I recently read a study about comfort food and stress eating.
Men eat their favorite comfort foods to celebrate. And the edible indulgences further raise an already elevated mood.
Yay men.
Women crave comfort foods as remedy to the stress and gloom of bad days.
The result speaks to the tragically disordered thinking many women have about food. That attempt to eat our way to serenity?
Yeah, not so much. Rather than succor, we’re left with feelings of guilt.
So women, instead of thinking of food as an antidote, let’s think of it as neutral; neither magical nor evil. Healthful food that we need, and occasionally, some well-deserved, mindful indulgences. Let’s take a page from men, with their uncomplicated, rational view of food. It’s not our adversary, it’s not out to get us—it’s just food.
Last month while judging at the King Arthur flour contest, I was lucky enough to sample one of the best bites, and possibly the very best pie I’ve ever been lucky enough to taste. It springs from the confectionary mind of Melissa Bentley, of Zebulon, and recipient of my sweet tooth’s eternal gratitude.
Cookie Dough Cream Pie
For Pie Crust:
1 ¼ cups white sugar
2/3 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
½ cup butter, melted
Cookie Dough:
1 ¼ cups King Arthur all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking soda
½ cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
¼ plus 2 Tbsp. cup granulated sugar
¼ plus 2 Tbsp. cup packed brown sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
2 ½ Tbsp. milk
½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
For Filling:
¾ cups light brown sugar
1/3 cup King Arthur all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. salt
2 cups whole milk
3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Topping:
1 cup heavy cream
3 Tbsp. sugar
½ tsp. vanilla
Preheat oven to 325.
Whisk sugar, flour, cocoa powder, and salt together in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Pour melted butter into the mixture and stir to incorporate. Press dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake crust in preheated oven until the sides are firm and the bottom bubbles slightly, about 10 minutes.
To prepare cookie dough, beat butter and sugars and in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add milk and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Using some of the dough, make 8 small balls. Place on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes or until edges are lightly golden. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Reserve remaining dough.
In a medium saucepan, mix sugar, flour and salt. Stir in 1 cup of milk, mix until smooth, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue to stir until smooth and thickened, about 2 minutes, then remove from heat.
Beat the egg yolks with the remaining cup of milk. Temper the egg mixture with a small amount of the slightly cooled milk mixture then blend this into the larger saucepan with the cooling milk mixture.
They sell tubs of chocolate chip cookie dough made safe by the removal of the eggs. It’s meant to be eaten raw.
But, this pie.
It’s a gorgeous holiday dessert. And a saner, much less embarrassing version of sitting on the kitchen floor in the middle of the night, eating spoons full of cookie dough by the light of the fridge.
Thanks for your time.
As I write this it is Sunday night, closing day of the State Fair. I’m a little sad it will be a year until the next one. But I truly believe I wrung every bit of fun, food, and fellowship from the fair that was humanly possible.
I wonder if any of those other Debbie’s thought those snack cakes had been made just for them?
People watching.
The (usually young) (usually) female dressed in a symphony of inappropriate clothing; short, tight skirt or dress and gravity-defying shoes that would be uncomfortable to stand in, let alone walk miles in on varying terrain.
And conversely, the guy that can not, will not, admit summer is over and shows up in shorts and flip-flops no matter how frigid the temperature may be.
The family consisting of two ferociously exhausted parents and their brood of multiple children under the age of five. Each child will want to go somewhere and eat something different and they want it, NOW! Mom and Dad would just like a nap.
That kid with that noise-making toy that sounds like all of the cats on the planet are screaming at once with a couple of faulty bag pipes thrown in. If the toy is silenced, the sound is immediately replaced by the unearthly shrieking of a furious, empty-handed toddler.
Thanks for your time.
I just wrapped up my third year of working with Lisa Prince of the state ag department, WRAL’s Local Dish, and Flavor NC on PBS. At the State Fair I help judge some of the specialty contests. These are the competitions sponsored by entities such as King Arthur flour, SPAM, and the North Carolina Pecan Growers.
There are folks that have been doing this for years and have judged 20-30 contests. I’ve only done nine, but have learned a few things. About entering cooking competitions, and a few other random truths. I’ll start with those unrelated, incidental lessons.
Traffic and parking: However long it takes to get from your house to the fairgrounds on the odd, non-fair Tuesday, quintuple it. For weekend fair days, multiply it by six or seven. For opening or closing day, just spend the night before out in the parking lot.
If you plan to enter any type of cooking contests, I have a few tips. They may not give you the win, but sometimes the difference between placing and being an also ran is quite narrow, and this advice may give you a few extra points.
Acid is your friend. Dishes should have balance. Rich, fatty foods need something to break them up, and the best way is by adding the acid of citrus juice, vinegar, or tangy dairy such as yogurt, sour cream, and buttermilk. It will make your dish stand out in what can be a sea of mouth-coating, stomach-churning, heaviness.
Make your dish at home, over and over, tweaking the recipe as needed. Get your most brutally honest friends and family to give you feedback. The girlfriend that doesn’t want to hurt your feelings is doing you no favors if she will not tell you the truth. On your end, if you can’t take criticism and comments, contest cooking is probably not for you.
If you don’t like the theme ingredient, pick another competition. In the SPAM contest, the kids made their entries all about the SPAM. Many of the adults tried to hide it. Bad idea. You must embrace the food and celebrate it. This isn’t a game of, “How to get the kids to eat liver without realizing it”. It’s to elevate and showcase the chosen ingredient.
Thanks for your time.
If you’re ever out shopping and you see a crazy lady filling her cart with Brach’s pumpkins, Boo Berry and Franken Berry cereal, singing, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, and looking more like a demented Disney princess and less like a serious journalist, that’ll be me.
And the very best of all, the high holy days of the fall, is the North Carolina State Fair. I love it like a diva loves drama. I look forward to it all year long.
The Kid and I have begun working with Flavor NC host Lisa Prince in judging specialty cooking contests. And as a writer, I’ve been invited to attend the State Fair media luncheon, the Monday before opening day.
Today was that red-letter day.
This year they invented the arepa burger. They filled the arepa with a moist tasty burger, tomato, onion, and those little potato sticks. Then dress them with two sauces; a pink aioli, and a cilantro chimichurri-like concoction. This was the item that intrigued The Kid most, and I was requested to make sure I try.
Pastry chef, Lionel Vatinet, owns the astonishing bakery La Farm, in Cary. Almost everything he makes is the best of its kind I’ve ever eaten. His Carolina Gold rice bread is my absolute favorite bread. His desserts are the stuff of dreams. He makes his own potato chips, for cripe’s sake.
This year, he made s’mores. But these are not the s’mores of camping trips of yore. The crazy Frenchman makes the Graham crackers and marshmallows from scratch. Then he made chocolate ganache for dunking, and before it dried, sprinkled on candied bacon.
But of course Chef Lionel’s treat was so good it transcended any gelatin weirdness. I took one bite out of politeness, and Could.Not.Stop.Eating. I foresee more s’mores in my future, and probably a few road trips to Cary after the fair.
Thanks for your time.
Petey had one piece of advice: “Make sure you’re quiet when they’re filming.”
The co-hosts make dishes that are NC authentic, tasty, and original, or twists on old favorites. After making hundreds of recipes, it gets tough to come up with new ones, so they count on reader submissions.
We also have a few cold salads. So, I sent in my high-country potato salad, with broccoli and cheddar cheese.
I wrote back, thanked her, and told her I was (at that time) a food writer at the Herald Sun. She then wrote back, telling me that she organized the specialty food contests at the State Fair. Would I be interested in acting as judge for a few of them?
Thanks for your time.
When that cookie’s fate rests upon it not being a dessert, but a snack.
I argued as valiantly as Perry Mason in a death penalty case. But it became moot when enough foods were sampled that were ranked higher by the judges. and were not desserts.
1 cup butter, softened
I have a couple of thoughts about the recipe and directions.
One of the things I liked best about the cookie was the crispy/chewy texture. And, they were flat-out delicious.
She deserves it; and I hope it came with a big, fat check.
Some takeaways: who knew sweet potatoes make such a delicious quiche? A sweet potato pie is not fully dressed without a crunchy pecan streusel on top. Sweet potato puree is a genius eggnog emulsifier and sweetener. 
A quarter cup mayonnaise and a quarter cup barbecue sauce mixed with three-quarters of a cup of Greek yogurt makes a dressing for sweet potato salad that has the perfect mix of sweet/salty/smoky/acid, and tastes amazing.
No matter how delicious it is, it’s folly to eat more than three bites of any one entry. And with a belly full of sweet potatoes even Al’s French fries aren’t very appealing.
La Farm has a terrific setup just inside gate one, with baked goods, sweet treats, and sandwiches. They have my favorite, Carolina Gold Sourdough bread, but they sell out quick. Although, if you manage to score a loaf, they’ll hold it for you until you’re on the way out.
Anne’s Dumplings is at the Kerr Scott building with plenty of her ambrosial One Dressing. If you buy two bottles, they’ll give you a cookbook written by their founder, Anne. And that’s also where you’ll find D’Vine Food with their refreshing, addictive Muscadine Cider Slushie.
And as usual, there are crazy things for sale.
Because, Gentle Reader, they have invented a twerking machine. Oh sure, they may say it’s for exercise and call it a whole-body vibration machine. But if you stand on that puppy, you’ll be involuntarily twerking harder than Miley Cyrus in a teddy bear one-piece. 
And if you don’t feel like dancing, the view you’ll have standing behind the twerker will either send you into paroxysms of hilarity, or deeply traumatize you, requiring hundreds of hours of therapy, or possibly even institutionalizing.
At any one time, approximately 90% of fairgoers are eating. My estimate is the combined total of calories consumed by everyone on the grounds in one hour is at least 40 thousand bajillion and twelve.
On a related note, I’m also full of about 27 pounds of fair food.
Neomonde Bakery and Deli has a tent every year for baked goods and demos near the chapel. But they also serve hot food at a spot near Dorton Arena. And that’s where you can get their lamb burger. It has fresh mixed greens, caramelized onions, and a harissa yogurt sauce all on their freshly baked brioche bun. It’s pretty darn tasty.
This year La Farm introduced a hand pie. This particular hand pie might remind you of a particular rectangular pastry tart from your youth that comes from the grocery store. My mom never bought them, so I never developed a taste for them, but Petey was raised on them, and still occasionally indulges.
My very own grown-up kid may never eat those mass market, cardboard things again. He loved Chef Lionel’s pies filled with fresh strawberries and Nutella. The chocolate/rye pastry was perfect. It was flaky and delicious, drizzled with chocolate ganache and sprinkled with big sugar crystals.
After downing all this crazy fair grub, we get to vote on the best new food at the fair. The winner this year, Steve Troxler, Agriculture Commissioner informed us, won by a landslide.
2017 is the 150th NC State Fair, and if you go on Thursday (10/12), you can get in for $1.50. Food vendors will be selling $1.50 portions, and state fair staff will be handing out free rides and other prizes to attendees wearing commemorative buttons handed out to the first 15,000 folks through the gates when they open at 3:00PM that day.
Thanks for your time.
When is a pound cake not a pound cake?
½ lb. or 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
So, about the pound cake riddle. Traditional cakes have one pound each of flour, sugar, butter, and eggs, with no leavening (baking powder or baking soda). It gets it rise from air whipped into the batter, and starting in a cold oven.
Thanks for your time.
Despite possessing a fair hand in the kitchen, I’ve never made a pie with which I was happy. I haven’t killed anybody, but nobody has ever asked for the recipe, or even seconds. Humdrum pies are my cross to bear. With grace and dignity I try to soldier on regardless of the back-breaking burden that fate has chosen for me (besides, my mom makes killer pies, and she’s very generous).
Almost at the end of our team’s pies Lisa brought around a green silky pie with flecks of lime zest visible. It was called a key lime fudge. They gave us all pieces and we chowed down. I and one other judge at my table loved it. It was almost like two pies in one. The top layer was tart yet sweet. The chocolate layer was silky and lingered on the tongue. I never would have predicted that key lime and chocolate would be so delicious and my very faorite out of a huge assortment of pies.
Apples can be problematic, cut them small enough so that they are cooked through. And taste them before you cook them. The last lesson was probably the most important.
4oz Dark Chocolate, chopped
I’d like to leave you with a tip. If you need a heat source to keep something hot, hollow out a large pumpkin, and cut holes around it, for ventilation. Place a Sterno inside the pumpkin and light. Then set you dish on top. It’s very festive. Thursday I’m going back for another contest. I’ll report back and let you know what happened.
bull city mom 