Coffee, toffee go together - (etruth.com article)

Mon, Apr 21, 2003
By MarshallV. King
Truth Staff

-- Sometimes great pie reaches for the sky.

The sight of a piece of pie that's four or five inches high brings a smile to my face. Tall pie isn't always good pie, but it's often a good sign.

The coffee toffee pie at Patchwork Quilt Country Inn is a tall pie. It's also a great one.

"It's made with a lot of love and butter," said Treva Swarm, who's been baking pies at the restaurant and bed and breakfast near the Indiana Toll Road for 35 years.

Treva grew up baking and is now training the daughters of John and Adrienne Cohoat, the newest owners of Patchwork. They're learning her tricks, just as she's learned them from bakers before her. She learned how to make a traditional crust with lard and milk from an elderly woman, as well as the method of brushing a baked fruit pie with milk to give it a sheen.

"You just have to learn the feel. It just takes practice," said Treva, who does much of the baking at the inn, but shares the work with others.

The coffee toffee pie is built on the foundation of a toffee crust. Swarm mixes a Jiffy pie crust mix with grated chocolate, English walnuts, brown sugar and the tiniest bit of water. It's harder to make than a traditional crust. Someone without the proper touch would turn it into a building material rather than food.

The filling is a French cream of good stuff like butter, sugar, eggs, melted chocolate, Kahlua (coffee liqueur), instant coffee and vanilla. That's mixed with non-dairy whipped topping, which Treva says stands up better than the real stuff, and topped with a bit of topping mixed with instant coffee.

The result is grand. Bethany, my spouse, isn't a big fan of coffee or pie, but liked this one a lot. The crust is tender and unique. The filling is rich, but still light. It's all different enough to be delightful. (I'd use the word sublime, but I still think the word sounds more like it refers to an inferior piece of citrus than something of grandeur.)

The coffee toffee, which is Adrienne's favorite, isn't the only grand piece of pie at Patchwork. The buttermilk pie is a sweet pie, somewhat like old fashioned cream, on a traditional crust. "Midwest Living" magazine saw fit to run the recipe. It's a nearly perfect piece of pie too, but not as unique as the coffee toffee.

There was plenty of room for pie on this night, in part because I only ate half my dinner. The grasshopper pie we tried was passable. The millionaire pie of buttercream, pecans and pineapple in a traditional crust was a salad pie that was good. To redeem myself for "losing my cookies" while eating a piece of oatmeal pie when I was a kid, I ate a piece of Patchwork's oatmeal pie and enjoyed it -- though not as much as the coffee toffee.

Like Treva, Pam Knight at the Old Style Deli in Elkhart grew up baking. Her Mennonite mother, Marlene Shank, was big on making treats, said Pam.

The food for fellowship meals and other times helped Pam learn to love to baking. Deli owner Janice Hayden has made the most of it for the last decade. "I do not bake anything because she's the best," said Janice, whose favorite Pam dessert is flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce.

Sugar almond cookies, chocolate-chip muffins and carrot cake come out of Pam's oven. Deliveryman Derek Ogawa called Pam a "magician" and looked as if he was in physical pain when he declined a piece of her black bottom banana cream pie.

Pam is a purist. She prefers real whipped cream. She doesn't like using frozen or canned fruit. But with a brisk lunch business, she doesn't always have a lot of time at the deli. "That's why I like making Tollhouse pie. I can whip it out pretty quick," she said.

She makes an oil crust pressed in the pan which is flaky and good. The Tollhouse pie has a mixture similar to chocolate chip cookie dough, topped with real whipped cream, that Pam knows not to overbake. It's gooey and good, but I wanted more. She agreed to make a black bottom banana cream pie.

We sat at a table and cut it after lunch. It looked good in the pan. It tasted better off the fork. The chocolate crust was crunchy and coated with a layer of chocolate. The bananas, pudding and whipped cream made a rich pie with a balance of banana and chocolate. It was satisfying. It was the work of a good baker who knows what she's doing.

"I'm a big chocolate addict," said Pam, who said she likes all sorts of pies and baked goods. "That's probably why I bake so much. I love to eat," she said.

Local bakers will have a chance to enter to enter two pie contests in the coming days.

The Elders' Pie Baking Contest and Social will take place Tuesday at Greencroft Senior Center, Goshen. Anyone 55 and older can enter a pie in five categories, which will be judged and later served at a pie and ice cream social. Tickets are $1. All contestants get at least $10 and could get a $50 top award. For more information, call (574) 537-4090.

Pies containing maple syrup can be entered in this weekend's Wakarusa Maple Syrup Festival contest Saturday morning. Pies must be taken to Shear Adventure in downtown Wakarusa between 8 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. They'll be judged, and winners will be announced at noon. Categories include cookies, cakes and pies, breads and rolls and all must include maple syrup.

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