and now….

Intro

the recipes!

PIE DOUGH:
Grandma’s Pie Dough

2 cups Flour
½ tsp salt
½ cup oil
¼ cup milk
¼ tsp vanilla

Combine in that order.

PERFECT PIE CRUST
200 g all-purpose flour
125 g salted butter, diced (frozen)
1 T Cornstarch
1 egg
1 t Champagne Vinegar

Pulse dry ingredients in a food processor. Add ice cold butter and process until mixture looks like bread crumbs (with some cold peas thrown in there as well). Add egg and vinegar until combine. Knead gently just until it comes together. Chill for at least 1 hour.

Rose’s Favorite Tender & Flaky Pie Crust

(from The Pie and Pastry Bible, Rose Levy Berenbaum)
8 tbl frozen, unsalted butter

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp baking powder

3 ounces chilled cream cheese

2 tbl heavy cream

2 tsp champagne vinegar
Food Processor Method

1) Process flour, salt, and baking powder to blend.
2) Add cream cheese and process until coarse.
3) Add butter cubes and pulse until peanut size.
4) Add cream and vinegar and pulse until butter is the size of small peas.
5) Scrape dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Use latex gloves or cover hands with plastic bags and press dough until it holds together in one smooth flat disc.
6) Wrap, and refrigerate 45 minutes before rolling.

TART DOUGH:
Simple Press-in Sweet Dough (from Bittersweet – Alice Medrich)
¼ cup sugar
½ cup butter (melted)
pinch salt
½ tsp vanilla
1 cup flour

Combine sugar, butter, salt, vanilla. Then add in flour.

Pate Sucree au Chocolat
(Sweet Chocolate Dough)

1 ¼ cup All-purpose flour
¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa
¼ tsp Salt
8 Tbl cold Butter
½  cup Powdered sugar
1 large egg, lighly beaten
½ tsp Vanilla

Whisk flour, cocoa & salt.
In a food processor pulse the butter and the sugar until the sugar disappears. Add the dry ingredients and pulse until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add the egg and vanilla just until incorporated.

Form dough into a 6 inch disc, wrap well then chill for 30 minutes.
Remove dough from fridge and let set until warm enough to roll. Dough can also be grated with a box grater then pressed into the appropriate tart pan.
400* for 5 minutes. If the dough starts to puff prick with a fork. Lower the oven temperature to 375* and bake for another 12-15 minutes.

FILLINGS:
Crème Patisserie
1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds removed
½ tsp orange zest
3 large egg yolks
¼ tsp salt
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
Scant 3 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch
3 tbl butter, soft

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the  ½ the sugar and egg yolks together with a wooden spoon. (Never let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.)  Sift the rest of the sugar, salt & cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.  Set aside.

Meanwhile in a saucepan combine the milk and split vanilla bean on medium heat until boiling.  (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.)  Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.
Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly.  When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 – 60 seconds until it becomes thick. Remove from heat and whisk in butter.
Strain finish cream into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming.  Cool.  If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.  Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

VARIATIONS:
Crème Baumaniere : fold in 1 cup lightly whipped cream and 1tbl. Grand Marnier
Chocolate Crème Patisserie: Add 2 ounces of melted chocolate to the milk mixture before you temper in the egg mixture
Coffee Crème Patisserie:  Add 1 tbl instant espresso powder to the milk mixture.
Raspberry Crème Patisserie: Add ¼ cup raspberry puree to final pastry cream.

Ashley’s Super Simple & Delicious Tart Filling
1 ½ cups Cream
½ cup Neufchatel, room temp.
¼ cup Crème Fraiche
2 Tbl. Honey
1 tsp. Vanilla
Pinch Salt

Whip all ingredients together until stiff.