Клео Коул: Roast Mortem

Makes one 8- or 9-inch pie

2 pints fresh blueberries

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

teaspoon salt

⅔ cup half-and-half

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 Clare’s Cinnamon Graham Cracker Crust (recipe follows) or prebaked 8- or 9-inch graham cracker or shortbread crust

Step 1 — Toss blueberries with flour:Rinse and dry your blueberries. Toss with 2 tablespoons of the flour. (You are coating the berries with flour to soak up excess liquid during baking.)

Step 2 — Make batter:Preheat oven to 375° F. Using a simple hand whisk, gently blend the flour, sugar, salt, half-and-half, eggs, and cinnamon. Do not overmix or you’ll toughen the batter. Carefully fold in the flour-tossed blueberries. (You are not crushing the berries, just gently folding.)

Step 3-Bake:Pour the batter into your pie shell. If using an 8-inch crust, there may be a bit too much batter, that’s okay, just hold it back. (See my crust tips below.) Bake about 1 hour. When is it done? The trick here is not to undercook the pie. You want the batter to firm up completely. The pie is done when a knife or skewer inserted down into the pie at the center comes up with little to no loose batter sticking to it. (You will always see some blueberry juice smeared on the knife or skewer when you insert it.) After 1 hour, check your pie. If not done, keep returning to the oven for 5-minute intervals until the pie is fully baked. (Depending on your oven, it may take 5-15 extra minutes beyond the initial hour.) Remove from oven and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting. Enjoy plain or with sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.

Pie Crust Tip #1 — Store-Bought: When I have no time to make a homemade crust, I simply purchase a prebaked graham cracker pie shell from my local grocery. I know that sounds odd. Premade crusts are primarily used for unbaked cream or pudding pies, but they work very well in this recipe! As the blueberry batter bakes, it caramelizes the graham cracker crumbs in the prebaked shell, giving a wonderfully sweet, satisfyingly al dente texture to your final pie crust, a nice contrast with the soft, slightly tart filling. An important point to remember if you do this: before pouring the batter into your store-bought pie shell, set the shell, aluminum pan and all, into a standard, empty metal pie pan. This added sturdiness will make the pie much easier to handle as you transfer it to the oven and finally cut and serve the pie. Final note: the store-bought crusts come with the aluminum pan’s edges folded down. Before baking the pie, be sure to unfold these edges, opening them up completely. This will make cutting the pie and removing the slices much easier!

Pie Crust Tip #2 — Homemade: Press-in graham cracker (or cookie) crusts are very easy to make. If you have time for this extra step, see Clare’s Cinnamon Graham Cracker Crust below.

CLARE’S CINNAMON GRAHAM CRACKER CRUST

Makes one 8- or 9-inch press-in pie crust

Nine 2½ × 5-inch square cinnamon-flavored graham crackers

½ cup butter, melted

Pulverize the graham crackers into crumbs using a food processor, blender, rolling pin, or another fun smashing device. This should give you about 1¼ cups of crumbs. Mix the crumbs with the melted butter. Press into an 8- or 9-inch pie pan.

For Clare’s Blueberries ’N’ Cream Coffee Cake Pie: Chill for 20 minutes before filling and baking. There’s no need to pre-bake for my blueberry pie recipe — just chill and fill.

For no-bake pie recipes: If you’d like to use this crust recipe for a cream, pudding, or other no-bake pie recipe, then you will need to bake this crust before filling. Preheat oven to 350° F and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on your oven. Do not over bake or it may turn out too hard!

Final Note: If you prefer regular graham crackers to the cinnamon-flavored variety, be sure to add 2 tablespoons of sugar to this recipe.

“Hey, Mom, I just added butter and eggs to a cake mix and made a kind of biscotti dough out of it. What do you think?” Joy came up with this one when she was twelve. Clare used it for one of her In the Kitchen with Clare columns — and began to get a clue that her daughter might have a future in the world of food.

Makes 24 to 28 cookies

For Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti:

1 package chocolate cake mix

3 large eggs, 1 separated

8 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup all-purpose flour

⅔ cup hazlenuts, toasted and chopped (see note)

White or semisweet chocolate chips (for dipping), optional

For Vanilla-Almond Biscotti:

1 package yellow cake mix

3 large eggs, 1 separated

8 tablespoons butter, melted

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup slivered almonds, toasted (see note)

White or semisweet chocolate chips (for dipping), optional

Step 1 — Form the dough:Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using an electric mixer, blend the cake mix, 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk, butter, flour, and nuts. When a dough forms, turn off the mixer. Using your hands, form a dough ball in the bowl. Turn the ball onto the lined baking sheet.Work the dough until smooth and shape into two cylinders of about 1½ inches in diameter and 10-inches long. There should be a few inches of space on the baking sheet between the two logs. (They will expand during baking.) Now generously brush the top, sides, and ends of each log with the egg white (no need to brush the bottom and no need to use all of the egg white). This brushing will help keep the baked log together when you slice it later.

Step 2 — Bake and slice the logs:Bake for about 25-30 minutes. The dough logs are finished when they are cracking on the surface, fairly firm to the touch, and a toothpick inserted in the centers comes up clean. Remove the hot pan from the oven. The logs are very fragile at this point so do not move them or they will break apart. Simply cool them on the pan for 2 to 3 hours. The pan should be placed on a rack to allow air to circulate beneath the pan bottom. Note: If you try to cut the logs while they are still the least bit warm, you will see the cookies crumbling as you cut. This is heartbreaking! Let the logs cool completely before cutting. Using a sharp, serrated knife, cut the log into slices on the diagonal. Slices should be about ¾- to 1-inch thick.

Step 3 — Biscotti means baked again:Lay the biscotti slices flat on a sheet pan and bake for 8-10 minutes on one side. Then turn them over carefully. Don’t burn your fingers and don’t allow cookies to break apart! Bake on the flip side for 6-8 minutes. (You are literally toasting the cookies to give them more flavor and make them harder.) Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before handling or storing.

Step 4 — Optional chocolate dip:If desired, melt a cup or two of white or semisweet chocolate chips. Dip the top edges of the cooled biscotti slices into the warm chocolate and set on wax paper. (Or dip half the cookie into the chocolate — your call.) Serve after chocolate has hardened. (For tips on melting chocolate, see Clare’s Magnificent Melt-in-Your-Mouth Mocha Brownies recipe on page 342.)

How to Toast Nuts: Spread nuts in a single later on a cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350° F for 8-10 minutes. Stir once or twice during toasting to prevent scorching.