Pecan Tassies

Ingredients:
2 cups margarine
4 (3 ounce) packages cream
cheese
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs

2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the margarine and cream cheese until well blended. Beat in flour, 1 cup at a time, until the mixture forms a smooth dough. Roll into small balls, and press into the bottoms and sides of tart pans or mini muffin pans.
3. In another bowl, mix together the eggs, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the pecans. Use a spoon to fill each of the crusts 2/3 full with the filling mixture.
4. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes in the preheated oven, until shell is light brown, and the filling has puffed up. Cool, and carefully remove from pans.



Source:

Chinese Egg Tart

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Ingredients for crust:
* 225 gr plain flour
* 125 gr butter
* 55 gr icing sugar
* 1 egg, whisked
* a dash of vanilla extract

Ingredients for custard:
* 3 eggs
* 110 gr caster sugar
* 225 gr hot water
* 85 gr evaporated milk
* 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Making the crust:
1. Place butter at room temperature until softened. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer over medium speed until the mixture is smooth, fluffy and light in color.
2. Add in whisked egg, half at a time, beat over low speed. Add vanilla extract, mix well.
3. Sift in flour in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions with a spatula, and make sure all ingredients combine well. Knead into dough. (see picture)
4. Roll out the dough to a 1/2 cm thickness. Cut dough with a cookie cutter that is just a bit smaller than your tart tin in size. Line dough in the middle of tart tins, one by one. Lightly press the dough with your thumbs, starting from the bottom then up to the sides. While pressing the dough, turn the tart tin clockwise/anti-clockwise in order to make an even tart shell. Trim away any excess dough.

Making custard:
1. Add sugar into hot water, mix until completely dissolved.
2. Whisk egg with evaporated milk. Pour in sugar water. Mix well.
3. Sift egg mixture to get rid of any foam. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart shell.

Baking:
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Position rack in lower third of oven. Bake tarts for 10 to 15 minutes until the edges are lightly brown.
2. Lower the heat to 180C. Keep an eye on them. Once you see the custard being puffed up a bit, pull the oven door open about 2 to 3 inches. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the custard is cooked through. Just insert a toothpick into the custard. If it stands on its own, it’s done.



Note:

1. Placing tarts at the lower rack in oven could cook crusts easily before the egg custard being heated up too quickly.
2. At the very last stage, pull the oven door open a few inches. This method is to avoid custard from being puffed up too high. The custard would collapse once they are cooled down otherwise.

Source: Christine's Recipes

Grandma Ople's Apple Pie

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Ingredients:
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup water
6-8 Granny Smith apples,peeled, cored and thinly sliced


Directions:
1. Melt butter in a sauce pan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add white sugar, brown sugar and water; bring to a boil. Reduce temperature, and simmer 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work of crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.
3. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes

Apple Strudel in Phyllo

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

This recipe make two small strudels (therefore you need 10 sheets phyllo dough in total; 5 on each). If you only want to make one strudel I suggest you to use half of the recipe otherwise you'll end up with lots of extra filling.

Ingredients:
* 1/4 cup bourbon or apple juice
* 1/2 cup golden raisins
* 2 to 3 Granny Smith apples (about 1 pound), peeled, cored, halved, and thinly sliced
* 1/2 lemon, juiced
* 1 tablespoon lemon zest, finely chopped
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling
* 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
* 1/2 cup crushed shortbread cookies
* 1/4 cup chopped pecans
* 2 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
* 5 sheets phyllo dough from 1 pound package of frozen dough
* 2 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing phyllo sheets, plus more if needed
* 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
* Confectioners' sugar
* Caramel sauce, purchased

Glaze:
* 1 tsp vanilla
* 2 cups confectioners' sugar
* 3 1/2 tablespoons milk
Mix all ingredients thoroughly.

Directions

For the Strudel:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, pour the bourbon or apple juice over the raisins and microwave on high for 45 seconds. Let sit for 15 minutes.

Combine the raisins, apples, lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon, brown sugar, cookie crumbs, pecans, and butter in a large bowl.

Remove the phyllo dough from the box, unfold, and cover with a damp towel. Place 1 sheet of phyllo on the work surface and brush lightly with melted butter. Repeat with the remaining sheets, brushing each with melted butter, stacking when done, being sure to keep the unbuttered phyllo covered.

Place the apple mixture on the nearest third of the phyllo stack, being sure to leave a 2-inch border. Gently lift the bottom edge of the phyllo stack to cover the filling and fold the side edges over. Continue to roll the stack away from you until the filling is completely sealed in and the seam is on the bottom. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet. Brush the top with melted butter and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. While baking, mix the confectioner's sugar, milk, and vanilla to create a glaze. Drizzle the glaze and caramel over strudel.



Source: Mmm...Cafe

Raspberry Ganache Pie

Monday, July 27, 2009

WHAT YOU NEED:
1-1/4 cups OREO Baking Crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup COOL WHIP Whipped Topping
6 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped
6 Tbsp. KRAFT Pure Red Raspberry Jam, divided
2 cups fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp. water



MAKE IT:
COMBINE baking crumbs and butter; press onto bottom and up side of 9-inch pie plate. Set aside. Microwave chocolate and whipped topping in medium bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended when stirred. Add 2 Tbsp. of the jam; mix well.

POUR into crust; cover. Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

ARRANGE raspberries on top of pie. Microwave remaining 1/4 cup jam and the water in small microwaveable bowl on HIGH 30 sec.; stir until well blended. Brush over raspberries. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Source: kraftcanada.com

Cream Puffs/ Eclair

Monday, July 20, 2009

Ingredients:
* 2 (3.5 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
* 2 cups heavy cream
* 1 cup milk

* 1/2 cup butter
* 1 cup water
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 4 eggs

Directions:
1. Mix together vanilla instant pudding mix, cream and milk. Cover and refrigerate to set.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

3. In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture forms a ball. Transfer the hot liquid into your mixer bowl and dump all 4 eggs in at once and mix IMMEDIATELY on med. speed. Mix until the dough is tacky and starts sticking to the side of the bowl and you're done (about 2-3 min). Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet (Don't grease your cookie sheet, or the bottoms will burn or get too brown).

4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.

5.Poke a small hole with a toothpick in the side of each puff just to allow steam to escape and prevent them from falling.

6. When the shells are cool, cut the puffs in half horizontally and fill them with the pudding mixture ( whipped cream, chocolate, or lemon pudding), or use a pastry bag to pipe the pudding into the shells.




For Eclair :
Prepare the dough (choux paste) as above. Using a pastry bag with a large, plain tip, form the dough into 3" long rectangles. Bake and fill as above, and frost the top with chocolate frosting and/or chocolate shavings.

Tips store unfilled puff :
Refrigerator: If thoroughly baked, unfilled cream puffs may be refrigerated for a couple of days, but it does stale quickly, so I recommend freezing, instead. Before refrigerating, you'll first want to cut them open and remove the strands of dough to prevent sogginess. Wrap all puffs individually after they have cooled and before freezing. Place them is a resealable plastic bag being careful not to put too many in at once.

Freezer: If you have more dough than you need or want to make them in advance, bake all of it and freeze the finished puffs for up to 3 months (best at one month) and an airtight container and keep away from freezer odors. There's no need to cut cream puffs open or remove the strands of dough before freezing. Thaw at room temperature. To crisp, unwrap and place in a 325 degree F oven until warm. Let cool and fill as desired.

Source: ?

Fresh Pumpkin Pie

Thursday, December 25, 2008

INGREDIENTS

* 2 cups sugar pumpkin
* 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single pie crust
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
* 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk



DIRECTIONS

1. Cut pumpkin in half and remove seeds. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet lined with lightly oiled aluminum foil. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork. Cool until just warm. Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the peel. Either mash, or puree in small batches in a blender. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C.)
2. In a large bowl, slightly beat eggs. Add brown sugar, flour, salt, 2 cups of the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and evaporated milk. Stir well after each addition.
3. Pour mixture into the unbaked pastry shell. Place a strip of aluminum foil around the edge of the crust to prevent over browning.
4. Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake an additional 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove the strip of foil about 20 minutes before the pie is done so that the edge of the crust will be a light golden brown. Cool pie, and refrigerate overnight for best flavor.



Pumpkin spice recipe:
Ingredients

* 4 teaspoons cinnamon
* 2 teaspoons ginger
* 1 teaspoon allspice
* 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

1. Mix ingredients in a bowl and store in an airtight container.
2. After you make this recipe and taste it – you can adjust the spices to suit your taste.

Basic Flaky Pie Crust

INGREDIENTS

* 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup shortening, chilled
* 4-5 tablespoons ice water


DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium size bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the cold shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle 3 to 5 tablespoons ice water over flour. Toss mixture with a fork to moisten, adding more water a few drops at a time until the dough comes together.
2. Gently gather dough particles together into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling.
3. Roll out dough, and put in a pie plate. Fill with desired filling and bake.

Almond Banket

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Banket is a traditional Dutch pastry that is made in long tubes of pastry, with an almond paste filling. They are often also shaped into the first letter of people’s names or used to spell out Christmas greetings.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups almond paste
• 1/4 cups corn starch
  
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 egg white, beaten
• cinnamon sugar, for garnish
  

DIRECTIONS

1. To make the dough, use a food processor fitted with metal blade and add the flour, butter.
   
   
2. Pulse until mixture has a small crumb-like texture. Add the water and mix until dough will press together into a ball.
   
   
3. Divide into 6 equal portions. Shape into 5” x 2” (approx.) rectangles. Wrap and refrigerate.
   
   
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line parchment paper.
   
   
5. To make the filling, Put in the processor bowl Almond Paste, sugar, egg yolks (reserving egg whites) and cornstarch. Mix until the filling comes together.
   
   
6. Cut into 4 equal portions.
   
   
7. Roll each portion into a 12“ rope (just like modeling clay.) Lightly flour your hands if sticking. Place rolls on a tray, cover and set aside.
   
   
8. Beat egg whites with one teaspoon of water until frothy. Set aside.
   
   
9. On a lightly floured surface, roll one piece of refrigerated dough into a 3” x 14” strip.
   
   
10. Center one Almond Paste rope on dough strip about one inch in. Brush short ends with egg white and fold in.
    
    
11. Roll up long way, jelly roll style and trim if needed. Brush edge with egg white, trim as needed and pinch seams together. Repeat until all bankets are rolled.
    
    
12. Place bankets 2” apart, seam side down, on cookie sheets. Brush with egg whites and springkle with cinnamon sugar.
    
    
13. Prick with a fork every inch, deep enough to pierce the dough and just touch the filling.
    
    
14. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool sheets on cake rakes. When bankets are cool, gently release from pan and wrap well. Cut into desired pieces to serve.
    

Peach Custard Kuchen

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Kuchen ([koo-KHuh n] or (kû'kən, -KHən) is the German word for "cake," is used as the name for several different types of sweet Dessert,Pastry, and gateaux. The term itself may cover as many distinct desserts as its English counterpart "cake."
If you like peach cobbler, this is definitely for you.



Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons suga
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup margarine or , softened
• 1 1/2 cups sliced fresh peaches (about 3 medium)
• 1/3 cup >sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 cup whipping cream

Direction

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Stir together flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, the salt and baking powder.
3. Work in butter until mixture is crumbly.
4. Pat mixture firmly and evenly in bottom and halfway up sides of ungreased square pan, 8 x 8 x 2 inches.
5. Arrange peaches in pan.
6. Mix 1/3 cup sugar and the cinnamon.
7. Sprinkle over peaches (it may seem like a lot, but it's not).
8. Bake 15 minutes.
9. Blend egg yolks and whipping cream.
10. Pour over peaches.
11. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until custard is set and edges are light brown.
12. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
13. Refrigerate any remaining dessert.

Peach Cobbler

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

We have been getting lots of peaches from our peach tree and since peaches can rot quickly, I've been busy to try to use it up as fast as I can. Beside eating it fresh I'll use some for our favorite peach recipe. And this one is one of the best!!
(I will be posting a lot peach recipe next) :P



INGREDIENTS:
8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted
and sliced into thin wedges
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter,
chilled and cut into small
pieces
1/4 cup boiling water

MIX TOGETHER:
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon




DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
4. Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.