Fueled by passion, I became a stalker, or perhaps it’s nicer to say I went on a pie pilgrimage. In a secret effort to curb my promiscuous tendencies to adore each and every wedge that passes my plate, I headed to Key lime pie Mecca, the Florida Keys, to see if I could find an ultimate, peak-pie experience.

Everyone knows that this luscious substance, simply made with lime juice and sweetened condensed milk, was born in the Keys, but no one knows exactly when or where. Guesses are that Key limes, natives of Southeast Asia, came to the islands with the Spanish in the 1500s. It wasn’t until 1856, when Gail Borden created canned sweetened condensed milk, that a marriage of the ingredients was even possible.

I like the story that sailors were the matchmakers. Sailors cruising through the Keys carried supplies that didn’t spoil, such as hardtack and canned milk. They also picked up limes and eggs, which were readily available on shore. Can’t you just envision some galley cook trying to soften hardtack to an edible stage by crushing the rock-like crackers and soaking the crumbs in liquids at hand (lime juice, canned milk, an egg or two). Imagine the surprise when the acid in the lime “cooked” the proteins in the egg and milk, forming custard without the need for heat. What could be better than a delicious concoction, easily made from available ingredients, requiring no heat to cook.

Necessity may have been he mother of Key lime pie, but taste was the father and their progeny flourished. Sailors took the recipe to shore and locals took it to heart, so the pie was an established favorite even before the first written recipe appeared in the 1930s.

As with all marriages, age brought change. Graham crackers replaced hardtack and traditional pie crustsometimes replaced the graham crumbs. The original pies probably went topless, but at some point a thrifty cook wanting to use egg whites left over from the yolks in the custard, added a layer of meringue. Whipped cream joined the topping choices when fresh milk came to the Keys with the railroad in 1912. The greatest change however, and a shocking travesty to purists, occurred when folks began making Key lime pie, without Key limes.

The real Key lime is a small thing, about the size of a ping-pong ball, with yellowish-green skin. Tart and juicy with distinctive aroma and flavor, Key limes grow on trees with thorny branches. When a hurricane devastated the Key’s lime crop in 1926, most growers replaced their plantations with Persian limes, which are easier to pick and transport. The larger, deep green Persian limes are found in most supermarkets today.

The salmonella scare brought recent change. Cooks, worried about raw eggs, began to heat the pies instead of letting limes do the work.

Surprisingly for a dish made with so few ingredients, no two pies are the same— and I should know, having sampled and savored pies from one end of the Keys to the other.

What did I discover?

As long as the base pie is made of lime juice and sweetened condensed milk, anything goes. Well, practically anything. Floridians insist that the pie be made of Key limes (although it is difficult for most cooks to find this baby) and everyone agrees it is forbidden to use food color to tint the custard green.

As to my preferences, as much as I would like to report that I developed a sense of discrimination, finding a sole, soul-mate pie, I have to confess that after trying the tall, short, thin, plump, creative, traditional, unadorned and accessorized-to-the max pies—I love them all.

On the other hand, faced with leaving the Keys and separating from my pie promiscuity, I did pick up the recipe for Little Palm Island’s cashew crusted, egg-yolk-rich, whipped-cream-drenched specialty. I’m going to take it home to meet the folks, as this is a happily-ever-after pie if there ever was one.

Little Palm Island's Key Lime Pie

LITTLE PALM ISLAND’S

KEY LIME PIE

2 cups very finely chopped or ground cashews

1 cup graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

3/4 cup melted butter

Shortening to grease pan

3 cups sweetened condensed milk

9 egg yolks

1–1/2 cups Key lime juice

2 cups heavy cream

Finely grated peel of one orange

Make crust: Combine cashews, crumbs and 1/2 cup sugar in a mixing bowl. Add butter and stir until well blended. Lightly grease a 9- or 10-inch springform pan and pat crumb mixture evenly and firmly over bottom. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven until light golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool.

Make custard filling: In a large mixing bowl, beat milk and egg yolks until well blended. Slowly beat in lime juice. Pour mixture over prebaked crust. Bake in a preheated 300-degree oven until custard is set in center, 20 to 25 minutes. Set on a rack to cool completely.

Make topping: Put cream, orange peel and 2 tablespoons sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until stiff. Spread whipped cream over top of pie. Refrigerate until fully set, at least 1 hour. Cut around edge with a sharp knife and remove ring before serving.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings.

Check www.fla-keys.com for more about the Forida Keys.

We thought you’d like us to define

What people do when they pitch woo

And spoon and neck and bill and coo.

They pucker up their lips and press

Another’s lips in a caress.

What we’re describing is a KISS.

In other words, it’s also this:

A PECK, a BUSS, a KISSAROO,

A SMACK, a SMOOCH—to name a few.

The XXX that one bestows

On a letter with some Os.

A dictionary will confirm

That OSCULATE’s a kissing

term.

And so is HONEY COOLER,though

It’s not in use much that we know.

To make our kiss-word list complete

We should include those that people eat:

The little foil-wrapped chocolate drops

(Available in many shops),

And sweet, delicious cookie bites

Of sugar beaten with egg whites.

Before we go we’d like to say

We hope that kisses come your way,

And those that you consent to share

Are given with a bit of flair.

And just in case you don’t know how

To give your kisses extra WOW,

We’ll tell you all the steps to take

To make your kisses double great!

Copyright S M. Katzman, 2010

DOUBLE GREAT KISSES

3 egg whites, at room temperature (Be sure whites are free of all yolks; whites with even a touch of yolk will not beat well.)

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Pinch salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

About 24 chocolate kisses (foil wrap removed)

Preheat oven to 225°F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set baking sheets aside.

Put egg whites in a large bowl. Beat whites on low speed with an electric mixture until foamy. Add cream of tartar and salt. Beat on high speed until whites stand in soft peaks. Constantly beating at high speed, very slowly add sugar to whites. Continue beating until whites stand in straight peaks. Beat invanilla.

Using 1 level tablespoon for each mound and leaving space between mounds, drop mounds of whites on paper covered baking sheet. Put a chocolate kiss in the center of each mound. With a kitchen knife, carefully bring whites up and around each chocolate kiss, completely covering chocolate with whites.

Bake in a preheated 225°F oven for 60 minutes. Then turn off heat and leave cookies in the warm oven for another 20 minutes.

Remove baking sheets from oven and set on racks to cook. When completely cool, remove kisses from paper.

Yield: about 24.

The recipe comes from the Smithfield Inn, a charming B & B in Smithfield, Virginia.

Everything about this historic property represents the best of genteel Southern comfort, including the graciously appointed rooms, the soft-spoken well-mannered staff and the deeply delicious Southern specialties served in the dining rooms.

As good as the food is, the undoubted jewel in the crown of the menu’s tasty treats has to be lemon chess pie.

It’s hard to imagine more butter or sugar baked into one pie, and the Inn adds to the calories by serving the pie with whipped cream. Because it is so rich, a thin sliver should suffice for a serving. Of course a second and third thin sliver would be even better. When it comes to this pie, to paraphrase Mark Twain, too much is barely enough.

SMITHFIELD INN LEMON CHESS PIE

Yield: 1 (9-inch) pie; 8 servings.

2 sticks (1/2 pound) unsalted butter

2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

6 eggs

Zest and juice from 3 lemons

1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust (recipe follows)

Whipped cream (optional garnish)

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Beat in flour and salt. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Gradually beat in zest and juice.

Spoon batter into pie shell. Bake until pie’s top is golden brown and filling is set, 45 to 65 minutes. Set pie on a rack and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic or foil and refrigerate until firm enough to cut, several hours to overnight. Serve garnished with a dollop of whipped cream if desired.

PIE CRUST

Yield: 1 (9-inch) pie shell.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons shortening

3 tablespoons ice water

Additional all-purpose flour for rolling dough

Mix flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Put each tablespoon shortening in a different place on top of flour. Mix lightly with fingers to form coarse crumbs. Sprinkle water over top of crumbs. Mix with a fork until dough begins to hold together. Turn dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly and quickly until smooth. Form dough into a ball, flatten slightly with palm of hand, wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or until ready to use.

Roll dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin to an 11-inch circle. Carefully transfer circle to a 9-inch pie plate. Fold overlap under at edge of plate and crimp decoratively. Refrigerate 30 minutes.

So I was going to give you a recipe for king cake—you know—that luscious coffee cake that, in Louisiana, reigns over parties, festivities and celebrations from January 6 (to honor Kings’ Day, the meeting of the three wise men with the infant Jesus) to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday, February 16 this year).

Traditional king cakes are iced and decorated with Mardi Gras colors (green representing faith; purple, justice; and gold, power) and have a small trinket, often a plastic baby, hidden inside the baked dough. Custom dictates that the person getting the piece of the cake with the trinket must host the next king cake party.

As I said, I was going to give you a recipe, but I have something better: a bakery where you can order the cake (baby and all). Delicious Donuts & Bakery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, makes majestic king cakes with a wide variety of fillings (pecan praline and pralines-n-cream to die for) and ships the cake to addresses all over the world. My mouth is watering just typing the contact numbers: www.deliciouskingcakes.com and phone: 337-479-2-YUM.

The following cheese condiment recipes come from The American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin. This AAA Five Diamond resort hotel is famous not only for golf, but also for its Immigrant Restaurant & Winery, which prides itself on serving the best artisanal Wisconsin cheeses found in the United States. Cheese does not stand alone at the Immigrant, but is offered with a variety of condiments, adding flavor and flair to the already wonderful.

Busy hosts and hostesses are going to love these recipes, as they are multitaskers.

Beat Fig Rum Conserve into Mascarpone for a knock-out cheese spread; stir a touch of Port Wine Sauce into a vinaigrette for a distinctive salad dressing; and top vanilla ice cream with Preserved Kumquats for a sophisticated holiday sundae. But of course, don’t forget the original concept: group the condiments together and add panache and pizzazz to any party cheese platter.

CONDIMENTS TO SERVE WITH CHEESE

FIG RUM CONSERVE

Yield: About 3 cups.

12 ounces dried figs

About 1-1/2 cups dark spiced rum

1/4 cup granulated sugar

Water

Put figs in a 2-quart saucepan. Pour enough rum into pan to come to top of figs. Let soak until figs are softened, 1 to 2 hours. Sprinkle sugar over figs. Add enough water to cover figs by one inch. Set saucepan over medium heat and bring liquid to a gentle boil. Gently boil until figs are very tender, 30 to 45 minutes.  Let mixture cool slightly then puree in a blender. Cool completely at room temperature then refrigerate in a covered container.

PORT WINE SAUCE

Yield: About 2 cups.

6 cups port wine

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Bring port to a boil in a medium saucepan set over high heat. Boil until port is reduced by half, about 30 minutes. Stir sugar into port and continue boiling until mixture is slightly syrupy and lightly coats a spoon, about 20 minutes (sauce will become more syrupy as it cools). Cool completely at room temperature then refrigerate in a covered container.

PRESERVED KUMQUATS

Yield: About 2 cups.

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

Water

1 pound (about 3-1/2 cups) kumquats

1/2 teaspoon salt

Combine sugar and 1-1/2 cups water in a medium saucepan and set over high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Without stirring, boil mixture 3 minutes. Set aside.

Cut kumquats in half and remove all seeds. Put halves in a medium saucepan, add salt and enough water to cover generously (about 6 cups) and bring to a boil over high heat. Boil 15 minutes.

Drain kumquats and place in saucepan with sugar syrup. Cover and simmer until kumquats are translucent, about 1 hour.

Set saucepan aside, keep covered, and cool completely at room temperature. Refrigerate in a covered container.

Which brings us to nuts again. When it comes to homemade holiday treats nothing beats nuts…well…nothing if the nuts are encased in melt-in-the-mouth chocolate enhanced with a nut-flavored liqueur like in the luscious Chocolate Hazelnut Truffles made by Karen Todd and sold in her popular Dragonfly Café & Bakery in Taos, New Mexico.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT TRUFFLES

(Recipe from the Dragonfly Café and Bakery, Taos, New Mexico)

Yield: About 6-1/2 dozen

1-1/2 pounds semisweet chocolate, divided

1-1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

1/2 cup Frangelico (or other flavored liqueur)

About 4 ounces skinned, toasted hazelnuts (see note)

About 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

Chop chocolate into small pieces. Put 1 pound of the chopped chocolate in a stainless steel mixing bowl (set aside remaining 1/2 pound chopped chocolate). Heat cream until it is just about to boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate in bowl and set aside for 5 minutes, then stir with a spatula until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth and well blended. (If chocolate does not melt, set bottom of bowl over hot water and stir until chocolate melts fully and mixture is smooth. Be sure no steam reaches chocolate.) Stir in liqueur. Let chocolate cool completely, then cover bowl and refrigerate until chocolate is firm, 2 hours to overnight.

Scoop about 1 teaspoon of chilled chocolate into a spoon. Put a hazelnut into the center and shape mixture around nut forming a ball. Place ball on a baking sheet or tray. Repeat with remaining chocolate mixture and nuts. Place balls in a freezer until firm, about 1 hour.

Melt remaining chopped chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Set aside until cool enough to touch. Working quickly, put a little melted chocolate in the palm of one hand. Add a frozen ball and quickly and gently rub ball in palms until ball is coated with a very thin layer of melted chocolate. Toss coated ball in cocoa powder and place on a tray. Repeat until all ingredients are used.

Place truffles in a covered container and refrigerate. Keep refrigerated until 1 hour before serving, then remove from refrigerator and let come to room temperature.

Note: To toast and skin hazelnuts: spread shelled nuts in one layer on a baking sheet. Put in a preheated 300 degree oven and roast, shaking pan once or twice to redistribute nuts, until skins “break” and nuts turn a light golden brown, 10 to 20 minutes. Wrap nuts in a kitchen towel and set aside 1 minute. Rub nuts in towel to remove loose skin (not all skin will come off). Cool completely.

EASY AS PIE PIE

(a.k.a. SAWDUST PIE)

8 egg whites

1-1/2 cups chopped pecans

1-1/2 cups flaked coconut

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 nine-inch unbaked pie shell

Put egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Add pecans, coconut, sugar and graham cracker crumbs. Mix well. Pour mixture into pie shell. Place in preheated 350 degree oven and bake until just set, about 30 minutes (do not over bake). Cool before serving. Serves 6 to 8. That’s it. Easy as pie!

I once watched an episode of Roseanne, in which Roseanne (Mrs. Conner) went into the bedroom that her daughters, Darlene and Becky, shared to tell them goodnight. Ignoring Becky, she sat on Darlene’s bed, looked at her intensely and said something like: “You know you are my very favorite child and I love you more than anyone else in the world.” After a pause, she moved to Becky’s bed and repeated the same words to Becky.

Last time I posted I said that most locals considered Sant’Eustachio’s coffee the best in Rome. Today I’m saying most locals consider Tazza d’Oro’s coffee the best in Rome.  Okay, let’s cut to the chase. Both are great. Both coffee bars are located near the Pantheon and both serve a multitude of customers with Tazza d’Oro larger and a bit heavy with tourists. But Tazza d’Oro wins the competition when it comes to their specialty Granita di Caffè, an icy, slushy coffee concoction served with a mound of thick, rich whipped cream. COFFEE LOVERS CANNOT LEAVE ROME WITHOUT TRYING A GRANITA AT TAZZA D’ORO.

Then again, if Rome isn’t in the near future, you can make a reasonable granita at home.

COFFEE GRANITA

Pour 2 cups hot espresso over 1/2 cup sugar and stir until sugar dissolves. If desired, add a teaspoon or two of flavoring (vanilla is one of the secret flavors used in some Italian coffee bars). Refrigerate mixture until it is cold, and then transfer to an 8-inch metal baking pan. Place pan in a freezer. Stir with a fork every 30 minutes until mixture becomes slushy; this should take from 1-1/2 to 2 hours. (While stirring, break up any large chunks that might form.) Transfer slushy mixture to a bowl and beat with a fork until crystals are a little smoother and more uniform, about 1/2 minute.  Freeze until granita firms enough to be scooped, about 1/2 hour.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream.

Yield: 4 servings.

PATTY PADAWER’S CHEESECAKE BROWNIES

CHEESE MIX

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

BROWNIE MIX

4 eggs

2 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup cocoa

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

ICING

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

3 cups sifted powdered sugar

3 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5-6 tablespoons cream or milk — more if needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9 X13 inch baking pan.  In a mixing bowl combine the ingredients for the cheese mixture and set aside.  In another bowl (for the brownie mix), beat eggs with sugar.  Add the melted butter, and then add the flour, cocoa, salt and vanilla, mix to combine.  Pour all the brownie mix into the prepared baking pan, and then top with the cream cheese mix.  Lightly spread cheese mix over chocolate, but do not mix.  Bake in the preheated oven 45- 55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Set aside to cool completely.  Make the frosting, combining the butter, sugar and cocoa.  Add the vanilla and 3 tablespoons cream, adding more cream as needed to spreading consistency.  For cutting into neat squares remove the brownies from the pan before icing.  Let icing set up before cutting.  Store in the refrigerator, or freeze.  They are great right out of the freezer.

Yield: about 30

The cake base came from the Alden House Inn in Belfast. Maine. Innkeepers served sweets at check-in time and the day I checked-in white-chocolate brownies graced the table. I embarrassingly devoured a plateful and made getting the recipe a condition of paying my bill.

Shortly thereafter my friend Ina had a birthday and I volunteered to make the cake. As Ina is unique and totally special, her cake had to be equally worthy—it also had to be easy to make and accommodate a  crowd (by the time I started baking, the 15 guests originally invited had grown to 137).

So I made several batches of the brownies. Cut them in squares, then as the guest list continued to grow, cut the squares into triangles. For the birthday, I arranged the triangles, pointing in all directions, in a very large shallow dish, then dotted the top with small spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream and finally poured a hot caramel sauce over all.The sauce sort of melts the ice cream and covers the cake in a rich, velvety caramel. I stuck long skinny candles at random into various cake pieces and have been receiving requests for this recipe happily ever after. The cake delivers far more pizzazz than the work involved—and is a great vehicle for birthday parties when ordinary cakes won’t do.

SWEET LEISURE BIRTHDAY CAKE

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a 13-by 9-by 2-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving two-inch overhang at each end of pan. Generously butter foil. Set pan aside.

In a medium saucepan, set over low heat, melt 1 cup unsalted butter with 12 ounces white chocolate chips, stirring frequently until mixture is smooth and well blended. Remove saucepan from heat.
With a wooden spoon, stir in 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar. Add 4 eggs and 1 tablespoon vanilla and beat until well blended. Add 2 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt; stir just until blended. Stir in 1 cup chopped walnuts. Pour mixture into prepared pan.

Bake until cake is “set” and top is light golden brown, but center still a little soft when pressed lightly, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely.

Cover pan and refrigerate cake at least 4 hours before removing from pan.

To cut, use foil to lift cake from pan. Carefully peel off all foil. Cut cake into squares and cut squares into triangles.

Yield: 48 triangles—-about 20 servings.

To make CARAMEL SAUCE combine 1 cup brown sugar with 1/2 cup butter over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until well blended. Add 2 to 4 tablespoons whipping cream and boil until sugar dissolves completely. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Cool to warm or room temperature. Or cool and refrigerate and reheat before serving. If sauce “sugars,” add more cream and heat, stirring constantly until crystals melt and sauce is smooth.

Arrange cake triangles in irregular pattern in a shallow serving dish. Top with scoops of ice cream and drizzle caramel sauce over all.