Dainty Ruffle Shop

Basic Pie Dough

Making pie dough is not that hard, especially with the right recipe.  Well I found that recipe for you, and I probably use this recipe for all my pies. I included a recipe for both a 9-inch pie shell and for a 9-inch pie shell with a top.

Basic Pie Dough- 9-inch pie shell

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3-4 tablespoons cold water (cold is very important)

Basic Pie Dough - 9-inch two-crust pie

This is for a pie crust with a top
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
6-7 tablespoons cold water


Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl, add the shortening and work it into the flour. I use a pastry blender although you can use two knives or your fingertips and work the shortening into the mixture until it resembles fresh bread crumbs. Sprinkle on the water, a tablespoon at a time, stirring lightly with a fork after each addition. Use enough water so that the dough hold together.

To roll it;  Form the dough into a flattened ball. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface (I used a  silicone mat) until it is about 1/8 inch thick and 2 inches larger then your inverted pie pan. You can roll it between to sheets of wax paper and transfer it by peeling back 1 piece of the wax paper and draping it over the pan, and then peeling the other piece of wax paper off. Any way you do it, transfer the dough to the pan (I rolled mine in the silicone mat and unrolled it into the pie pan), then trim and crimp the edge for an unbaked pie shell.

To fully bake the pie shell, preheat the oven to 425°F. Press heavy-duty tin foil snugly to the bottom and sides of the shell to keep the dough from shrinking during baking. Place in the upper third of the over and bake for 6 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for 8 - 10 minutes more, until light brown, dry and crisp. Total baking time is 14-16 minutes.

To partially bake it, follow the instruction above, but when you remove the foil only bake it for 4 minutes instead of 8-10.

Simple Cream Pie (Pudding Pie)

This might not be the prettiest pie in all the world, but it sure is yummy! Now the recipe book says it is a cream pie, but everyone kept calling it a pudding pie. It is perfectly smooth,  and almost has a sweet caramel flavor.

Cream Pie
(Adapted from Fannie Farmer Baking Book, pg 112)

Basic Pie Dough (recipe) for a 9-inch pie shell

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

3 cups evaporated milk (I added some water to my can of condensed milk to make it 3 cups)

4 egg yolks, slightly beaten

4 tablespoons (1/2 a stick or 1/4 cup) butter, softened

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425°F

Line the pie pan with the rolled-out dough, prick all over with a fork, and press a piece of heavy-duty foil snugly into the pie shell. Bake at 425°F for 6 minutes, remove foil, and continue baking for about 10 minutes, until light brown, dry, and crisp.

 

Combine the sugar, flour, and salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, and stir them together with a wire whisk until thoroughly mixed. Continue to whisk as you add the milk by droplets at first, then in a continuous stream. Whisk in the egg yolks, over a medium heat, stirring or whisking constantly, until the mixture boils. Reduce heat and beat in the butter and vanilla. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the filling and let it cool for about 15 minutes. Remove plastic, stir the filling well and pour it into the pie shell.

Serve the pie directly after you fill it, or do not fill the pie until ready to serve (give or take a couple hours).

The pie is best served at room temperature, but any leftovers should be refrigerated.

I decorated it with a dollop of cool whip, although you can cover the whole pie with cool whip or whipped cream before serving.

100% Whole Wheat, Whole Grain Bagel Recipe

It's hard finding 100% Whole Grain recipes, typically it half whole wheat flour, half white flour. It's even harder to find a completely whole grain bagel recipe, but I wouldn't take no for an answer! So I went on a search to find a 100 % Whole Grain Bagel recipe. I have made bagels before, so the process wasn't new for me. Bagels are the one thing that are easy enough to achieve bakery perfection. 

Now this whole grain bagel recipe, doesn't taste completely bakery, but I blame the whole wheat flour. Plus creating a biga and soaker that was left over night gave it a slightly sourdough bread taste. But don't let this discourage you from trying this recipe!

 I did do some variations, which included fresh blueberries and sugar, and cinnamon sugar. 

Now I feel like the recipe is too long to include in here, so I'm going add a link to the recipe. Plus I don't know the blog rules of re-posting a recipe.

100% Whole Wheat Bagel Recipe

http://jugalbandi.info/2008/02/100-whole-wheat-bagels/

Blueberry!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!!!

After my years and years of searching, I found it! The perfect chocolate chip cookie, fluffy, but not overly, chewy, but still crunchy. It even has the uneven texture of a big bakery cookie that we all love so much. Not only can you make these small, but as the bigger they get, the better they look!

I actually researched different recipes, all kind of brands, with different methods. I looked and tried Hershey, nestle,  bakers,  and all others that I forgot their names. Surprisingly they were basically all the same, actually the only difference I saw was the different amount dozens they yield. One Hershey book actually had the same recipe twice, pages apart, with different titles and the instructions slightly mixed up. Talk about the Great Chocolate Chip Cookie Scam. I'm sure you are sick of my ramblings of horrible-OK recipes, and you're just here for the best cookies! Be prepared to be amazed....

Onto the recipe!

I personally weighed the ingredients, use your own judgement.
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Source: Baking Illustrated)

Makes 18 Cookies
(I made some cookies smaller, so I was able to get more out of the recipe)

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour


1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm (This I believe, is the most important step in the recipe).

1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar

1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips


Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray. (I used parchment paper)

Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

 Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart. (This is so important for a great looking cooking. You can even roll 1/2 cup of dough and pull it apart, and use each half as a cookie to make it easier.)

Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes
(You have two options, either let them cool slighter and transfer them to a baking rack. Or you can let them cool completely and then remove. I let them cool slighter, but the recipe says to let cool completely. Once again use your own judgement.)

Making Chicken Pot Pie... Healthy

Now that it's coming to the end of summer (actually, it's more like me day dreaming about fall), I've been craving yummy fall and winter comfort food.  I don't know about you, but chicken pot pie falls under the comfort food category for me. But eating comfort food everyday isn't realistic for staying slim, right? Wrong! I made over my family's chicken pot pie, and made it into something that you can eat weekly! I'm sure you can eat it daily too, but what fun is that?

I didn't see the reason to make a big pie, considering I would be the only one eating it. So I came up with a single serving recipe, in which I used a 5 inch wide souffle (ramekin, corning ware, etc) dish. To cut calories I used vegetable spread in place of butter, and cut out the bottom crust, only using the crust to cover the top.

Onto the recipe!

Ingredients

Pie Crust

4 tbsp flour

1 tbsp vegetable spread (i.e. I can't believe it's not butter), roughly 50 calories per TBSP

1 tsp cold Water

Filling

 chicken breast (I used about 3 and a half ounce of chicken)

1 cup water (you may need to add or take, depending on how much liquid you want)

1 small potato, diced

1 carrot, sliced

1 celery, sliced

1 tbsp diced onion

Thickener
Half a tbsp vegetable spread
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp milk (I used 1%)
1 tsp flour
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp corn starch

Pie Crust
Cut the butter into the flour, add water and mix. Wrap in plastic wrap and put dough in the fridge to harden the butter.

Filling
In a pot, bring water to a boil, and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring down to a simmer, and cover for about an hour. Take out the chicken and cut into bite sized pieces, add back to the pot. (Add salt, use your own preference)

Thickener
Make a roux with the flour, milk and butter and add to the filling. Bring the filling back to a boil and add cornstarch, boiling for one minute. You want the filling to be about gravy thick, or thicker if you want. Also use your own judgement, because you might have to take out some of the liquid before adding the thickeners. Pour the filling into souffle dish. Now here is were you can either stop and put the filling in the fridge, or continue with baking the pie.

Crust
Roll out the dough into between to pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper (I used plastic wrap, it worked). You want the dough to be about the size of the dish your baking in, maybe slightly bigger. Cover the dish with your dough, and place the dish on a small pan to catch any drippings.

Baking
Preheat over to 425 degrees. Cut a small slit in the middle of the crust, and sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake for ten minutes, turn the oven down to 350 and bake for an additional 10 - 12 minutes more.

Enjoy!



Nutrition Facts





Calories 457.9
Total Fat 9.5 g
Saturated Fat 2.8 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 4.3 g

Monounsaturated Fat 2.6 g

Cholesterol 58.3 mg

Sodium 254.3 mg

Total Carbohydrate 60.0 g

Dietary Fiber 4.2 g

Sugars 3.2 g

Protein 29.4 g

Turtle that was outside!

Yo Gabba Gabba! Birthday Cake

For my nephew's birthday, I made a Brobee cake. For the cake I made a usual snow white, and then used homemade fondant for the decorating.

Ina Garten for All! Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

Awhile back, I was watching Ina Garten on the Food Network and I saw she made these delicious cupcakes. I decided to try out the recipe and it turned out delicious! I put my own spin on them, and added some cute heart brownies to decorate them.  The recipe was easy, and I would not skip the coffee. I don't like coffee myself, but it does bring out the taste of chocolate real nicely.

Of course I didn't have any chocolate syrup, so I made my own. I also didn't have any heavy cream, but made my own with a mixture of milk, butter, and flour.

Ingredients


1/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
11 fluid ounces Hershey's chocolate syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules

For the ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces good semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules

Directions


Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in the chocolate syrup and vanilla. Add the flour and coffee granules and mix until just combined. Don't overbeat, or the cupcakes will be tough.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes, or until just set in the middle. Don't overbake! Let cool thoroughly in the muffin pan. (I changed this and took them out right away)

For the ganache, cook the heavy cream, chocolate chips, and instant coffee in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until smooth and warm, stirring occasionally.

Dip the tops of the cupcakes into the ganache. Do not refrigerate.

(Recipe from Food Network)

Back For More!

I'm back! After a long break from posting, I decided I will once again shower the world with my creations!

Aren't they the cutest?

For July 4 my family celebrated my two sisters birthday who's birthdays happen to fall around independence day. I, now being known as the cupcake girl, volunteered (insisted) I would make cupcakes and cakeballs.
For those of you who don't know what cake balls are, they are the most heavenly confection.
This is where I originally heard of them, and ever since I (and everyone around me) have fallen in love.

Snow White Cupcakes

For the cupcakes, I made 24 snow white (vanilla with no egg whites) cupcakes, and around 30 black magic cupcakes. Of course what fun are cupcakes without decorating them? I seriously recommend the books Hello Cupcake and What's New Cupcake? I used a design from one of the books for the vanilla cupcakes, and I made up my own for the chocolate cupcakes.

Black Magic Cupcakes

The weather for the day I decorated them was terrible! The icing was pretty much melting, and it wouldn't keep a shape. But I forged on, and had to change some of the decorating. All in all it turned out pretty good, along with the 84 cake balls I made.

Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Here is the Black Magic Cake recipe, I used my normal vanilla  icing.