I have been experimenting with making various pies the last few months. Mostly I have been making apple pie however, today I dared to try something new and made a fresh strawberry pie. This pie was delicious! The recipe did call for frozen strawberries but I did add the extra touch and used fresh strawberries. When I bake I like to make everything from scratch therefore, everything in this pie along with everything on this blog was 100% homemade. I did alter the crust on the pie quite a bit for this recipe. For this strawberry pie I stuck with doing a classic woven pie crust. On the other hand, the recipe had a crumble like crust. I will include both recepies for the crust in this post!
I first started with the crust here is the recipe I used for the pie I made!
Crust:
1 1/4 Cup Flour
1/4 Tsp Salt
1/2 Cup Butter (Chilled and Diced)
1/4 Cup Ice Water
1. In a large bowl combine flour, and salt. Next add in the butter, either cutting it into cubes or shredding the butter with a cheese grater. This will make sure that there are no large chunks of butter in the crust.
2. Next add the water. It may not seem like this is enough water but I assure you that this is plenty. Once you have added the water it is time to get dirty. Go in with your hands and combine all the ingredients together. The heat from your hand will slowly melt the butter therefore, this may take a few minutes for the dough to combine.
3. Roll dough into two separate balls and wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge while you create the pie.
Strawberry Pie:
4 Cups Strawberries
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Flour
1 Tbs Cornstarch
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place a cookie sheet or a pan to catch any drippings that may fall from the pie.
2. Clean and hull the strawberries and place them into a bowl and set aside. In a different bowl mix together sugar, flour, and cornstarch. Gently toss mixture over berries being sure to have all the berries coated. Make sure that you do not crush the berries when mixing it together. For this step I personally used my hands to gently toss the berries.
3. Now it is time to take the pie crust dough out of the fridge. Be sure to dust a rolling surface with flour so the dough does not stick. Roll the dough out into desired thickness and fit the 9 inch pie plate. Pinching the edges together to make the circle of the pie. Set aside the left over dough, you will need this later.
4. Take your strawberry mixture and poor into pie shell. Make sure that you evenly distribute the strawberries to ensure a delicious strawberry in each bite. At this point I did a light dusting of white sugar over top the strawberries.
5. Next, to seal the pie with the top crust. You may choose to do the crust which ever way you wish. For this pie I chose to do a weave crust. What ever way you choose to do the pie, make sure it is evenly rolled out with the same thickness throughout.
6. Time to let the oven take over! Put the pie in at 400 for 20 minutes then reduce heat to 375 and cook for an additional 40 minutes.
Here original crust recipe for this pie!
3/4 Cups White Sugar
3/4 Cups Flour
6 Tbs Butter
1 Pinch Ground Nutmeg
1. Combine all ingredients together. Once pie filling has been placed into pie shell cover berries with crumbs and place in the oven.
Note: No matter what crust you choose to top your pie with it will most likely have the same cooking time as well as temperature.
Enjoy Making This Yummy Pie it is Sure to be a Hit
I was given some really neat cookie cutters for Christmas this year! Better late then never I thought I would try them out. I found a delicious recipe for a sugar cookie with a cinnamon kick. You could make these cookies in any shape, stars, hearts or in this case a moose. This has to be one of my favourite cookie cutters I have ever used. However, if you choose to use a cookie cutter like a moose you must keep in mind that you wont make as many cookies as the recipe estimates because the size of the cutter. With every sugar cookie it is important to chill the dough, this recipe is no different. Chilling the batter will make it easier to cut the shapes from the dough. Get creative with decorating the cookies, icing and sprinkles are super fun and add a colourful touch!
Animal Cookies:
3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter (Room Temp)
1 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 1/4 Cup Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1. Beat butter for a minute by itself. Slowly, add in sugar mixing until fluffy and light.
And add in eggs and vanilla extract.
2. In a separate bowl combine, the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Then go in with your hands and combine all ingredients.
3. Roll dough into two separate balls wrap with plastic wrap and store in fridge for two hours or over night.
4. Roll dough out on to a floured surface. Kneed the dough until soft. Now you can begin cutting out your shapes!
5. Put cookies on a greased cookie sheet and place in a oven preheated to 350 for 5-10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.
6. If you choose to decorate your cookies be sure that they are completely cooled before you begin.
I was a little bored the other night so I decided to make a chocolate cake...just because. This chocolate cake recipe is very straight forward and tastes way better than those boxed cake mixes. This cake would make a great birthday cake, dessert cake or a cake just because. This cake was super moist and not overly chocolatey! Do not be afraid to make a cake from scratch its super simple! Give this one a try!
Chocolate Cake:
2/3 Cup Butter (Softened)
1 2/3 Cups Sugar
3 Eggs
2 Cups Flour
2/3 Cup Baking Coco
1 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/3 Cup Milk
1. Firstly, whip together butter and sugar. When butter and sugar become fluffy add in egg and mix together.
2. Secondly, with electric mixer gradually add in flour, coco, baking soda and salt. Ensure that batter is smooth with no chunks.
3. Lastly, slowly add in milk and mix with electric mixer for three minutes.
4. Poor batter into a pan shape of your choice. Do not forget to grease pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and cook for 30-40 minutes.
You may choose to ice the cake or eat as is.
If you would like to ice the cake here is the icing recipe I used!
Seven Minute Icing:
1 1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Corn Syrup
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
1/3 Cup Water
2 Egg Whites
1 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1. In a double broiler mix together: sugar, corn syrup, salt, water, and egg white. Mix with an electric mixer for exactly one minute.
2. Place the top half of the double broiler on top of the boiling water. With electric mixer beat on medium for seven minutes. In the seven minutes you should notice the icing getting thicker and extremely sticky.
3. After the seven minutes remove from the broiler and add in the vanilla extract. Mix well with the electric mixer. You may find you want to mix the icing for a few more minutes off the boiling water to thicken it up a bit more. However, as the icing dries it will become rather thick and sticky.
4. Feel free to add in food coloring after the vanilla to give it a pop of color!
Pistachio's are one of the many nuts that I love!! I had never baked with pistachios before so I thought I would try it out. However, there were not as many recipes as I had hoped for. On my search for recipes I stumbled across a Dark Chocolate, Pistachio & Smoked Sea Salt cookie. I instantly was excited as I am always willing to try something new so I decided to bake a batch! Surprisingly, the cookies turned out delicious! The sea salt paired with the chocolate really gave that sweet and salty flavour. I however, did make some changed to the recipe because I did not have all the ingredients needed. For example, instead of dark chocolate I substituted milk chocolate as well as, smoked salt I used regular corse sea salt. These alterations did not change the flavour of the cookie drastically. Try these cookies out they are amazing if you are wanting to give something new a try!
Dark Chocolate, Pistachio & Smoked Sea Salt Cookies:
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter (Room Temp)
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar (Packed)
1 Large Egg
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/4 Cups Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 Cups Chocolate Chip (Dark)
1 Cup Shelled Pistachios (Coarsely Chopped)
Smoked Sea Salt (For Topping)
1. Start by mixing together: butter, sugar, brown sugar until fluffy. Let sit for round five minutes. Slowly add in egg, and vanilla and mix for roughly a minute. This ensures that each ingredient is mixed in well.
2. Next, incorporate flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add to previous mixture all at once.
3. Now it is time to add in the chocolate chips and mix well then toss in the shelled pistachios. And make sure that everything in evenly mixed threw-out
4. Roll into little balls and place on a greased cookie sheet. Topping the cookies with a few crystals of the smoked sea salt.
5. Place in oven preheated to 300 degrees and bake for around 15-18 minutes. Let cook on cookie sheet then transfer over to cooking rack.
Today I thought I would post something thats a bit different than my usual posts. Normally, I post recipes that are more on the sweeter side. However, today I am going to post the recipe for delicious yorkshire pudding. I had made a roast beef dinner complete with potato, corn and salad. There was something missing so I made the decision to whip up some yorkshire pudding. Yorkshire pudding is not difficult to make but it compliments a roast beef dinner beautifully. All you need are a few basic everyday ingredients! Heres the recipe!
Yorkshire Pudding:
1 1/3 Cup Flour
1 Cup Homogenized or 2% Milk
4 Eggs
1 Cup of Water
1/3 Cup Roast Beef Drippings or Butter
1. In a large bowl mix together: flour, milk, and eggs.
2. Gradually add in water to the flour, milk and egg mixture. Mix until bubbly and combined completely.
3. Spray muffin tins with a non stick spray. Place greased tins into oven (empty) at 400 degrees.
4. Add beef drippings into the batter mixture. Whisk batter again insuring all ingredients are combined.
5. Fill warm muffin trays half full and cook for 15-20 minutes. Until golden brown.
Enjoy these yummy treats next time you have a roast beef dinner.
This cookie is the best of both worlds. Who doesn't like jam and cookies! The sweet taste of the jam mixed with the sugar cookie makes for a delicious treat. I was making these cookies for my grandmas birthday and they were sure a hit. You can make them in any shape! You will need two of the same cookie cutter shapes, one large and one small. First, roll the dough out and cut out cookies in desired shape. Then, take the smaller cookie cutter and place in the middle of the large cookie and cut the middle out. Bake cookies let cool on cookie tray then transfer to cooling rack. When cookies are completely cooled you can place the icing and jam in the middle of the cookies and stick together. Place cookies in the fridge to bind them together. Try them out.
Jam Rings
1 Cup Butter Softened
3/4 Cups Sugar
1 Egg Yolk Lightly Beaten
2 Tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Flour
A Pinch of Salt
1 Egg White Lightly Beaten (to brush over cookies)
Filling:
4 Tbsp Butter Softened
1 Cup Confectioners Sugar
5 Tbsp Strawberry or Raspberry Jam Warmed
1. Place butter and sugar into a large bowl and mix together until light and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl combine: egg yolk, and vanilla. Once mixed together add to sugar and butter mixture.
3. Next, slowly add flour with electric mixer. Once mixed toss in a pinch of salt.
4. Roll dough into two separate balls and place into fridge for at least an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a floured surface roll out dough. Cut out shapes and place to the side. After cutting the dough evenly divided the cookies. Take half the cookies and place the smaller cookie cutter in the middle and cut the shape out. Bake cookies for 7 minutes. At the end of the seven minutes take out cookies and spread egg yolk over cookies with a brush and sprinkle with sugar. Place back in oven for an additional 5-8 minutes.
6. While cookies are cooling you can mix together the filling. Simply add soft butter and confectioners sugar together to make a icing texture.
7. Lastly, you can now put the cookies together. Smooth a thin layer of the icing all over the whole cookie adding heated jam on top. Next, place the cookie with the centre missing and place it on top the jam filling. Put cookie in the fridge for filling to try.
E N J O Y
Better late then never they say... so here are my version of Valentine cookies. I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day! I made my boyfriend some tasty heart cookies, and you should definitely try these out for any occasion. They are a simple yet scrumptious treat. I cut them into heart shapes but you could cut them into any shape you want. The dough is a simple sugar cookie, and you can decorate them as you wish. A great way to get children involved is to get them to help you out with the decorating!
"I Love You' Vanilla Cookies:
1 2/3 Cup Flour
2/3 Cup Butter
2/3 Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two cookie sheets
2. Add ingredients in order as listed
3. Roll dough into two balls and refrigerate for an hour minimum
4. On a floured surface roll out the dough. Using cookie cutters cut out the dough into desired shapes. Place on cookie sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes.
5. Let cool on cooling racks. Wait till cookies are completely cooled before decorated. Add icing, sprinkles and candy.
Here is the recipe for the icing I used:
2/3 Cups Soften Butter
4 Cups Icing Sugar
2 Tbs Milk
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
4 Drops of food coloring
1. Mix butter and icing sugar together until combined well
2. Add milk and vanilla mix until a thick paste and add in food coloring
H a v e F u n D e c o r a t i n g!
With spring just around the corner it is time to start baking with a spring flavour! I love cupcakes however, they are one of those things that I do not bake a lot of. There are such a wide range of cupcake styles and flavours. Elegant to the classic chocolate cupcake, cupcakes are a great treat no matter how old you are. These orange cupcakes are a refreshing spring citrus taste with a sweet frosting topping. The grated orange peel in both, the cake and icing leaves such a cooling spring breeze of taste in your mouth. Start Spring off with a bang and try these delicious fresh orange cupcakes!
Orange Cupcakes:
CAKE
1 Cup Sugar
1 Whole Egg
2 Egg Yolks
1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil
2 Cups Flour
2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cup Orange Juice
2 Teaspoon Grated Orange Rind
FROSTING
1 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
4 Tablespoons Butter
1 Teaspoon Grated Orange Rind
1/2 Teaspoon Orange Juice
1 Tablespoon Coconut Milk
Carrot Cake!
Today I had a day off and decided it would be a perfect day to have a baking day. I was sent a carrot cake recipe and decided to make it. I am trying to bake things I have not baked before and carrot cake would be one of them. Firstly, I made sure I had all the ingredients. I had all but one...oil, but do not fear you can substitute oil with butter. I began to make the batter which is a very simple basic batter. As usual, I prefer to combine all my dry and wet ingredients separately. Sugar, flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in one bowl. Wet ingredients in another bowl carrot, raisins, and or walnuts. The recipes instructs to add raisins or walnuts, in the cake I made decided to add the cup of raisins as well as a handful of walnuts. However, I must say the icing on the cake made it. The light taste of cream cheese compliments the carrot, raisins and walnut flavour. You can also make this cake into muffins just by putting the batter in muffin pans. This cake was fantastic! I would highly recommend you try this cake you will love it!
Carrot Cake:
CAKE:
2 Cups Sugar
2 Cups Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Raisins or Chopped Walnuts
3 Teaspoons Cinnamon
4 Eggs
1 1/4 Cup Oil
3 Cups Grated Carrots
ICING:
2 Tablespoon Butter
2 Teaspoon Vanilla
1/3 Cup Cream Cheese
1 3/4 Cup Icing Sugar
1. Start with mixing all dry ingredients: sugar, flour, baking soda, salt and, cinnamon.
2. In a separate bowl combine: rains, eggs, oil and carrots.
3. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry and mix with a mixer till combined.
4. Place in oven preheated to 350 and bake for 45 minutes
5. While cake is cooking, it is now time to prepare the icing. Simply mix soft butter in with, vanilla, soft cream cheese as well as icing sugar to make a thick consistently.
E N J O Y
It is official...I am addicted to baking pie! In a previous post I had made my very first apple pie and it turned out surprisingly well. So I thought I would try to make another pie. I decided to make a peach pie. I baked it for my grandma she is the baker in the family. Therefore, I was a little bit nervous as she is a fantastic baker. I can count on my grandma to give me an honest answer on how it tasted. She said for my second pie it was delicious. I love the almost custard texture that is created when baking a peach pie. I would have much rather used fresh peaches, however I did not have any at the time so I used frozen pieces instead. The crust recipe was a little bit different than the one for the apple pie. Although, I still took the extra time to grate the frozen butter instead of cutting it into chunks. This just ensures that the crust will come out flakey and there will be no chunks of butter that will create holes in the crust. Just like the other crust place in fridge to chill for a half an hour to a full hour. Next, the filling very simply mix together in a large bowl: peaches, sugar, flour and lemon juice. I would highly recommend this pie it was delicious topped with whip cream made for a fantastic dessert.
Peach Pie
CRUST:
2 1/2 Cups Flour
3/4 Teaspoon Salt
2/3 Cups Cold Unsalted Butter
1/3 Cup Cold Lard
1/2 Cups Cold Water
FILLING:
6 Cups Sliced Pitted Firm Ripe Peaches (or Frozen Peaches)
2/3 Cups Sugar
1/4 Cups Flour
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Mix flour, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. With a cheese grater, grate in butter and add lard and add water
4. Time to get your hands dirty and kneed all ingredients together to make a dough. Separate dough into two balls and place in plastic wrap and let cool in freezer for a minimum of a half hour.
5. While the crust is chilling time to start with the filling. Simply add peaches, sugar, flour, and lemon juice and mix together.
6. When crust has been chilled roll out into a circle to fit your pie plate. Pinching into a circle creating a pie bottom crust shape.
7. Place peach filling into the pie plate with bottom crust.
8. Roll out second ball of dough place over peach filling and pinch together the bottom and top crust. Make sure to cut a few holes into the middle of the pie so the pie can breath. Sprinkle sugar over top to create a sweet crunch.
9. Place pie into the oven and immediately turn the oven down to 350 degrees place pie on the middle rack and bake for thirty to fifty minutes or until golden brown
|
RSS Feed