gently into the cut-outs. These are the tops.  Set the tops aside and cut the bottoms of the crusts.  I got 14 from one and only 13 from the other.  What's up with that?  I kneaded and rolled up the scraps to cut one more.  This made a total of 14 pops.

 

If you want, you can roll out the left over bits of crust, brush them with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.  Use a pizza wheel to cut them in rectangles and bake along with the pops.  Yum.  I didn't, but I remember the yum.  sigh

Now to make the filling.  You can purchase pie fillings.  Everything from lemon curd, apple, even mincemeat.  The apple would have to be chopped up into smaller pieces, though. I wanted to make a chocolate filling, because nothing says Valentine's Day like chocolate...unless it is jewelry!  But I didn't want the little darlings to break all their teeth, so I went with chocolate.

This recipe made almost twice as much as I used for 14 pops.  You can cut it in half or make more pops.  But then you would need more pie dough.  Up to you.

 

Place the Nutella, egg and flour in a mixing bowl.  I used a Kitchen Aid.  I was supposed to beat until smooth, but it kept getting tighter, so I stopped.  I think that may be because it is so cold here.  It was hard to get the Nutella out of the jar.  In the summer it is easier.  I noticed it is 80 degrees in LA.  So make these in LA.  : ))

 

Now for the assembly line.  Pick up a bottom (one with out the grid) and hold it over the bowl with the egg wash.  Use a pastry brush to paint egg wash all around the outside edge.  Place it in the press with the little tongue towards the indent for the stick.  

 

I used the smallest cookie scoop to set a ball of Nutella in the center of the crust.  Gently press a pie pop stick into the Nutella ball.  Get it all the way in the pie clear up to the edge, but not touching.  I tried, once  to just get it partway in to avoid biting it, but then the pop has no stability and falls over.

 

Hold a top crust over the egg wash and paint the inside edge. Place the egg wash side on top of the Nutella and stick.  Take the top of the press and firmly press closed.  It gets easier after the first few pops.

There is a convenient hole in the bottom press to push up on the pie and get it out of the mold. Do not hold it by the stick.  Place it in one the indentation of the pan with the grid up and finish making pops.

 

When the pan is full, brush the tops with the egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar.  This will make it shiny and sweet with an extra bit of crunch.

Bake for 11 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Don't over bake or the tops may split.  My tops wouldn't brown and I kept increasing the time and a few split.  Next time I will increase the heat for my oven to 375°...wonky oven.

While they are baking you can assemble the rest of the pops.  They hold their shape well when held from the bottom.

Let cool a few minutes on the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack. The top of the kit holds them for display.  Be careful when removing them.  The top wants to come with the pops.

 

Take them to the Buchanan Library and display them with all the other goodies for those lucky kids.  But first give one to Sara.  She is a regular at the library and volunteered to be my taste tester and model.  It is a bad idea to poison children as a way to increase attendance.  At least that was my thought.

 

It occurs to me that I didn't have the same care for a potential poisoning for Sara.  But the little kids are so sweet and cuddly!   And Sara is a teenager.  : ))  Well, in truth, I wasn't worried about poisoning, merely that it would taste good.  And Sara is a good sport and photogenic.  And she liked them!

 

And so did the kids.  Well, really, their parents liked them better than the kids.  They went for the drinks and the chocolate.  But if you can get the parents in, they will have to bring the kids and then the library has more patrons.  And that's a good thing.

Pink Lemonade Cookies

As a former full time employee of the Botetourt County Library system and a current casual employee ( I go in when they need me), I volunteer to help out with programs from time to time.  One such program was Tuesday.  The children's Librarian is trying to increase attendance at the children's story hour in Buchanan.  Together we thought that if we promoted it as a party and I brought some baked goods, we could get some kids and parents in for food, if not for stories and crafts!

 


The theme for the next two weeks is something to do with Valentine's Day, so I tried to come up with cookies that were heart shaped or red.  For this week I chose pink lemonade cookies.  Doesn't that just scream hot sultry days and nights and bright sunshine?  Well, we haven't got any of that.  We've had cold, icy, overcast days and freezing nights and it is currently, according to my vastly overpriced cell phone, 39°.  But I can dream, can't I???

 

Pink Lemonade Cookies

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
12 ounce can of pink lemonade concentrate, thawed, divided use
zest of one lemon, divided use
4 drops red food color

 

Preheat oven to 350°.

I use a Kitchen Aid mixer for beating butter.  I can place the softened sticks in the stand mixer and away is goes.  Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Your hand can't get it light and fluffy enough, unless you are way stronger than I am.

 

Scrape it down from time to time and then add the two eggs and beat some more.  While the stand mixer is working away, place the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl and stir with a fork until mixed.

 

Add a cup or so of the flour to the mixer and mix well.  Measure out 3/4 cup of the melted lemonade concentrate.  Add that to the mixer.  I added 1/2 the zest of a lemon and 4 drops of food coloring to boost the color and lemonyness.  Surely that is a word???  It only added a touch of pink to the cookies.  The rest comes in the frosting.  Save the rest of the lemonade and the lemon zest for the frosting.  Mix well.

Add the rest of the flour and mix until blended.  Drop by a small cookie scoop onto a cookie sheet, leaving room for them to spread out when baking.  I wanted heart shapes so I used my very clean palm to gently flatten the cookies slightly.  Then I took a table knife and dipped the tip in a small dish of flour.  Don't forget to tap the excess off the tip of the knife.

 

I inserted it in the top of the cookie and spread it apart a wee bit...top of the heart.  Then I used the side to make a point in the bottom of the cookie...bottom of the heart.  I used my fingers to make small adjustments and then baked them for 10 minutes.

 

Let the cookies cool for 2 minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.  When cool, you can frost them.

Pink Lemonade Frosting

2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1/6 cup pink lemonade concentrate, from above
1/2 lemon zest, from above
4 drops red food color

 

This recipe means you have to wash the mixing bowl and beater twice.  sigh.   Place the butter in the stand mixer and mix until very soft. 

 

Add the sugar, lemonade concentrate, food coloring and lemon zest.  You will have some lemonade concentrate leftover.  Make a glass for yourself.  This is thirsty work.

 

Mix everything together.  Keep mixing until it is soft, about 5 minutes.  You can just spread the frosting on the cookie or pipe it on in a heart shape. 

 

I have a pastry bag, but you can use a  quart size freezer Ziploc bag if you don't have one and want to pipe a shape.  Use the freezer weight as they are less likely to spring a leak.  Just fill, cut the tip of one corner and squeeze gently.

 

I used a round tip and just piped a simple heart.  Ok.  I'm terrible at piping.   I tried a few fancy shapes, heart within a heart, filled hearts, but the simple heart worked best.

 

And here is the saddest part of all.  I am on Atkins.  During induction you have to be VERY strict about sugar and flour, meaning NONE.  And I don't want to start over.  It takes 2 weeks.  Two very long, sad weeks.  I'm half way there.  So no tasting.

Lee liked them and took six up to the computer.  I put a bunch in a closed container to take to library the following day.  And I walked away. 

I'm tougher than I look.  I look squidgy and puffy.  But I've got an iron will.  For ONE.  MORE.  WEEK.

But now I can't give you my opinion on how delicious and lemony these cookies are.  Lee liked them, but then he's easy.  It's a cookie, isn't it?

Walt, a library patron, said, " Like little frosty cakes.  I like soft cookies."

 

Cari, an actual library assistant, like I used to be, said, "Mmm!  Lemon!"

Sara, daughter of Cari and frequenter of the Buchanan library, said, "It was really good!"

There you have it.  Three unbiased opinions.

 

Oh, and the kids liked them, too.

Free Magazines

 I read about a new program through the library to get free magazines to download on my iPad or other electronic devices.  I like free.  It's one of my favorite things.

I gave up magazine subscriptions because I don't always read them or there is only one or two things I find interesting and therefore, not worth the cost.  Plus, where do I put them? Must I keep them forever?  Can the shiny pages be recycled?

But if I could read them on my iPad and never have to recycle or worry about cost?  I'm in.

I generally go to Fincastle or Buchanan library and got help there.  The system also works through the Roanoke library system.  I assume that most libraries in the United States that have a e-library system are also hooked up.

This is how I did it.

Go to the county site. In my case it is  http://www.co.botetourt.va.us/  I don't know why I can't go through the library site, but I couldn't figure it out and this is what I was told.  You folks elsewhere will have to check with your libraries!

 

From there click on LIBRARY and then ONLINE SERVICES.

 

Scroll down to Magazines and News and click on  ZINIO.

 


You will need to have a library card number to sign up ( which you can get in any of the county libraries) and you have to download the free ZINIO app.

Follow the prompts and then choose a few magazines and start reading.

You can bookmark pages to return to, which is good for those that want to refer back to recipes and decorating ideas.  Like ME!

I have only been doing this for a few weeks, so I don't know if the next month of the magazines I chose will pop up or if I will have to go choose them again. It isn't an onerous thing, so I don't mind either way.  There is quite a few to choose from.   I really like this new program.

But, PLEASE, libraries.  Don't stop buying BOOKS.  They don't run out of power in the middle of the book.  I can flip back and forth in chunks and I just like them better.  My potential future grandchildren may not , though.

I'm OK with e-magazines, though.