Double Pie Crust 02/19/2010
 Here are some little pie crust cups that are a very versatile conveyance of yummy goodness. They can be filled with sweet or savory deliciousness. Chocolate cream, lemon pudding, coconut cream, butterscotch, chicken, beef, or turkey pot pie filling. You are only limited by your imagination. They are big enough to share if you only want a little "taste" and if you want more, it is a Big bite...for one.  Start out with 2 cups of flour, sifted, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2/3 cup of shortening (I prefer King Arthur All purpose flour and Crisco shortening), and 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter. NOTE: This is my favorite pastry blender. The wire type is better than the type that has thick metal bent over. The wire type is much easier to clean. It is indispensable in making pie crust because it really blends the fat and flour into small pieces, which are needed to make flaky crust. You can also use it to make excellent deviled eggs. (Recipe to come soon.) Another note: To make really flaky crust, you need to keep all your ingredients very cold. So I put my flour in the freezer, and my shortening in the fridge. The water needs to be very cold also, so put it in the freezer, use water that has been in the fridge, or put ice in some water.  Put the fat in a big bowl.  Add flour and salt.  Take the pastry blender and work the fat and flour together. It is important to work fast so it doesn't warm up too much. You need to blend it into very small pieces. Do it now, because after you add the water, the less you work it the better. Otherwise it gets tough.  This is how it should look when you are done. Crumbly, little pieces. Now would be the time to add the water. Six to seven Tablespoons of ice cold water. I use seven Tablespoons because of my altitude and the fact I live in the desert. Start out with six and if it seems too dry add the last one. This is important because you can add but you can't take it out.  Here is the dough. This is a recipe for a double pie crust which means you have enough for two pieces, either two pies or a top and a bottom crust. This is half the recipe. As you can see, I have it on a floured surface and it is an oblong shape. I want it oblong because I am making smaller crusts than a normal pie. I don't want the dough to be tough so I want to "work" the dough as little as possible from now on.  Roll the dough to a little more than 1/4 inch thick, and long enough to make three circles per 1/2 crust recipe. I am using a cereal bowl for a cutter.  This is a extra large muffin tin that I have turned upside down and sprayed with non-stick spray. I molded the crusts around the cups and cut off any crust that hangs over too far. You don't want the crusts to touch. They will puff up a little.  Bake them in a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes...until they are nice and brown. They pop off from the muffin tin easily and then I cool them on the rack. Fill them with whatever makes your skirt fly up. These got chocolate pudding. A few days later. Then we ate them up as fast as we could. That is why there isn't a picture. Maybe next time. Double Pie Crust 2 cups of flour 1 tsp salt 2/3 cup shortening 2 Tab butter 6-7 Tab ice water Blend fats, salt and flour till it is small pea size pieces. Add water and mix just till incorporated. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness or a little more. Fit to pan (either cut for these muffin cups, or a regular pie tin). Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or till golden brown. Cool and fill with whatever you want. Enjoy! *-------------------* As an after-thought...it came to me that you can use a cookie cutter to make smaller circles and use the really small muffin tins the same way. (the 24 muffin size). Then you can put your "filling" in a piping bag and squirt it in the cups. THAT will stop any of that messy business going on outside the pastry cup. This makes it nice to take to a party as a "dish to pass" and displays well on tier plate, serving dishes. 1 Comment |
