Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Pink Pie and Giveaway

I am so excited about today's post because desserts for breakfast is teaming up with CSN stores (purveyors of coffee tables, cookware, and oh-so-much-more) for an amazing cause: breast cancer awareness.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and, as I've mentioned on this blog before, it's a cause that's very near to me because close family members and friends of mine have had to fight and survive breast cancer.  So please.  Be aware.  Get tested.  Spread the word.

In commemoration of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, CSN stores and cookware.com have kindly agreed to give away to one awesomely lucky winner an Emile Henry "Bake for the Cause" 9-inch pink pie plate (Emile Henry donates 10% of the sale of each pie dish to breast cancer research!).  I myself am a huge (read: HUGE) fan of the Emile Henry pie plates (I own four of them!), so I'm uber-excited for one of you to receive one, too, and especially a pink, breast-cancer-research-benefiting one.  To sweeten the pot pie even further, my breast-cancer-surviving relative and I will together donate $50.00 to the American Cancer Society for breast cancer research in the winner's name!

Now, once you have the pie plate, you can make this pink pie I whipped up for the occasion, inspired by a mash-up of my favorite pie (lemon meringue) and one of my favorite pink drinks (strawberry lemonade--trust me, I'm addicted to the stuff): strawberry lemonade meringue pie.  Inside the pie is a mix of the classic, tart lemon curd filling and a sweeter strawberry-lemon curd filling, made from the super sweet late season strawberries that are still floating about the farmers' markets right now.  The combination of lemon and strawberry lends a particularly fun twist to the classic lemon meringue pie.  (And, of course, don't forget the massive amounts of cloud-like meringue on top--my favorite part of this pie!)

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for participating, and please check back soon for the announcement of the winner!  To enter this giveaway, all you have to do is leave a comment with your name, a way for me to get in touch with you (anonymous entries will be disqualified), and the answer to this question:

What is your favorite pie?

I'll also give you an extra entry in the drawing if you tweet about this post, but in your tweet, you must mention me (@shihbakes) and include a link to this giveaway (http://bit.ly/dfbCSN1) so that I can track all of your entries!  You have until 23:59 PST, Sunday, October 17th, 2010 to enter.  I'll pick the winner at random that night and make the announcement in next week's post, so be sure to check back then!  This contest is open in the U.S. and Canada only. (My apologies, international readers.) The pie plate portion of this giveaway is brought to you by the CSN stores and cookware.com.

Good luck on the giveaway, and remember to spread the word about Breast Cancer Awareness!


Read on for recipe...

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Ganache (Breast Cancer Awareness, part deux)

[for part 1 of Breast Cancer Awareness Month Chocolates, check out these rose marzipan dark chocolates!]

Here's the second flavor that my Breast Cancer Awareness boxes contained: dark chocolate ganache with raspberry preserves.  Where the sweetness of the marzipan was the focus of the other chocolates, these raspberry ones were all about the smoothness of the ganache, with just an ever-so-light hint of raspberry preserves spilling out of the chocolate shell when you take a bite.  mmm....

Raspberry Dark Chocolate Ganache Chocolates

People who tried both of these chocolates told me that they were so torn over which ones they liked better!  The two types of chocolate candies together were a great complement for each other, so I'd definitely recommend making both as a pair.

Also, don't let the chocolate work faze you from making these chocolates!  They are super easy.  I think the hardest part of candy making is tempering the chocolate, but that requires almost no skill if you use the method described in the recipes here--all it needs is lots and lots of patience to wait for chocolate to melt!  :-)  The best part of candy-making, too, is that everyone is always super-impressed that you've made chocolates.  I had this hilarious exchange with an old professor of mine where, after trying a chocolate, he said:

"You bake.  I know people who bake.  And you bake.  But-- I don't know anyone who makes chocolates!  I thought that chocolates were something that no one makes at home-- like, like, mayonnaise!"

LOL.  It's even funnier if you imagine it with a Finnish accent, as he has.  Also, incidentally enough, I've never been successful at making my own mayonnaise, though granted I've only tried (and given up) once.  Great mayonnaise-making tips accepted!, since now that I've conquered chocolates, I should try my hand again at homemade mayo.

Anyways, please, please! help spread the word about Breast Cancer Awareness.  Make chocolates.  Eat chocolates.  Whatever it takes.  Stay healthy!

Read on for recipe...

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Chocolates, part 1: Rose Marzipan

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

This is very, very important.  And a very personal issue for me, since a close member of my family recently underwent surgery for breast cancer and is now thankfully in remission.  It's a very scary thing to have happen, and I know we always think it can't happen to us, but it can.  Spread the word.  Go get tested.  Stay healthy.

In order to commemorate Breast Cancer Awareness Month, last week, I made chocolates to pass out to my female friends.  Friends either received individual candies or boxes like this one:

Each box was filled with handmade dark chocolates in two flavors: rose marzipan and raspberry dark chocolate ganache.  I hoped that these boxes would help spread both deliciousness, happiness, and awareness!  I know it isn't much to do, but I'm a huge believer in microcosmic change.  (Highly optimistic for someone as pessimistic as me.)

Rose Marzipan Dark Chocolates

The rose marzipan chocolates were a new experiment for me, and they were inspired by princess cakes, which I had originally intended to make for this occasion.  Why princess cakes, you ask?  Well--and this is quite a silly confession--because the first person who ever told me of princess cakes said that they reminded his wife of boobs.  Yes! I'm sorry! that was so not PG, but now that the association is there, I can't escape it.  But, though princess cakes pan out this time, I wanted to take a little inspiration from them, in the form of marzipan.

The near-overly-sweetness of the marzipan here goes so well with the hint of rose and the bitterness of the dark chocolate.  I was really, really happy with how they turned out.  There is nothing quite as good as a homemade chocolate candy.

I hope you all enjoy the chocolate candy posts this week--rose marzipan today and raspberry-dark chocolate ganache in a few days.  Please, please spread the word to everyone you know about Breast Cancer Awareness.  Tell your girl friends; donate money; make chocolates; bake cookies; run a marathon; wear a ribbon.  Do what you can to help out this very real cause!

Read on for recipe and directions...