Pies of the Unexpected: Green Chili Chocolate Pie and Junipear Pie

One aspect of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book that I appreciate is the Elsen sisters' knack for creating pies of unusual ingredient combinations. When you flip through their unique cookbook, you will find such recipes as lavender blueberry pie, or cranberry sage, and perhaps my favorite sounding, which I have not yet tried: salt pork apple pie! This one will definitely be a future endeavor but in the meantime, I decided to try a few others with items that one wouldn't necessarily think of putting together in a pie.

The "Green Chili Chocolate Pie" is one that I had previously made, minus the green chili! The recipe actually calls for a jalapeno pepper. This bittersweet chocolate pie sounded so good that I just didn't have the nerve to add a hot pepper! Plus putting a hot pepper and chocolate together sounded a little scary to me. This time, however, I had a cayenne pepper from the garden, so decided that I would substitute that for the jalapeno. I did a little research that indicated that cayenne is quite a bit stronger on the hot scale than jalapeno. So I used about 2 teaspoons of the fresh cayenne instead of the whole pepper, along with bittersweet chocolate, cream, milk, eggs, fresh ginger, lime juice and cardamom. I also added a pinch of cinnamon, which is not in the recipe but struck me as a something that always goes well with chocolate. The crust of this pie is a chocolate butter crust, and is made in a springform pan. The result was a very dark chocolate pie that had just a hint of the warm flavor of the cayenne. The silky texture is very satisfying and equally yummy served either room temperature or refrigerated. Although I initially put a dollop of whipped cream on a slice of this pie, I actually like it better cream free. I love to eat this pie with my coffee in the morning, although eating a slice with my afternoon tea, as I am doing now, is not bad either!

Another pie that sounded curious to me was the "Junipear Pie'. This pie has the standard butter crust, fresh pears, lemon, orange, cinnamon, honey, and juniper berries! I had never considered using juniper berries in a dessert recipe. The sisters claimed that the juniper berries and honey gave the pie a "gin"inspired flavor. This pie is relatively easy to assemble, compared to other fresh fruit pies. This pie does have a nice honey pear flavor, with the juniper berries adding just a slight peppery flavor. I think it is more of a comfort pie, like a fresh apple or peach pie, than an unusual pie. But I liked it just the same, and it was eaten quickly in our household. It is the kind of pie that would be perfect on a crisp fall day. and I believe that a scoop of ice cream would add to the flavor.

So these two pies were successful in my search for pies that are just a tad different. Sometimes it seems risky to use ingredients that you think might not go well together, but I would encourage you to go ahead and give it a shot. It makes desserts just a little more memorable and definitely one of a kind!