Goat Cheese & Basil Tart

This goat cheese and basil tart is a recipe from Ina Garten. It is delicious! I made it for dinner, but it could also be a breakfast tart, because it has egg in it. The recipe called for fresh basil, but the grocery store didn't have any. I used dry and it was still really good, cheesy and basil-y. Success!

Oatmeal Apple Pie

This pie turned out really well. A really good texture on the inside. And I fluted the edge of the crust really well. I'm so proud of myself! I can finally flute and make it look good! Woo-hoo!

Different Types Of Fat Used In Pie Crust

I Found A Great Blog Post On Food52.com On Different Types Of Fat Used In Pie Crust

http://food52.com/blog/8742-pie-fats-butter-vs-oil-vs-shortening-vs-lard

But This Is All You Really Need To Know: =)

The Combo:
My grandma swore by a combination of fats. Once upon a time, it was half lard, half shortening. Then it became half butter, half shortening. Either way, she liked mixing the sure result of shortening with the better flavor of other fats. <-- And this is so true! Because my grandma's pie crust recipe mixes shortening and lard. But I usually only see pie crust recipes with one kind of fat online.

1887 Pie Crust Recipe

I found a pie crust recipe from 1887.  I haven't tried it yet. But I love how they explain to add enough water to work the dough. Most recipes call for 4-5 tablespoons of water, which never seems like enough. So reading this makes me feel better about how much water I use in my crust and how I don't really measure it! This recipe also uses baking-powder, so I'm not really sure what that would do to the structure of the crust, so it might be fun to try.

http://www.rubylane.com/item/508881-2133/c1887-Cook-Book-Meat-Poultry

Chess Tart!

For Christmas I got a Tart Pan. It's the kind where the bottom comes out. So I thought I would try it out. I'd been wanting to make a tart for at least a year now since I got Martha Stewarts Pies and Tarts book. http://www.amazon.com/Martha-Stewarts-Pies-Tarts-Old-Fashioned/dp/0307405095 I originally bought it for the pie recipes, but the tart images made my mouth water!

This chess tart was very simple to make. I think I even had all of the ingredients in the kitchen. It has sugar, brown sugar, eggs, cornmeal, vanilla... It turned out pretty good. But I think the next time I make a tart, I'll try one with a fruit filling. Cheers!

A good trick for Apple Pies and other fruit pies with a top crust.

I read on the Cooking Light site about a good trick to help your apple pies from making a lot of air between the apple filling and the top crust.

http://www.cookinglight.com/cooking-101/techniques/cooking-questions-tips-00400000064986/page51.html

Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie!

I haven't made a pie for a while. "Life stuff" has been getting in the way. But what better time is there to make a pie than for Thanksgiving. And of course I went with the classic pumpkin pie. I read recipes for sweet potato/pumpkin pie, strudel pumpkin pie… but they just aren't classic enough.

So, I'm not sure how it tastes yet, because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, but the little lick I tried tasted divine!

I did read that taste testers can't tell the difference between the canned and fresh pumpkin after it has been baked. But the waitress at the Cafe said she could(she makes pie too). BUT, I didn't feel like going through all of the trouble with the fresh pumpkin so I used Libbys canned, and that always works for me.

I cookie-cuttered some leaves and baked them separately so they wouldn't sink in the filling while the pie was baking. I like how it turned out. But next time I will probably just use the leaves for the edge of the crust. I just wanted to practice my crimping technique. And as you can see, it still needs more practice. =) Happy Thanksgiving!