Perfect Pie Crust

I posted a recipe for my boy's favorite pie this summer. In that post, I wrote that my recipe for the crust would "follow in another post." Better late than never I suppose.

For some reason, pie crust is one of those things that brings stress to many cooks. I honestly don't understand why. My seven-year-old son has made this crust on a number of occasions, quite successfully I might add.

This crust is incredibly easy to make and turns out light and crispy every time. Seriously, I have never had the crust turn out poorly. Lay aside your fears and give it a try.

I know that some recipes call for the use of butter in the crust. I prefer to use a good quality vegetable shortening or lard. I find that it results in a better texture.

Pie Crust

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. shortening or lard

1/3 c. cold water

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the shortening or lard.

Using a fork or pastry blender, cut in the shortening. I prefer using the fork method.


Within a minute or two, the mixture should resemble coarse crumbs.

Add the cold water and stir until the dough just starts to come together. Use your hand to gently form the dough into a disk.

If time allows, wrap the dough in plastic wrap, place in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes. While many chefs deem this as a necessary step, I have made a successful crust even when the dough is at room temperature.

To roll out the crust, lightly flour your work surface. Place the dough on the floured surface, lightly sprinkle with flour and roll out to the desired thickness.

Invert your pie plate onto the crust. Using a knife, cut out your crust leaving a 2 inch boarder around the dish.

Remove the pie plate and fold the crust into quarters.

Place the point of the wedge in the middle of your pie plate.

Unfold the crust into the pie plate and tuck the excess edge under. Gently press into place.

If desired, you can crimp the edge of your crust.


Pour in the desired filling and bake. In this case it was pumpkin.

To prepare an empty crust, simply fill the unbaked shell with pie weights. You can also prick the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork. Bake at 350 degrees F. for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Thunder Cake

My boy read the book "Thunder Cake," by Patricia Polacco at school. It is a nice story about a grandmother who helps her granddaughter overcome her fear of thunder by baking a cake as the storm approaches. The last page of the book contains the recipe for the special cake.

He thought it would be fun to bake a Thunder Cake of our own. As promised the boy brought the secret recipe home with him from school today. We immediately started baking.

The recipe calls for tomato puree. While this is an unusual ingredient for a cake, it doesn't alter the flavor in any way. The cake is moist, chocolaty and delicious.


Thunder Cake

1 c. shortening
1 3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs, separated
1 c. cold water
1/3 c. tomato puree
2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the shortening, sugar, vanilla and egg yolks. Beat until light and fluffy. Add the water and tomato puree.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the wet mixture and beat until well combined.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the cake batter, stirring gently until combined.

Pour the batter into two greased 8 1/2 inch round pans. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 30-35 minutes.

Invert the cakes onto a wire rack to cool.


To frost the cake, use Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (recipe below).

Place one layer of the cake on a cake stand. Top with a generous layer of the buttercream.


Top with the second layer of cake. Use a small amount of frosting to give the cake a crumb coat. Top with the remaining frosting.


We sprinkled the top of our cake with some white nonpareils, so that it would look like a cloud.


Chocolate Buttercream Frosting


1 lb. butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 c. sugar
6 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 c. sifted cocoa powder

Beat the butter until light and fluffy. Set aside.

Meanwhile, combine the egg whites and sugar in a double boiler. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the mix is warm.

Transfer the egg whites to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on high speed until the egg whites are stiff and cooled, approximately 10 minutes.

With the mixer on low, slowly add the butter to the egg whites about 1/4 cup at a time. Add the vanilla and cocoa powder.


Beat the frosting on the lowest speed for about 3-5 minutes before using.

Poppy Seed Cake

I am not much of a cake lover. In fact, if given the choice, I will always choose pie over cake. I know I'm weird.

That said, there are a few cakes that I completely adore. Poppy Seed Cake is one of them. It is so good that I have been known to sneak a slice with my morning cup of coffee. Don't tell.

This recipe below comes from my Mom. I've tried other versions, but none are as moist, flavorful or easy to make. The secret is the yummy cinnamon-sugar spiked outer crust. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Enjoy this cake on it's own or topped with a dollop of real whipped cream. You won't be disappointed.


Poppy Seed Cake

1 Yellow Cake Mix
1 small pkg. Instant Vanilla Pudding
1/4 c. poppy seeds
1 c. + 2 Tbs. orange juice
1/2 c. oil
4 eggs
1 tsp. almond extract
cinnamon-sugar

Dump the cake mix and vanilla pudding in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the poppy seeds.


Add the orange juice, oil, eggs and almond extract.


Beat on high speed for 4-5 minutes.


Meanwhile, thoroughly grease a bundt pan with Crisco.


Now for the yummy part... Sprinkle the greased pan with cinnamon-sugar to coat.


Pour the batter into the pan and bake at 350 degrees F. for 40-45 minutes.


Invert the finished cake onto a plate and allow to cool.

Cocoa Fudge Pie

My favorite dessert is Pie... Blueberry Pie to be specific. I could eat it everyday. My son, while he loves pie, is not a big fan of the fruit-filled variety. He loves Cocoa Fudge Pie.

At the mere suggestion of making his favorite treat, the boy sprung into action. After making the crust (recipe to follow in another post) we set about the task of making the filling.

The recipe comes from a cookbook that my hubby gave me, "Flaunting our Finest: A Cookbook from Historic Franklin." It is delicious and easy to make. I usually double the recipe so that the pie is nice and full.

The finished product is something along the lines of a gooey brownie in a crisp crust. I prefer to eat the pie while still warm with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. My son likes it at room temperature with fresh whipped cream on top.


Cocoa Fudge Pie

1 c. butter, melted
7 Tbs. cocoa
2 c. sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 c. flour, sifted
2 tsp. vanilla

Combine the butter and the cocoa and stir until smooth. Add the sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour. Stir until combined. Pour into an unbaked pie crust.

Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25-30 minutes. The crust should be golden and the pie should be set. I like to slightly under-cook the pie so that the middle is still slightly gooey, like a perfect brownie.

Sugar Twists

I am on a Christmas cookie baking binge. I can't seem to stop myself. Last year was a different story. I had two miserable bouts of strep throat between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Needless to say, I didn't do much baking, or anything else for that matter. I guess I am just trying to redeem myself this year.

I spent the better part of my morning slaving over one of my favorite Holiday cookies... Sugar Twists. These crisp, sweet treats are my Grandma's recipe. Funny, I have no memories of eating them at my Grandma's house. That job was always let to my Mom. After I got married, began baking them myself.

Sugar Twists are made with a sugarless dough that is then rolled out in vanilla sugar. They are quite time consuming to make, but certainly worth it. These cookies are as pretty as they are tasty.

I think I will send these over to Susan at Food Blogga to enter in her Christmas cookie contest. The entries keep pouring in. Make sure you stop by and check them out.


SUGAR TWISTS

For the dough:

3 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 c. shortening
1 egg
1 c. sour cream or buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine the flour, salt and yeast. Cut in the shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add the egg, sour cream or buttermilk and vanilla. Stir until the ingredients are combined and the dough is smooth.

Shape the dough into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

For the vanilla sugar:

3 c. sugar
3 tsp. vanilla

Mix the vanilla and sugar together until well blended. Set aside.

To make the cookies:

Divide the dough in quarters. Lightly sprinkle your surface with vanilla sugar. Take 1/4 of the dough and form it into a smooth disk. Place on the sugared surface and lightly sprinkle the top with additional sugar.


Roll out the dough until it is approximately 1/8 in thick, adding additional sugar if necessary to keep it from sticking. Fold the dough in half, sprinkle with additional sugar and roll again. Repeat 2 more times.


Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1/2 inch by 3 inch strips. Twist the strips and lay them on a greased cookie sheet.


Bake the cookies at 375 degrees F. for 8-10 minutes. Place them on a rack to cool.

Repeat the entire process with the remaining dough.

As a side note, it is beneficial to scrape and/or wash the cookie sheets between batches. The vanilla sugar tends to caramelize and make the cookies sheets sticky.

Jam Thumbprints

One of my son's favorite things to do during the Holiday season is to bake Christmas cookies. As soon as the tree is decorated, he begins asking when we can make cookies. This conversation usually goes on for weeks.

Today we kicked off our Christmas cookie extravaganza with one of our favorites... Jam Thumbprints. These cookies are sweet and buttery. The coconut is golden and delicious. The jam is sweet yet slightly tart. I can honestly say that they might be my all time favorite cookie.

I believe this recipe originally came from The Barefoot Contessa, although I couldn't tell you which one of her books. When making the cookies, you can use any kind of jam that you like. My personal favorite is MaraNatha Mixed Berry Jam.

By the way, Susan over at Food Blogga is having a Christmas cookie contest. Go check out all the delicious entries.


Jam Thumbprints

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg beaten with 1 Tbs. water
7 oz. sweetened coconut
jam (raspberry, apricot, mixed berry...)

Using your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter. Mix until the dough starts to come together.

Dump the dough onto a floured surface and form into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.


Roll the dough into 1 1/4 inch balls. Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in the coconut. Place the balls on a cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each one with your finger. Fill each indentation with 1/4 tsp. of jam.


Bake at 350 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes. The coconut should be golden brown.

Here We Go!

It is the middle of the night. Since I don't have a piping hot plate of food to write about, I will kick off this blog by posting a picture of the cookies I made for my son's Halloween Party at school.

The cookies are nothing fancy. I made some good old-fashioned sugar cookies using my favorite pumpkin cookie cutter. Once they were cool, I frosted them with a nice layer of orange frosting and immediately sprinkled them with orange-tinted sugar. I decided that the cookies still looked a little blah, so I piped on a few creepy bats and spiders.

If you've never tinted sugars, you should give it a try. Sugar tints come in a variety of colors and are incredibly easy to use. It is an easy way to dress up cookies, cupcakes, or other sweet treats.