Making the world a little sweeter one pastry tip at at time.
Latest used book find: Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook: 700 Best Dessert and Main-Dish pies in the Country. I picked it up for a dollar at a used bookstore, and I was happy to add it to my collection of Farm Journal’s cookbooks (I have …read more
A new summertime favorite dessert of the family: chiffon pies. They are cool, light, and depending on the filling can be tame and sweet – or sweet and snappy. I have fond memories of going to strawberry and cream festivals as a kid. To this …read more
I’m celebrating National food holidays this summer and apple turnovers was last week. But if you think apple turnovers are things us Americans made up, Bernard Clayton Jr. has something else to say about them in his The Complete Book of Pastry, Sweet and Savory:
While apple pie is wholly American, a close French cousin, chausson aux pommes, apple turnover, is a delicious in-hand dessert for a tailgate party, a stream-side picnic, an intimate buffet for a school lunch.
Turnovers can be filled with just about any filling you can think of, both sweet and savory. They are a good way to use up applesauce or very ripe fruit that isn’t quite enough for a full pie or even those half way filled jars of fancy preserves in the fridge that no one puts on toast and you are dying to use up. Turnover dough is typically some kind of pie dough, although any dough may be used if it can be rolled and cut out, and folded over and baked. Your favorite pie dough will do nicely here.
I’ve included three recipes to try below, each with very different doughs. The first uses a pie dough made with butter, shortening, and cold water. The second uses a unique cottage cheese pastry dough, and the third uses a yeast based dough that can be stored in the fridge for up to a week until you are ready to use it up.
The apple turnover picture above was the recipe using the cottage cheese in the dough. After you roll it out, the scraps can be rerolled without the dough getting too tough, a nice feature if you are doing circle cuts for rounded turnovers and have more dough leftover.
All the turnover recipes below are baked in the oven to cook (none are fried) although if you enjoy your turnovers fried by all means fry them up until browned.
Photo credit: Renee Shelton
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Here are basic differences between desserts related to the pie. For more information, read all about The Pie Family and All the Cousins. Pie – Dessert with a filling that has a single or double crust. Deep Dish Pie – pie baked in a deep …read more
Ripe nectarines and almonds combine for an easy yet gorgeous dessert. Substitute whatever nectarine or plums you have on hand in this recipe if white nectarines are not available. [yumprint-recipe id=’2′]
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| Spiced Dutch Apple Pie with Savannah Smiles Girl Scout Cookie Oatmeal Steusel Topping and Hot Water Pie Crust |
Here’s another entry in the Girl Scout Cookie dessert recipes list. I used Savannah Smiles which are a crisp, shortbread-like cookie lightly coated in lemony powdered sugar. If you don’t have these cookies, try another crisp plainly flavored cookie. Avoid those with fillings, chocolate or candy coatings, or any kind of icing. You want a nice, dry cookie that will brown evenly in the oven. And if you have no cookies in the house to fit the bill, simply use your favorite oatmeal streusel topping for this pie. The hot water crust gives it a crumbly and flaky touch.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Stir the flour, sugar, cinnamon, and ginger together, and pour over the sliced apples placed in a large mixing bowl. Toss all the ingredients together until the apples are lightly coated with the mixture.
Pour the apples into the unbaked pie crust. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove pie from oven and reduce heat to 375 degrees F. Top with the Savannah Smiles Streusel Topping. Bake for another 50 minutes, covering with foil the last 20 minutes of cooking.
Serve chilled or warm.
1 box Savannah Smiles cookies, processed into crumbs (1 1/2 cups crumbs)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
Mix all the ingredients by hand in a bowl until combined.
Place the shortening in a bowl, and pour the hot water over the top. Stir to completely melt; the shortening and water will be completely incorporated. Stir the flour and salt together and add to the shortening. Cut in the flour until the ingredients are combined. Form into a ball and flatten. Chill for an hour before rolling out.
This makes enough for one 9-inch pie crust.
It’s that time of year again when the summoning of sweet potato pies draws near. I have a houseful of sweet potato pie lovers (except for the husband who doesn’t care for any pie with cinnamon spice) so they get to enjoy my trials, and …read more
I’ve always been fascinated by old fashioned vinegar pies. The thought of mixing vinegar with sugar for a dessert is interesting. There are two basic types – one that resembles a lemon meringue pie and another that resembles a sugar pie, or some kind of …read more
Lemon Meringue Pie. The name fits the dessert: a sweet-tart confection with a cooked lemon pudding and a light and airy topping. Not only is the treat served chilled making it a perfect ending to a summer barbeque, but you don’t have to worry about leftovers – there often aren’t any. This makes a great make-ahead dessert for the next day, too.
We like our lemon meringue pie with an extra zip, and this recipe is a little more tart than sweet. You can make the pie with as little or as much meringue as you like. If you use all of it, mound it high and evenly without too many deep peaks that may burn before the meringue is completely cooked. You can also pipe it on, too. Just be sure the meringue touches the crust to prevent it shrinking as it bakes and exposing the filling.
For this recipe, use your favorite pie crust. Here are some quick tips for making a lemon meringue pie.
Tips:
Mile High Lemon Meringue Pie
Pre-bake the pie shell in a preheated 350 degree oven until lightly browned. Remove from the oven, and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Let the pie shell cool as you prepare the filling.
Heat the water, salt, and 1 1/2 cups of sugar in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Beat the yolks with 1/4 cup sugar and the cornstarch. Whisk until it is blended and smooth. When the water begins to boil, temper in about half the liquid into the yolks and whisk until blended. Add this back to the saucepan and bring to a boil whisking the whole time. When bubbles break the surface, reduce heat slightly and cook for about a minute.
Remove from heat and add in the lemon juice, softened butter, and grated lemon zest. Stir to blend and melt the butter. Pour this into the cooked pie shell. Begin making the merinuge and spread it over the top of the pie while the filling is still warm (don’t let the pie filling cool down first).
Place the meringue-topped pie into the preheated 400 degree oven and bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until the top is browned and the meringue springs back when touched lightly.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack until room temperature, then chill overnight before serving.
Serve chilled.
Mile High Meringue:
Begin beating the egg whites as soon as the filling is spread in the pie shell. When the whites are frothy and whitened, add in the cream of tartar. After soft peaks form, spoon in the sugar about a tablespoon at a time until all the sugar is used up and peaks form. You want stiff peaks but you don’t the meringue to be overwhipped and dry. Use in the recipe above as called for.
Chess Pie Chess Pie is a classic Southern dessert custard pie made with eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, with some recipes containing either/both cornmeal and vinegar. Open up a dozen different community cookbooks and you’ll find that many different versions of Chess Pie, or more. The origin of …read more