1. With the heel of your hand, press dough into a pie plate. Use a glass pie plate so you can easily judge the thickness of the dough.
2. Hold the pie plate up to the light to check the thickness of the dough; it should be translucent, not opaque. Pay attention to the curved edges.
3. Roll the reserved dough into three 8-inch ropes. Arrange the ropes around the perimeter of the pie plate, leaving about 1-inch) gaps between them.
4. Squeeze the ropes together.
5. Create a fluted edge, dipping your fingers in flour if the dough is sticky.
No-Fear Pie crust
The pastry can be pressed into the pie plate and refrigerated for up to two days or double-wrapped in plastic and frozen for up to a month. Once baked and cooled, the shell can be wrapped tightly in plastic and stored at room temperature for up to 1 day. This recipe works with any type of filling. From Cook’s Country magazine, makes one 9-inch pie shell.
Ingredients
Directions
Lightly coat a 9-inch Pyrex pie plate with cooking spray. Whisk flour, sugar and salt together in bowl.
With electric mixer at medium-high speed, beat butter and cream cheese in large bowl, stopping once or twice to scrape down beater and sides of bowl, until completely homogenous, about 2 minutes. Add flour mixture and combine on medium-low until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal, about 20 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat until dough begins to form large clumps, about 30 seconds. Reserve 3 tablespoons of dough. Turn remaining dough onto lightly floured surface, gather into ball, and flatten to 6 inch dish. Transfer disk to greased pie plate.
Press dough evenly over bottom of pie plate toward sides, using heel of your hand. Hold plate up to light to ensure that dough is evenly distributed (see Photo No.2 above). With your fingertips, continue to work dough over bottom of plate and up sides until evenly distributed.
On floured surface, roll reserve dough into 12-inch rope. Divide into three pieces, roll each piece into 8-inch rope, and form fluted edge (Photos 3 through 5). Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly prick bottom of crust with fork. Bake until golden brown, 35-40 minutes. Cool on wire rack. (If large bubbles form, wait until crust is fully baked, then gently press on bubbles with kitchen towel. Bubbles will settle as crust cools).
Macaroon Crusts with Chocolate Ganache
From the November 2004 issue of Real Simple magazine, makes 4 tarts or one 9-inch pie..
Ingredients
Crust:
Chocolate Ganache filling:
Directions
Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, combine coconut with egg whites and pulse until well-ground. Lightly coat four 4-inch tart pans with cooking spray. Press coconut into tart pans using a firm hand, working over the bottom and up the sides. Bake until coconut turns golden around the edges and is set in the center, 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and invert tins immediately on a rack.
Filling: Place chocolate in a bowl. In a small saucepan, heat cream until just under a boil. Pour over chocolate and let stand about 5 minutes. Whisk to combine. Stir in corn syrup. Spoon chocolate into macaroon crusts. Let cool about 1 hour. (The chocolate will set as it cools). Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Tip: If using a 9-inch dish, increase baking time to 25 minutes. Let cool completely in the pan and don’t invert before serving.
Pretzel Crust with Peanut Butter Fudge
Reminiscent of a Reese’s Cup, this pie combines salty and sweet. The crust comes from cooks.com and the filling from “Pie Pie Pie.” Makes one 9-inch pie.
Ingredients
Crust:
Filling:
Directions
Crust: Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Press firmly on bottom and sides of 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool.
Filling: Put cream cheese and peanut butter in a large bowl and beat vigorously, using a hand-held mixer or big wooden spoon, until well-blended and smooth. Combine powdered sugar and cocoa, then sift over cream cheese mixture. Beat vigorously until smooth and evenly mixed. Beat in condensed milk and vanilla.
Pour cream into medium bowl and whip with an electric mixer or rotary beater until it stands in soft peaks. Scoop cream on top of peanut better mixture and, using a rubber spatula or big wooden spoon, fold in cream just until you see no drifts of unblended cream.
Scoop filling into crust, making decorative swirls with the back of a spoon. Refrigerate 4-6 hours or overnight.
Almond Crust with Summer Fresh Fruit Tart
This tart is perfect for warm weather. The shell is flavorful and crisp and holds up nicely even when filled with juicy fruit. You can substitute whatever fruit is in season. Adapted from “The All-American Dessert Book” by Nancy Baggett, makes about 8 servings.
Ingredients
Crust:
Filling:
Fruit:
Ingredients
Crust: Grease 10-by-1-inch tart pan with a removable bottom or 14-15 small tart pans. In a food processor or mixer bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Pulse or stir several times. Sprinkle butter and almonds over flour. (If using a mixer, chop almonds first.) Pulse or mix until butter is evenly incorporated, almonds are chopped fairly fine, and mixture has consistency of fine meal. Sprinkle over 1/2 tablespoon of ice water, pulsing or mixing until mixture begins to hold together. (Press between your fingertips to check). If mixture seems too dry, sprinkle 1/2 to 1 tablespoon more ice water over dough and pulse or mix until just incorporated.
Firmly and evenly press dough into bottom and up sides of tart pan(s), smoothing it into indentations. Cover and freeze until cold and firm, about 20 minutes, or refrigerate for about 40 minutes.
Position rack in middle of oven and preheat to 375 degrees. Prick dough all over with a fork. Cover dough with a large (or small pieces for tartlets ) sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil coated with nonstick spray (or use nonstick foil), oiled side down, smoothing the foil into bottom and up sides and wrapping excess foil out over pan edges to cover dough. For large tart, fill foil with dried beans, spreading them so they extend up pan sides. Skip the beans for the small tarts. Set pan(s) on a rimmed baking sheet.
Bake 20 minutes. Carefully remove foil and beans. Prick dough bottom again. Reposition rack in lower third of oven. Bake dough until tinged with brown on bottom and golden brown on edges, 8-13 minutes for large tart, 4-8 minutes for small ones. Transfer to a wire rack. Let cool. The tart shell will keep, stored airtight, at room temperature for up to 24 hours.
Filling: In a food processor, combine sugar and lemon zest and process until sugar is pale yellow, about 1 minute. Add sour cream, vanilla and almond extract and process just until free of lumps, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add cream cheese and pulse just until mixture is completely smooth; don’t overprocess. Turn out filling into tart shell, smoothing surface. Refrigerate, covered, until well chilled and slightly firm, at least 1 1/2 hours and up to 24 hours.
Fruit: Pat fruit dry on paper towels. Arrange fruit, alternating colors and shapes, in slightly overlapping concentric circles over filling, pressing down lightly to embed. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 hours. If desired, just before serving, stir preserves until fluid, or if necessary, heat in microwave a few seconds until fluid. Using a dough brush, lightly brush fruit with preserves. Slices with large sharp knife dipped in hot water and wiped clean between cuts.
Crumb Crust with Blackberry Sour Cream
This system of slightly cooking the berries in sugar and water and then spreading them over a sour cream custard – which will remind you of cheesecake – works equally well with pitted cherries. From “Pie Pie Pie” by John Phillip Carroll (Chronicle, $19.95),
Ingredients
Crumb crust:
Blackberry layer:
Directions
Crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine crumbs, sugar and salt in a medium bowl; stir and toss with a fork. Add butter and stir vigorously until blended and all crumbs are moistened. Alternately, you may combine ingredients in a food processor and whirl until blended. With your fingers, press and pat mixture over bottom and sides of a 9-inch pan, building crumbs up just above rim of pan and being sure not to make sides too thick. Spread uneven spots with the back of spoon.
Before filling crust, bake it 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely before filling.
Sour cream custard: Preheat oven to 325. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt until smooth. Pour into cooled pie shell and bake 35-40 minutes, or until custard is set and doesn’t have a liquidy jiggle when the pan is moved. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature. If you want, refrigerate pie for several hours at this point, before spreading the berries over the custard.
Berries: In medium-sized saucepan, combine sugar and water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and add berries. Cook gently 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until berries soften and exude some juice. In a small cup or bowl, stir cornstarch and water together until smooth, then add to simmering berry mixture and boil gently 1 minute, until slightly thickened. Set aside to cool 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Spoon berries over custard, spreading them all the way to the edge. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight if you wish, before serving.
Chocolate Crumb Crust with Orange Chiffon
Have you tried pouring a little orange liqueur over chocolate pudding, or adding it to a chocolate mousse recipe? Here a chocolate crumb crust meets an orange chiffon filling. Made without beaten egg whites, this pie is particularly rich, depending as it does solely on whipped cream for lightness. Garnish with grated or shaved semisweet chocolate, and serve with additional whipped cream. To make 1 1/2 cups of crumbs, you will need approximately 14 whole graham crackers, 30 gingersnaps, 50 vanilla wafers, 35 chocolate wafers, or 12 biscotti. From “Pie Pie Pie,” this recipe makes one 9-inch pie.
Ingredients
Crumb crust:
Filling:
Directions
Crust: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine crumbs, sugar and salt in a medium bowl; stir and toss with a fork. Add butter and stir vigorously until blended and all crumbs are moistened. Alternately, you may combine ingredients in a food processor and whirl until blended. With your fingers, press and pat mixture over bottom and sides of a 9-inch pan, building crumbs up just above rim of pan and being sure not to make sides too thick. Spread uneven spots with the back of spoon.
Before filling crust, bake it 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely before filling.
Filling: In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, sprinkle gelatin over orange juice and lemon juice. Stir with a fork, and let stand for a few minutes to soften gelatin. Add sugar, egg yolks, orange zest and salt and whisk until blended. Whisk in milk. Cook over moderate heat, whisking almost constantly. After 3-4 minutes, mixture will become foamy. Cook 3-5 minutes longer, until it has thickened slightly and you see wisps of steam rising; do not allow it to boil. Pour immediately into a large bowl. Refrigerate, whisking about every 10 minutes, until mixture feels cool and a spoonful of it lifted and dropped back onto the surface leaves a small mound. Depending on the size and depth of your bowl, this will take 1-2 hours (longer than most chiffon mixtures). Stir in orange liqueur, if using.
About 5-10 minutes before you anticipate the orange mixture to be ready, in a medium bowl, whip cream until it forms stiff peaks. Scoop cream over orange mixture and, using a rubber spatula, fold the two together quickly yet gently, until there are no drifts of unblended cream. Pour mixture into pie crust, mounding it in center. Chill for several hours before serving.
