Pan cookies. That's what I called this oldie-but-goodie recipe way back when my mom used to make them in the 1970's. She made Magic Cookie Squares and a Wacky Cake in that 9" x 13" aluminum pan too, but, when I asked for pan cookies, or, when she announced she was making pan cookies, it meant one thing: The Original Nestlé Toll House Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie -- the one printed on the back of their bags of semi-sweet chocolate morsels (and currently on their website). It also meant that besides a few days of great after-school snacks, there'd be a freshly-baked warm one on all of our plates, with a scoop of ice-cream on top, for dessert after dinner.
Crispy on the outside w/a chewy soft chocolate center. Sigh.
Baking chocolate chip cookies is easy, but baking chocolate chip pan cookie squares is even easier. If you're in the midst of an uncontrollable chocolate chip cookie craving, bake pan cookies -- in less time with less mess and zero stress, you'll be eating thick, chewy chocolate chip cookie squares loaded with lots of ooey gooey chocolate chips. No electric mixer required and no need to chill the dough either. There's more. With my version of the classic recipe, you don't even have to wait for the butter to soften -- just melt it in the microwave. Mix 'em, bake 'em, cut 'em and stack 'em up next to a big mug of your favorite coffee or a glass of milk and indulge.
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels, or, 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels + 1 cup milk-chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
no-stick cooking spray
~ Step 1. In a medium bowl, using a spoon, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a small bowl, using a fork, whisk the egg, egg yolk, chocolate extract and vanilla extract. Set aside. In a large bowl, place the brown sugar and granulated sugar. In the microwave, melt the butter.
~Step 2. In the large bowl, using a large rubber spatula, thoroughly stir together the brown sugar, sugar and the melted butter. Add and thoroughly incorporate the egg/extract mixture, then, add and fold in the flour mixture until just combined. A thick cookie dough will have formed. Fold in the chocolate morsels (and the optional walnuts too).
~Step 3. Spray a 9" x 9" x 2" square baking pan w/a removable bottom (or a 13" x 9" x 2" baking pan) with cooking spray. Transfer the cookie dough to the pan. Using the rubber spatula, spread the dough throughout the bottom of the pan, doing your best to form a smooth-topped layer of even thickness throughout.
~ Step 4. Bake on center rack of preheated 325° oven, 24-26 minutes, until puffy and lightly-browned on top. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool, in pan, 1 hour. Remove from pan by pushing up on the bottom and return to wire rack to cool completely, 1 hour, prior to slicing and serving. Note: It might be necessary to run a paring knife around the sides of the pan if cookie has not baked cleanly away from sides.
Mix, bake, slice & eat with your favorite mug of your favorite coffee (while reading your favorite cooking blog):
Dare to be Square: Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares: Recipe yields 32, 2 1/4"-square pan cookies, which after cooling, can be cut, individually wrapped and frozen.
Special Equipment List: spoon; fork; 1-cup measuring container; large rubber spatula; 9" x 9" x 2" baking pan w/removable bottom, or, 13" x 9" x 2" baking pan; wire cooling rack; paring knife
Cook's Note: For generations, we Americans have had a love affair with chocolate chip cookies. Surveys unanimously and overwhelmingly place the chocolate chip cookie at the top of our all-time favorite cookie list for over three-quarters of our population, and, it all started with the all-American Toll House cookie. Who do we thank for and what's the history behind this iconic cookie? To find out, read my post ~ The Original Nestlé's Toll House Cookie Recipe ~. Trust me. I'm certain you'll find it fascinating.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)
Spaghetti with ground meat sauce. It's an all-American Italian-American classic that makes short work of pleasing all the people all the time (while feeding all of them at the same time) -- especially kids. Ground beef, diced onion, crushed tomatoes, herbs and seasonings. It might be basic and simple, but it's a meal everyone wants to come home to. I raised three boys, and, in terms of spaghetti with meat sauce, there was one variation they enjoyed with equal enthusiasm: my bolder, fuller-flavored "sausage sandwich sauce" -- that is what they affectionately named it.
"Sausage sandwich sauce." That's what my boys named it.
If you're familiar with the fixings for the beloved and classic Italian-American sausage sandwich (sautéed or grilled sausage links or patties, bell peppers and onions), it's obvious why my kids astutely named it "sausage sandwich sauce". My thick, rich, sausage, pepper and onion sauce is perfect for pasta and pizza -- it's like eating a sausage sandwich served on pasta or pizza (rather than heaped atop a sandwich roll or slathered over a pizza crust). There's more. Unlike traditional Italian meat sauces, which simmer low and slow for a long time to develop the flavor, this one can be made quickly -- about 15 minutes to prep the ingredients, 15 minutes to sauté the meat and veggies, and, 15 minutes to simmer the actual sauce. Cook the pasta while the sauce is simmering and voila: dinner is on the table in 45 short minutes. Tell me -- what's not to love.
All the flavor of a sausage sandwich -- on pasta or pizza
4 tablespoons olive oil
12-16 ounces sweet or hot Italian sausage (or a combination of both), casings removed, pulled into small bits and pieces
6 ounces diced yellow or sweet onion
6 ounces diced green bell pepper
6 ounces diced red bell pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon coarsely-ground black pepper
1/2 cup Chianti (an Italian red wine), or Port wine
~ Step 1. Place the olive oil in the bottom of a 3 1/2-quart chef's pan with straight deep sides. Using your fingertips, quickly pull and drop small bits of sausage into the pan -- it ok if they overlap or fall on top of each other. Sauté over medium-high heat, using a spatula to keep the meat moving constantly, just until sausage bits have started to firm up and have lost almost all of their pink color, about 2-3 minutes.
Note: Why pull the sausage apart first rather than break it up with a spatula while it cooks (which is a bit easier)? It's personal. I like small, soft, succulent bits and pieces of cooked but unbrowned sausage swimming around in my sauce. If it is put in the pan "as is" and broken up with a spatula as it cooks, a good deal of it starts to brown and crisp, which turns small, soft, succulent bits into bigger, harder, dried-out chunks and pieces. My way is more refined.
~ Step 2. Add onions and bell peppers to pan along with the seasonings (oregano, red pepper flakes, sugar, salt and black pepper). Stir to combine and continue to sauté, stirring almost constantly, until vegetables are just softened, 5-6 minutes. Do not overcook -- the bell peppers should still be colorful.
~Step 3. Stir the wine into the vegetables, followed by the tomato paste. When tomato paste is completely incorporated, add the crushed tomatoes. Adjust heat to a gentle, steady simmer and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring frequently. There's no reason to cook this full-flavored sauce longer.
Remove from heat & use to sauce pasta or pizza.
Or portion into food storage containers & freeze.
Tread lightly. A little of this bold sauce goes a long way.
My Sausage, Pepper & Onion Pasta & Pizza Sauce: Recipe yields 10 cups/enough to sauce 3 pounds of pasta/enough for 3 meals, or, enough to sauce 6, 12"-round pizzas.
Special Equipment List: cutting board; chef's knife; 3 1/2-quart chef's pan w/straight, deep sides; spatula; 1-cup measuring container; large spoon
Cook's Note: Anyone who has raised children knows that Italian-American spaghetti and meatballs and many pasta dishes in general keep the complaints down to a minimum. Surely you didn't think I'd post today's sausage sauce without giving you the link to my ~ Pasta with Ground Meat Sauce ~.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)
Strawberries, one of the first fruits to ripen in the Spring, are considered to be the fruit that announces "Summer is here", and, here in Central Pennsylvania, we've been enjoying our own homegrown and locally-grown farmers-market strawberries for a couple of weeks now. From pancakes, waffles and French toast, to cheesecake, shortcake and ice-cream (to name a few), the 20-30 minutes it takes to make strawberry topping is well-worth the effort. It's luscious.
Those who scratch-make this pretty-to-look-at positively-yummy tart-and-sweet topping make it to their own liking. Some folks hull and toss the berries in whole, then after it has cooked, mash the mixture so it contains uniform-sized bits and pieces. Some remove and purée a portion of the cooked topping, then, stir the purée back into the chunkier topping for a multi-textural experience. Others strain the cooked topping, to produce a thick, chunky topping in one container, and, a thin, drizzly sauce in another. In all cases, it can be served hot, warm or chilled. It's personal.
Simple, sweet & straightforward, here's my version:
All recipes for strawberry topping contain sugar and almost all contain vanilla extract and a bit of lemon juice too. My recipe contains all three plus a full tablespoon of organic strawberry extract for an even fuller-flavor. I do, however, do one thing different. I like to use cornstarch to thicken the mixture. This shortens the simmer time from about 15 minutes to 3 minutes, which means my strawberries maintain more of their shape and texture. Mostly I do nothing with my topping after it comes off the stove, except let it cool to room temperature 1-2 hours prior to refrigerating it. That said, on occasion I purée it with an immersion blender -- halfway until it is almost smooth with little pieces of strawberry in it, or, all the way, until it is completely smooth. It's your choice.
1 teaspoon lemon juice, fresh or high-quality Organic bottled lemon juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons water
2 drops red food coloring (optional)
~Step 1. Hull and slice the strawberries as directed, placing them in a saucier or saucepan as you work. Add the sugar, water, extracts and lemon juice. Stir to thoroughly combine. Over medium- medium-high heat, bring to a boil, then adjust the heat to a steady, gentle simmer. While mixture it coming to a simmer, in a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch and water.
~Step 2. Drizzle the the milky-looking cornstarch/water mixture into the simmering strawberries -- it will change in appearance to clear and glistening as it simmers. Continue to gently simmer the strawberries until mixture is thick and syrupy, about 6-8 minutes. Stir in 1-2 drops of the optional red food coloring at this time -- not too much, just enough to boost the color a bit.
Remove from heat & serve warm, or, allow to cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally, 1-2 hours, prior to refrigerating (which will thicken it a bit more) & serving cold.
Simple & Sweet: Homemade Strawberry Topping: Recipe yields 3 cups strawberry dessert topping. Keep stored in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. Do not freeze.
Special Equipment List: strawberry huller (optional); cutting board; chef's knife; 3-quart saucier or 3-4-quart saucepan; large spoon
Cook's Note: ~ Scrumptious Sweet-Cream-Biscuits & Strawberries (commonly referred to as Strawberry Short Cakes ~. I grew up eating this classic dessert served on sponge cake -- which makes sense because sponge cake is a specialty of the Pennsylvania Deutsch. If you grew up in New England, they put strawberries on short biscuits. This makes sense because this type of short cake, called a biscuit by the British, was brought to America by the English settlers. "Short" refers to their crumbly texture. "Cake" refers to the fact that they sweeten them to make them more tender.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)
Ninety Nine is a restaurant and pub chain headquartered in Massachusetts, with over 100 locations throughout the Northeast. With 47 locations in Massachusetts, 10 in Connecticut, 3 in Maine, 12 in New Hampshire and 2 in Rhode Island and 2 in Vermont, they know a thing or two about New-England-Style pub grub and hospitality. They boast no-nonsense food at down-to-earth prices and "a passion to serve". My one-and-only experience with a Ninety-Nine restaurant was in Vermont, and it was a very tasty one, in the form of a Vermonster of a cheeseburger.
While a big juicy cheeseburger with cheddar and bacon on it was neither new or surprising to me, I won't lie, it was the thought of sweet and savory sautéed onions and apples piled on top of it with a creamy maple syrup-laced mayonnaise slathered on the slightly-sweet potato roll that hooked me. Once I read those words, I stopped reading the menu.
Ninety Nine flame broils all of their burgers, and they are indeed juicy with the signature charred taste (a direct result of that cooking method). That said, I am an indoor/fair-weather outdoor kinda gal, and, even over an open flame, give me a cast-iron skillet with a lid and I'll make you a great burger that will compete with anyones.
Give me a skillet w/a lid & I'll make a burger that'll compete w/any.
While everyone, including me, likes a 'burger made over the high, but dry, heat of a charcoal or gas grill, I love a 'burger that is pan-seared, in its own juices, in a skillet. I grew up eating them prepared exclusively in that manner, and, truthfully, before everyone had a grill in their backyard, so did everyone else. Our grandmothers knew how to make great burgers -- moist and juicy with no lighter fluid or propane required. Quite frankly, it's a lost art, and, I'm here to show you how to do it on your stovetop. That said, in the Summer and Fall, I like to make 'burgers on my portable gas burner. Why? I can make them on my deck, your patio, and, at tailgate any time.
Meet the Iwantani 35F portable butane stove. With 15,000 BTU's it's a high-quality workhorse that comes in a nifty protective carry case too. If you've always wanted a gas stove but circumstances prevent it, this $75-$80 piece of equipment is, without compromise, as good as any residential gas stove and far superior to every electric stove. It turns on and off with one easy click (which is why it's been given the nickname "click-burner" stove) and regulates heat perfectly. On high, it's hot enough to stir-fry like a pro, and, on low, it will keep sauce simmering gently without any boil overs or fear of scorching. It runs on inexpensive butane canisters (about $20 for a case of twelve) which will last 45-60 minutes each, depending on how high the flame is set.
Part One: Making the Maple Mayonnaise
For the maple mayonnaise:
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup pure Vermont maple syrup
1 teaspoon coarsely-ground black pepper
~ Step 1. In a small bowl, thoroughly stir together the mayonnaise, maple syrup and pepper. Cover w/plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Overnight is best.
Part Two: Making the Toppings:
For the bacon and the sautéed onion and apple topping:
8 slices thick-sliced bacon bacon, fried crisp, drained & cut in half to form 16 pieces
3 1/2-4 cups peeled and 1/4"-thick sliced, "half-moon-shaped Vidalia onions, or other sweet onion (about 12 ounces)*
3 1/2-4 cups peeled and sliced Granny Smith or Gala apples (3 apples, about 8 ounces each prior to peeling)*
*Note: To insure even cooking, it is important to slice the onions and apples to a uniform thickness. If you want them thicker, slice them thicker. Also, don't worry if your apples turn a little brown while waiting to get added to the pan. They are going to turn brown anyway in the skillet.
~Step 1. In 12" skillet, over medium- medium-high heat, fry bacon as directed. Transfer bacon to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Remove and discard all but about 2 tablespoons drippings from skillet. Over low heat, melt butter into the bacon drippings. Add and stir in the onions, until thoroughly combined. Increase heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions have lost a lot of their moisture, are limp, and steamed through, about 5-6 minutes.
~Step 2. Add and stir the apples, sugar, maple syrup and pepper into the onion mixture, until thoroughly combined. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the apples have lost their volume and are limp too, another 6 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high. Sauté, stirring constantly, like you would a stir-fry, 6 more minutes, until golden. Remove from heat and set aside (or, feel free to cook a bit longer if you want a deeper golden color*).
Note: If deeper golden is desired, go another 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly, but watch carefully as the sugar and maple syrups in this mixture can and will go from brown to burned in an instant.
Part Three: Making the Cheeseburgers
For 4 cheeseburgers and the assembly:
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef (90/10)
8 slices yellow cheddar cheese
all the fried bacon
all the onion and apple topping
all the maple mayonnaise
4 potato hamburger rolls
~Step 1. Divide the meat into 4, 6-ounce portions. Form each portion into a 4"-4 1/2"-round disc, approximately 1/2" thick. Place hamburgers in the skillet and season them liberally with freshly-ground sea salt and peppercorn blend. Turn the "click burner" on and adjust the heat to medium high.
~Step 2. Cook 'burgers on first side six minutes. Flip them over on their second sides, and, this time, lightly season them (less than the first side) with freshly-ground sea salt and peppercorn blend. Reduce heat to medium- medium-low and continue to cook another six minutes. Place two slices of cheese on each 'burger, put lid on skillet, turn heat off, and wait, for the cheese to melt, 1-1 1/2 minutes.
Slather each potato roll w/maple mayo, place a cheddar-'burger on top + two half-slices bacon & a big scoop of onion-apple sauté:
Enjoy every last delightful sweet, savory & slightly-salty bite:
The Ninety Nine Vermonster Cheddar Cheeseburger: Recipe yields 4 large cheeseburgers.
Special Equipment List: 2-cup food storage container w/tight-fitting lid; spoon; 12" skillet w/lid; paper towels; cutting board; vegetable peeler; paring knife; large slotted spoon; spatula
Cook's Note: For those who don't eat red meat, Ninety Nine will happily make you a turkey burger instead. For those who want to ~ Know the Pros & 'Cons' of Ground Turkey or Beef ~, just read my post.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)
A restaurant that serves a great Cobb or chef's salad for lunch is a restaurant I will frequent. Like Seinfeld's Elaine, I like a big salad, light on the lettuce with a lot of perfectly-cooked good stuff in it, right down to more-than-a-few crunchy, buttery-rich croutons on top. The Cobb and chef's salads are both "composed salads", meaning, they are a pretty-to-look-at, arranged-on-a-plate, high-quality, meal unto themselves -- a perfectly-balanced mixture of color, flavor and texture. At the discretion of the chef, a combination of impeccably-fresh and perfectly-cooked ingredients (via poaching, simmering, boiling, marinating, roasting, broiling, baking, grilling, etc.) get carefully-selected and meticulously sliced, diced or minced, pulled, julienned or chiffonade.
The making of a composed salad is: a cooking lesson unto itself.
Cobb & chef's salad are two distinctly different composed salads.
While the Cobb and chef salad are both composed salads, they are distinctly different. Historically, the chef salad was the precursor to a 17th Century protein-packed meal called salmagundi. It consisted of cooked meat, poultry or fish, various cheeses, fresh, blanched or marinated vegetables, cooked eggs and/or toasted nuts or seeds, served on a bed of greens with a vinaigrette. That said, Chef Louis Diat of The Ritz is credited for popularizing it in the 1940's. (Photos courtesy of Wikipedia.)
The Cobb salad (affectionately called the California Cobb) was invented in 1937 at Hollywood's Brown Derby Restaurant by the owner, Robert Cobb. It's said to have been composed for some hungry late night diners. Mr. Cobb carefully chose from a variety of uniformly sliced and diced ingredients from the day's fare, arranging them in unusually neat lines atop a bed of lettuce as he plated. Shortly thereafter, his work-of-art salad became a famous menu item.
While a chef salad can contain any number of ingredients, the Cobb salad is quite specific. It starts with a lettuce mixture, typically, iceberg, romaine and a few bitter greens too, which dramatically afters the flavor profile of the salad, making it much more interesting. While poached or roasted chicken breast is classic, ham is sometimes substituted, and crisply-fried bacon always makes an appearance. Other must-haves are: hard-cooked egg, avocado, tomato, and, blue or roquefort cheese. Buttery croutons add the crunch and a red-wine vinaigrette pulls it all together.
My favorite version of the perfect classic Cobb salad...
Start with a chiffonade of ice-cold, crispy romaine lettuce topped with decoratively arranged thinly-sliced fork-tender, all-white meat poached chicken breast, and some chards of crispy oven-roasted bacon bits. Arrange some tender hard-cooked eggs (with bright yellow yolks -- no horrid gray halos), acidy tomato, mellow Hass avocado and sharp red onion atop or around the chicken. Sprinkle with a generous amount of tangy blue cheese crumbles and a few buttery French-bread homemade croutons. It's customary to serve it with red-wine vinaigrette and my recipe takes a back seat to none. That said, my husband prefers his Cobb salad with blue cheese dressing.
... is served atop one big, buttery, French bread crouton!
"Crouton" is our English word for any small piece of plain or seasoned, sliced or cubed, toasted or fried bread used to accompany or garnish soups, salads and other dishes. It is derived from the French word "croûton" (kroo-tawn) which the French define as a small piece of bread or snack bread usually served with drinks. "Croûte" (kroot) is the French word for crust and "en croûte" refers to food wrapped in or topped with a pastry crust then baked until the pastry is golden.
1 3-ounce, 6" long French demi baguette, trimmed lengthwise through the center to form 2, 1/2"-thick slices of 6" long bread
4 tablespoons salted butter
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Over medium heat, melt garlic powder and pepper into butter in a 10" nonstick skillet. Increase heat to medium-high and fry the bread, until lightly golden on both sides, turning only once, about 1 1/2 minutes per side. Transfer bread to a paper-towel-lined plate to cool to room temperature, about 10-15 minutes. Do not over-crisp.
Note: Do not over-crisp the bread-slice crouton. Unlike croutons used on salad, these are best if they have a bit of chew to them, meaning: crispy yet soft enough to cut through with a knife.
Arrange about 1/2 cup chiffonade of romaine atop 1, 6"-long French bread crouton. Place 5-6 small poached chicken slices alternately with 5-6 small red onion ringson top of the lettuce. On top of the chicken and onions, arrange 3-4 thin slices hard-cooked egg, 3-4 thin slices avocado and 6-8 slices grape tomato coins. Garnish with some fried bacon bits or chards and blue cheese crumbles over all, drizzle with red wine vinaigrette and serve immediately.
Serve immediately with a nice glass of your favorite white wine:
A Classic Cobb Salad: Open-Faced Sandwich-Style: Recipe yields instructions to make open-faced sandwich-style salads/1 serving each.
Special Equipment List: cutting board; serrated bread knife; chef's knife 10" nonstick skillet; paper towels
Cook's Note: The 1905 salad. Never heard of it? You haven't traveled to Florida very often. The Columbia Restaurant, now a chain of six or seven restaurants (I've lost track) throughout The Sunshine State, is a fourth-generation family business that specializes in really good Spanish food at reasonable prices. Their signature dish is a chef's salad with a lemony vinaigrette -- it's one of my all-time favorites.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)
Equivalent to a very generous slice of pie, everyone loves a small sweet or savory pie or quiche all to oneself or to share with our significant other -- especially those of us who love to nibble on the crispy crust. When it comes to desserts, more specifically pies, tarts and cheesecakes, for special occasions, individual sweet treats are just more fun -- they make people smile. While a bit more labor-intensive up front, they're well worth the "fussy" extra effort. Why? They're perfectly-portioned and require no slicing. Serving them is 100% mess-free and stress-free.
This post refers to shells made w/classic, rolled pie pastry:
To make small pie pastry shells, you need pie pastry, and, to make 4, 4"-4 1/2" round shells, you need the same amount you would use to make one, 9" single-crust pie. Use your favorite recipe or click here to get my recipe for ~ Making Pâte Brisée: Basic Pie or Quiche Pastry ~. That said, when I'm making small shells, each one the perfect size to feed one or two people, I feel no guilt in using store-bought crusts to save time. They bake up golden and crispy, and, no one has ever complained.
Blind-bake or bake-blind, is the English term for baking a pastry shell before it is filled. There are two instances when you need to prebake your pie pastry: #1) A pastry shell that, once the filling is added, does not return to the oven for further baking. In this application the pie pastry must be fully-baked, nicely browned and completely cooled before you add the filling, and, #2) A pastry shell that will get filled with a custard, cream, mousse or fully-cooked/ready-to-eat filling and will return to the oven for further baking. In this application, the degree to which you prebake the pastry (barely brown, lightly brown, golden brown) is determined by the length of time it will take the filled pie to finish baking, meaning: the longer it takes the pie filling to bake, the lighter in color the prebaked crust should be when it goes into the oven, so, always follow the recipe's instructions. For more specifics, read ~ How to: Blind-Bake a Pastry Shell (Baking Blind) ~.
To make small pastry shells, you need small pie dishes or pie tins. I have long preferred baking pies in clear glass (it allows me to keep an eye on how the pie pastry is browning) and Libby makes a great product for a great price ($16.00 for a set of 10, 4 1/2"-round dishes on Amazon and available for free shipping with a prime membership). If you love to bake, they're well worth the modest investment and they make a great gift too.
Roll pastry to a thickness of 1/16" & a diameter of 12 1/2":
Position 4, 4"-4 1/2" round pie dishes as pictured here:
Using a knife, slice the pastry into 4 quarters:
Drape one quarter of pastry over the top of each pie dish & use your fingertips to press it into the bottom & up the sides:
Using a pair of kitchen shears, trim & form the edges:
Using the tines of a fork, prick the bottoms of each shell:
Place formed pastry shells, well-part on a baking pan:
Bake on center rack of 425° oven, until golden, 8-9 minutes:
Cool completely, on a wire rack, prior to proceeding w/recipe:
How to: Cut, Form & Bake Small Pie Pastry Shells: Recipe yields instructions to make 4, 4"-4 1/2" round, unbaked or fully-baked small pie shells.
Special Equipment List: pastry board; rolling pin; ruler (optional): chef's knife; 4, 4"-4 1/2" round pie dishes or tins; kitchen shears; fork; 17 1/2" x 12 1/2" baking pan; wire cooling rack
Cook's Note: While we're on the subject, let's not forget about these ~ Making Graham Cracker & Cookie Crumb Crusts ~. They're super-easy to make and so much better than store-bought (not that there is anything wrong with that). Give it a read.
"We are all in this food world together." ~ Melanie Preschutti
(Recipe, Commentary and Photos courtesy of Melanie's Kitchen/Copyright 2017)
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