Sunday In A Jar

So last time when I made pie crust cookies, I was left with the dilemma of having leftover pie crust. Obviously there were many things I could've used it for but I was craving something else. Inspired by my favorite Big Gay Ice Cream treat, the Mermaid (which has vanilla ice cream, key lime curd, homemade graham crumble, and whipped cream), I wanted to make a sundae. I thought of using the same pint of vanilla ice cream I used for my pie crust cookie ice cream sandwiches but nope, I had an even better idea.

The one thing I'm good at is making tiramisu. Especially after getting tips from the crew at Brucie in Brooklyn. It's the only thing I'm confident that it'll come out good every time. SO.....why not use the mascarpone cream in the sundae instead of regular old vanilla ice cream?

-- RECIPE

Please note: This recipe contains raw eggs. I used the ones I get from the farmers' market.

Leftover pie crust

Mascarpone Cream: 2 eggs separated 8oz mascarpone 7 tablespoons sugar 1 cup heavy cream

In a bowl, whisk 2 egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of sugar until you get to the ribbon stage. It should be smooth and pale yellow.

Add the mascarpone cheese into the egg/sugar mixture and incorporate completely.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites till stiff peaks. Gently fold the egg whites into the mascarpone mixture. This will lighten the mixture.

In another bowl, whisk heavy cream and 1 tablespoon of sugar till you get stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into mascarpone mixture. The cream gives the mixture body.

To Assemble: Put your leftover pie crust in a ziplock bag or tea towel. Smash it up. It's fine if there are big pieces and small pieces.

In a bowl or a jar or a cup or a sundae glass, put in a layer of pie crust crumble then mascarpone cream then plum sauce and repeat.

And...EAT

Pie Crust Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade but what happens when a friend gives you a big bag of plums? This was my dilemma couple weeks ago. "Sure," I said to my friend while she handed me a giant ziplock bag of tiny plums. Her uncle had sent her lots and lots, which he grows in his backyard in California and she was happy to get rid of some.

You know what's not fun? Taking tiny pits out from tiny plums.

Facebook and Instagram were great help, with people giving me ideas for what to do with the plums. From jam to pies to cobblers to sangria to sorbet. Though I ended finding my inspiration from Tara O'Brady's plum sauce in her plum rippled ginger crunch ice cream recipe.

But what do I do with the plum sauce?

Use it in ice cream sandwiches!

Instead of making cookies, I decided to make pie crust cookies. I still haven't master the art of cookie making but I made the Four and Twenty Blackbirds pie crust once and it came out pretty good. Also there's less work in making pie crust dough, I think.

Plum Sauce: 2 lbs of plums sliced in half and pit removed 6 tablespoons 1 handful mint leaves Zest and juice of 1 lemon

I'm sorry about the amount of plums. I'm guessing it. I don't own a weight and wasn't able to find out how many pounds of plums my friend gave me. I just know that I stood in the kitchen for a long time and removed pits from 50 mini plums aka enough to fill a half sheet pan.

Place plums, sugar, and mint into a pan/pot over medium heat. Stir it occasionally. Lower the flame to low when the plums begin to soften. Mush them up a bit. When all the plums have soften, push them through a sieve over a bowl. Then pour the plum sauce back into the pan/pot over low flames. Add the lemon zest and juice and stir them into the sauce. Taste it now. Too tart? Add a little bit more sugar.

Simmer the sauce for a minute or two and then pour it into a jar. This yields about 8oz. Let it chill in the fridge.

Pie Crust Cookies: I used the Four and Twenty Blackbirds pie crust dough recipe for the cookies.

Roll out your dough and use whatever you like to cut the cookies out. Then brush them with an egg wash and top with a generous sprinkling of sugar. Bake till golden.

When your cookies are done, let them cool a bit before assembling the sandwiches.

Hhhmmmmm these came out pretty darn good. Buttery cookies, tart plum sauce with vanilla ice cream (store bought, sorry). Maybe my next step is to make my own ice cream?