Toll House cookie pie variation - what do you think?

[eriberri]

I've been baking on and off for many years, but tend to stick to recipes. One of my standards is the tollhouse chocolate chip cookie pie. This recipe isn't exact, but it's close:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolat...

As you can see, very simple! I was thinking of substituting white chocolate for the chocolate chips, pecans for the walnuts and adding some chopped dried, sweetened cranberries. Also, I make my own crust.

It's not a terribly sophisticated dessert, but my family loves it and they are VERY much basic, traditional eaters.

What do you think?

TIA!

[cheryl_h]

I haven't made this but I caught this blog entry on exactly this topic. It's from Traveller's Lunchbox, dated Tuesday 21 November (today):

http://www.travelerslunchbox.com/jour...

I think her list of ingredients is a little different, but she lists the variations you can make which include all of yours.

[eriberri]

Wow, thank you! This is a great site and her variations sound fabulous...interesting as stated by OP she cuts the white sugar in half if using the white chocolate.

[toodie jane]

how about baking a standard chip cookie dough (with nuts, dried fruits, etc.)as you would a blind crust, and filling with vanilla ice cream--you could pipe in slightly softened vanilla or flavored (cinn/nutmeg/brandy) vanilla, then refreeze enough to cut into slices. Sort of ice cream pie.

[eriberri]

Hm, interesting idea....when you say blind baking are you thinking of the cover with foil, fill with beans, bake, remove foil and finish baking?

[BangorDin]

You mean use the recipe as the crust? Will taste wonderful, but will the sides stay up? I'm afraid it would all slump down into one big disk (cookie). Another disk on top would make it a giant ice cream sandwich--that would be yet another idea!

[BangorDin]

Of course, you'll also need to think up a new name for this pie! I have had the chocolate chip version and found it to be too much--too oily, and why the crust? Your variation sounds lovely, but I would experiment before serving to guests. It might not be what you want the 1st time, tweaking needed as above poster said.

[krissywats]

I think that sounds like a good plan - i mean for white chocolate lovers (which I am not but my husband is). You might need to adjust your sugar slightly for the sweetened cranberries and the white chocolate (which tends to be sweeter than semisweet chips) and, I'm not sure, but you might need to adjust your moisture for the cranberries, since they will likely soak some up. I'd probably just be aware if the mixture seems thicker than normal, and add a bit of milk if necessary. Alternatley, you could soak your cranberries first and then add them to the pie.

Good luck!