Karin's Week Twenty-Six Recipe: Plum Tart

Yay! I've made it half-way through the year, and am still cooking strongly. Appropriately enough, this week's recipe is not one out of a cookbook or off a website, but one that I pretty much made up out of things that sounded like they might go well together. I had 4 plums that were past ripe, and needed to be used in some fashion. We were also having company over for dinner, and they like experimenting with food just as much as we do.  So, without further ado, I give you Karin's Plum Tart.

Karin's Plum Tart

Crust for 9in pie
3 T raspberry jam
4 very ripe plums
5 oz cream cheese, softened
6-7 T sugar, divided

Preheat oven to 400 deg. Place crust into 9 or 10 in tart pan (the one with the very short sides). Melt raspberry jam in microwave until consistency of syrup. Using a spoon, cover the bottom of the crust with the raspberry jam, making sure to cover evenly. In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese and 3 T of the sugar until cheese is of a spreadable consistency, rather like frosting. Spread cream cheese mixture into tart pan - this will take a bit of doing, as it does not like to stick to the jam. Slice plums into thin slices, and arrange over the cream cheese in a fan-like pattern, making sure to cover all of the cream cheese with the slices of plum. Sprinkle the tart with the remaining sugar, using enough so that it looks good, I think about 3-4 T was what was used..

Bake at 400 deg until crust is lightly browned, about 35 minutes. Let tart stand for about 4-5 minutes before serving.

This was something that I wasn't sure was going to turn out as well as it sounded in my head. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It smelled good, looked gorgeous (we even took a picture), and tasted so good, that my dinner guests wanted to know if we could just eat it all right then. I said why not, we're all grown ups, and so we did. A tart that lasted all of 20 minutes from the time I took it out of the oven to the time it was completely eaten is a good thing to have in my cooking repertoire. I may have to try this out with other fruits as I come across them. If you do, let me know how it tastes.

Chris's Week 11 Recipe: Pie Crust Sausage Rolls

My current fridge is 25 years old and every time it fires up, the volume of the compressors rises to a crescendo that sounds as if the mothership is taking off. Fortunately, I managed to nab a Minnesota appliance rebate and I'm in the process of cleaning out my old fridge in anticipation of the delivery of a shiny, new and doubtlessly much more energy-efficient model. What to do with a package of pork sausages and an extra Pillsbury pie crust...?

Pie Crust Sausage Rolls

WARNING: this recipe should be considered experimental. Attempt at your own risk!

1 Pillsbury pie crust

package of pork breakfast sausages

1 egg

1 T water

Take your pie crust out of the fridge to thaw a little. Fry up the sausages. Beat up the egg and water to form an egg wash. Let the sausages cool and drain a bit while you cut the pie crust into 12 'pie-shaped' slices (or however many slices you need for the number and size of sausages on hand. I used a set of kitchen shears to do this, but a sharp knife would work as well.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. Put a little egg wash on the inside 'tip' of a slice of pie crust and roll up the sausage in it, starting with the sausage at the wide end of the slice. Once all your rolls are artistically arranged on the pan, brush a little egg wash over the tops. Bake at 450F for about 12 minutes or until golden brown and delicious.

Would I make this recipe again? Yes, if only to improve on it. The pie crust was still a little doughy in spots even though the tops were very clearly done.

What do you think? Slightly lower temp and longer baking time?

Chris's Week Seven Recipe: Foldover Apple Pie

A few Honeycrisp apples from Whistling Well Farm lay lurking in the bottom of my refrigerator. Honeycrisps keep a long time in the fridge, but this was expecting quite a lot for apples I picked up last October. Not having enough to make a whole pie, I used this recipe from Pillsbury as the basis for a foldover apple pie. I reduced the overall sugar and had to use turbinado instead of brown sugar. (My brown sugar had petrified and I didn't feel like reviving it.) To make up for the loss of fluid in the brown sugar, I increased the amount of lemon juice. I also used cinammon instead of vanilla and eliminated the butter since pie crusts has plenty of fat on its own.

Foldover Apple Pie

1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust

Filling

2 c thinly sliced apples

1/4 c turbinado sugar

1 T water

1 T lemon juice

1 T flour

scant 1/4 t salt

1/2 t cinnamon

Egg wash

1 egg

1 T water

Mix apples, sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until the apples are soft. Mix flour, salt & cinnamon together and add gradually to the apple mixture. Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, let your pie crust come to room temperature.

Unroll pie crust on an ungreased cookie sheet. Put the filling in the middle. Beat together the egg and water and brush the egg wash on the edges of the crust. Fold the crust in half, then seal and crimp the edges together. Brush egg wash over the top and cut some small vents to let steam escape. (If you've got egg wash left over, make a little scrambled egg!)

Bake 25-30 min or until golden brown.

Would I make this again? I think so. It would be fun to try with other fillings. I'd definitely remember that Penzey's cinnamon is potent and use half as much.

A Tale of Two Pie Crusts

I had Mom & Dad over today for quiche and, wouldn't you know it, I forgot to get the Pillsbury pie crust out of the freezer last night. I tried to thaw one, but just didn't have enough time.

So I had to make a pie crust. From scratch.

Oh, but it's been a long time since I've made pie crust and an even a longer time since I've made shortening crust. I bet I was still living with my parents. What other way is there to make pie crusts? You can make an oil crust, but that has to sit in the freezer to think about itself before you roll it out, and I didn't have the time.

I also didn't have enough vegetable shortening. Fortunately, there's always butter. Other than the usual problem of having trouble getting the darn thing up off the counter when I rolled it out (am I just not using enough flour?), the crust turned out very, very well.

Gentle readers, how do you keep your pie crusts from sticking to the counter?