No-Fail Buttery Flaky Pie Crust

So I've been trying different recipes for a good pie crust and just couldn't find one that I really liked until I came across this one. I really like it. It is easy to whip up and easy to roll out. Tastes great too!

Recipe from Kittencal@recipezazz Photo from chefgeorgehirsch.com

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups cake pastry flour 

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup butter, cubed and partially frozen

1/4 cup Shortening, cubed and partially frozen

1 egg yolk

7 Tbsp ice water

1 tsp vinegar

Directions

1. Using a food processor whirl the flour, sugar and salt for a couple of seconds. 

In a small bowl mix the egg, vinegar and ice water together, set aside.

Add in the partially frozen butter and shortening cubes into the flour mixture; pulse until well mixed and grainy looking. Add in the water/egg mixture slowly as you are pulsing. 

Process/pulse JUST until pieces of dough starts holding together. Do not over process. 

Dump out dough onto a lightly floured surface (the dough could be still very broken up at this point and not really formed dough yet) Gather all together and kneed about 5 times to make a nice complete ball of dough. Divide into two balls and wrap with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least 30 mins. I do mine the night before I want to use it. 

When ready to use, take out of fridge and let sit for about 10-15 mins at room temperature. 

An easy way to roll out the dough is in between two sheets of parchment paper (you will have to use a little bit of flour on the dough as well)

Note: If you don't have a food processor go get one because it's way easier (just kidding). Just mix first 4 ingredients in a large bowl and using a pastry cutter (or two knives) cut in the very cold butter and shortening until it is like tiny peas. Mix liquids in a small bowl and slowly add this to the flour mixture and blend together until moistened and dough holds together. 

You can use the reserved egg white to brush over your pie crust for a nice golden brown finish. Also helps bottom crusts not become soggy with a cream filling. 

Another tip is cover the fluted part of the pie crust with tinfoil so it doesn't cook faster than the rest of the pie and get too brown when making filled pies like pumpkin or pecan. Take off about the last 10 mins of cooking. 

Banana Cream Delight

I made this for a co-worker who wanted a banana dessert for the doctor she works for..who loves banana cream pie. (I have a recipe for that too on here). This turned out very yummy. I couldn't find macadamia nuts in my area so went for the pecans. I would like to try it with the macadamia nuts though..sounds so good. I did another one without nuts due to allergies. Both crusts were very good. Each layer is very yummy and all together it is just so very good! You could use this recipe and do whatever flavor you want instead of the banana...chocolate, coconut cream, pineapple, pistachio ..whatever. I got the recipe off of someones blog but apparently the recipe comes from a cookbook called  Hawai'i's Best Local Desserts cookbook. 

So good, you will want to try this one! 

Ingredients

Crust:

2 cups flour

1 cup butter or margarine

1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped fine (or pecans)

Preheat oven to 350. Blend flour and butter with pastry blender. (I used my food processor). Mix in 3/4 cup of the nuts, reserving 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top. Press into a lightly greased 9x13 pan. It may seem like a lot but once you press it down really good it's perfect. Cook in oven for 25 mins or until golden brown. Cool. 

Second Layer: 

1 package softened cream cheese (8oz)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 container of Cool Whip (half of 12 oz) You can also use whipping cream if you prefer. 

4-5 bananas. 

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until blended and smooth. Mix in Cool Whip. Spread over cooled crust. Slice the bananas evenly over cream cheese layer. 

Third Layer: 

2 packages instant vanilla pudding (3oz each)

3 cups cold whole milk (makes it nice and creamy)

Whip pudding with milk until it is set a bit and then spread over bananas. Be sure to seal all edges. 

Finally top with remaining Cool Whip or Whipping Cream. 

Sprinkle with nuts. 

Korean Beef Bowl

This was a yummy find that I tried and it is so easy and so very good! I want to try it with strips of beef instead of ground beef sometime. Maybe it will be a little leaner. 

Recipe is from Damn Delicious (adapted from Six Sisters' Stuff)

Ingredients

1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 tsp crushed red-pepper flakes, or more to taste

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pound lean ground beef

2 green onions, thinly sliced

Cooked rice, for serving

Instructions

In a bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and ginger. 

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 min. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 mins, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Stir in soy sauce mixture and green onions until well combined, allowing to simmer until heated through. 

Serve immediately with rice. 

So good! 

Saskatoon Berry Tarts

Yes these are as good as they look! My sister was over from Saskatoon and loves these berries so I decided to make Saskatoon berry tarts. I've made them once before and they are seriously so yummy! The orginal recipe and picture come from joinmefordinner. I did do some adaptations to it. 

You can use pre-made tart shells if you would like or use the recipe below. It whips up pretty fast and easy. You can also use a tart pan. The pastry recipe below will make enough for 2 crust pie or 8 4-inch tart pans or approx 20-24 tarts. (I use a small plastic container to cut out the pastry dough for the tarts..it's a 2 cup container)

Pastry Crust

2 C flour

1 tsp salt

1 C chilled butter

1 Tbsp vinegar

1/3 C milk

- Put flour and salt in food processor and pulse. 

- Cube butter, then add to flour in processor bowl and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. 

- Add vinegar to milk. Add all at once to flour mixture. Pulse until it just forms a ball. 

- Remove and divide into two balls. If you are not using both right away wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate.

If doing tart shells. Roll out the first round disc of dough on a slightly floured clean surface until 1/8-1/4 of an inch. Cut out rounds with plastic container. Carefully push work them into a muffin tin making sure they are all the way to the bottom. They will shrink about half their size so you want to make sure you have it all the way to the top. Do the same for the second disc of dough. 

Prick the bottom of each tart with a fork a couple times. Bake at 375 for about 15-20 mins or until nice and golden brown. Cool. 

Filling:

8 oz Cream Cheese (room temperature)

2 lemons zested 

1 lemon squeezed for the juice. (or 1 tsp lemon extract)

4 Tbsp sugar

4 Tbsp heavy cream. 

Blend the cream cheese well with a hand or stand mixer. Scrapping down sides often then blending again until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and blend well until nice and fluffy. Cover bottom of each tart shell with mixture. 

Topping: (This makes extra but it's really good on ice cream as well)

5 cups Saskatoons

1-1/2 cups water

1/2 cup sugar

3 Tbsp corn starch

- Add 1 1/2 cups of berries to 1 1/2 cups of water in a saucepan. Simmer for about 5 mins mashing the berries as it simmers with a potato masher. 

- Strain the juice from the pulp reserving the juice and putting juice back into the saucepan. Discard pulp. 

- Combine sugar and cornstarch and add to juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture is thick and clear. 

- Add remaining Saskatoons to glaze and stir gently. 

- Cool, then fill tarts. Garnish with a dollop of whipped cream if desired. 

Stone Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

These are seriously so good! I took it to a party one time and they all loved it. There is a lot of cutting but it is worth it, believe me. Such a great Summer treat! Thanks to the Cooking Channel for the recipe. 

Salsa:

6 cups chopped mixed stone fruit (apricots, cherries, peaches, plums, nectarines)

I also put in strawberries and mango. 

2 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp minced fresh basil

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of salt

Cinnamon Chips:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

6 (8-inch) flour tortillas

4 tbsp (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted

Directions: 

For the salsa: In a large mixing bowl, combine the fruit, honey, basil, lemon juice, cinnamon and salt. Stir to coat the fruit evenly. Try not to stir too much as it may make the fruit mushy. Taste and season accordingly. Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

For the chips: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Brush both sides of the flour tortillas with the melted butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over both sides of the tortillas. Cut the tortillas into 8 wedges. Place on a baking sheet and bake until crisp, about 20 mins, flipping half way through. Serve with the fruit salsa.

Strawberry Cake

With Summer upon us and strawberries being the going thing I wanted to try a strawberry cake. Not too many don't love the yummy taste of strawberries. I did one for my dad's birthday which is not this recipe but it was from scratch and it just seemed very dense and dry to me although some said they loved it. I wanted to try a boxed version and this one turned out really soft and light -I'm trying to avoid saying moist but it's hard to describe it any other way...because that's just what it is..moist (sorry anti moist people)

You could do a lemon cream cheese frosting on this too which would be super good!

This recipe comes from www.callmepmc.com.

Ingredients

1 pkg white cake mix

1 (3oz) pkg strawberry jello gelatin 

1 cup mashed or finely chopped strawberries (I used thawed out frozen with some fresh added and blended in my food processor for a bit but not too much. you want some small chunks. 

1/2 cup whole milk

1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil - the original recipe called for 1 cup but I found it too much.

4 large eggs. 

Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese

1/2 cup butter, room temp

3 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar or more to taste and thickness

3/4 cup fresh strawberries, mashed or chopped fine (I just used more strawberry gelatin to taste and garnished with strawberries)

Instructions

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray pans with non-stick spray. Line the pans with parchment paper on the bottom and spray again. 

2. Place the cake mix, jello, oil, milk and eggs in a large bowl and mix 3 mins stopping to scrap down sides of bowl often. Fold in strawberries. 

3. Divide batter evenly among layer pans or  pour into a 9x13 pan. Cook according to chart below. Cool on rack until almost completely cool.  Remove cake onto the racks and cool completely. 

4. For Cream Cheese Frosting: Mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Sift sugar and add one cup full at a time to cream mixture. Add strawberries or jello powder and incorporate completely. Cover cake. 

Note: 

Cooking times for pan size

2- 9 inch round 28-31mins

2 - 8 inch round 30-33 mins

3 - 8 inch rounds 28-30 mins

9x13 28-30 mins

Rhubarb Custard Bars

Rhubarb season! I grew up eating it every Summer and love it. I usually did the same cake or crumble so I wanted to branch out this year and try a new recipe. This was so good! 

It got rave reviews from family and friends. I definitely will be making this one again and again. This recipe came from Taste of Home.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup cold butter

Filling:

2 cups sugar

7 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup heavy whipping cream

3 eggs, beaten

5 cups finely chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb, thawed and drained

Topping: 

Cream cheese 6 oz - 3/4 of a brick, softened 

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped

Directions:

1. In a bowl, combine the flour and sugar; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. (I use my food processor for this with the blade). It will look somewhat dry. Press into a greased 13x9 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 for 10 mins. 

2. Meanwhile, for filling, combine sugar and flour in a bowl. Whisk in cream and beaten eggs. Stir in the rhubarb. Pour over crust. Bake at 350 for 45-60 mins or until the custard is set in the middle. Cool.

3. For topping, beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth; fold in whipped cream. Spread over top. Cover and chill. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator.