Yesterday, I dropped by the grocery store to get coffee creamer. There are a lot of things we can do without around here, but we’re serious about waking up and having what we need for coffee. I only needed a couple of things–didn’t want to do any big grocery shopping because it just wasn’t time in the budget. So I purposefully walked quickly through the store, pretending to have blinders on. Doesn’t matter if it’s a good deal if you don’t need it or don’t need to spend the money. This is such a hard rule for me.

Anyway, despite my efforts, the daggone store had BIG bags of Butterfinger bite-sized candy bars buy-one-get-one-free. Now, I especially love this store because they don’t make you buy two, so essentially, you get a half-price item. Sometimes I even have a coupon or two. Love a cheap deal. So I HAD to get the candy. Therefore, I HAD to make Butterfinger Pie last night. I had all the other ingredients already, so I made it last night and put it in the freezer.

The pie is in a graham cracker crust. I didn’t actually have a recipe, but here’s what I did. I filled the pre-made crust with microwave ganache. That is to say, I melted some chocolate chips and a little half and half in the microwave and stirred. Then I poured it into the crust. Today, when we tasted the pie, this step turned out to be one of the most essential for contributing awesomeness.

Then I chopped up a few of the Butterfinger bars. I did some quality control tasting–they passed for sure.

Next, I covered the chocolate layer with lots of Butterfinger crumbles.

The last step was the filling. Here’s what I had, so I mixed it together: About 8 ounces of Cool Whip, 4 ounces of cream cheese, more chopped up Butterfingers. I spread that filling on top of the chocolate and crumbles. Finally, I added a zig zag of Hershey’s syrup.

Me, my husband, and a good friend of mine tasted it after lunch today. Aside from the fact that it was as hard as a carp when I took it out of the freezer(note to self: thaw 15-20 minutes first next time), that stuff was AWESOME. That chocolate layer in the bottom was firm and chocolatey. The filling was wonderfully creamy and sweet. I would definitely make this pie again.

BEFORE we ate the Butterfinger Pie, we all enjoyed the Pie-day Friday Spectacular that was a…wait for it….

Onion Bacon Havarti Tarty Party!

As you may remember, I have been trying to work on pies and tarts that include savory ingredients, and today’s Onion Bacon Havarti Tart hit it out of the park, in my opinion. I used the same free-form tart shape that I used last week, but with different ingredients. I researched a few onion tart recipes, but I didn’t really like everything about any one of them. For starters, even though I know that good ingredients cost more, I just couldn’t afford to pay what some certain hunks of cheese cost. So I got a “lesser” hunk, if you will. Still tasted awesome.

First of all, I followed one of my main rules of entertaining: In case the food sucks, make the table pretty. Very reassuring to an amateur baker indeed.

Next, let’s talk about onions. Sniff…I used white onions. Sniff….I don’t remember if they were Spanish, or sweet, or sniff…what. But MAN, my eyes were cryin’! I chopped about 8-10 small and medium onions. No finger cuts this time! When I finally got them into the skillet, I had to go wipe my eyes, blow my nose, and wash my hands. Sniff…STRONG.

Anyway, they had to cook for a good 30 minutes in a bit of butter and olive oil so that they could get sweet and tender and a little brown. While they cooked, I prepared to round crusts with havarti cheese and BACON. *pause to think about how you love bacon*

Then I brushed the edge of the crusts with egg.

I added the following to the cooked onions: salt, pepper, nutmeg, rosemary, and garlic. Just a little bit of each. Also, I added about 2 TPSP of sour cream, because I had it, and because it added to the richness of the tart.Then I loaded up the two tarts with the cooked onions and put a bunch more havarti on top. I turned the edges up, brushed on more egg, and baked them at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

We were all delighted with the taste. I served it with some fruit and the delicious Pinot Grigio that my friend brought over. I have no idea if that was supposed to be paired with what I served, and besides, we were making generous use of the “five o’clock somewhere” rule. In my book, it all went perfectly together.

But none of it was a delicious as the company! What a blessing it is to have a good friend who loves you no matter what! And even better, to have a husband who gets along with my friends and doesn’t “go hide” when they come around. The conversation was easy and we would’ve talked all afternoon, but our kids would eventually come home :). When my friend left, I couldn’t help be feel grateful for such a terrific start to the weekend.

Here’s hoping you’ll make your next meal a party. It won’t matter what you serve. It’s all about the company and the attitude.

Remember, every day is worth celebrating!