Press-In Shortbread Pie Crust

Press-In Shortbread Pie Crust
http://www.marthastewart.com/319153/press-in-shortbread-pie-crust

Because the dough isn't rolled out, you don't need a rolling pin -- just a mixing bowl and a spoon. The finished crust is crisp, cookielike, and sophisticated.

Ingredient

2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt

Directions

Stir together butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Stir in yolk. Add flour and salt, and stir until mixture is dry and crumbly. Press dough into bottom and up sides of a 9-inch pie dish. Freeze until firm, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake, rotating halfway through, just until crust turns golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool in dish on a wire rack.

Cheesecake

Company Cheesecake

Company Cheesecake

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/company-cheesecake-51422.aspx

This easy-to-make cheesecake will be the hit of any dinner party. Made with both cream cheese and cottage cheese, it has a classic graham cracker crust.

Crust
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted

Cookie Crust from https://www.landolakes.com/recipe/19725/rhubarb-cookie-cake/

1/2 cup Land O Lakes® Butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar

Melt butter in 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook, stirring constantly, 3-4 minutes or until butter just begins to turn golden brown.
Immediately remove from heat.
Add 1 cup flour and 1/3 cup sugar; mix well.
Press firmly into bottom of ungreased 8-inch square baking pan.
Bake with filling at 350°F

Filling
2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened
1 container (16 oz.) Cottage Cheese
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs

Directions

Heat oven to 325°F.
Mix crumbs, 3 Tbsp. sugar and butter; press onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 min. Increase oven temperature to 450°F.

Beat cream cheese and cottage cheese in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add 1/2 cup sugar, flour and vanilla; mix well. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Pour over crust. (use blender)

Bake 15 min. Reduce oven temperature to 250°F; continue baking 1 hour. Run knife around rim of pan to loosen cake; cool before removing rim. Cool completely. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Buttery Shortbread Pastry Dough

Buttery Shortbread Pastry Dough

By Janie Hibler Fine Cooking Issue 79 http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/buttery-shortbread-pastry-dough

Yield: Yields enough dough for 1 single pie crust, 8 mini tarts, or 12 turnovers.
This versatile dough can be used for everything from tarts to pie crust to turnovers. The dough is quite soft, but all the butter in the recipe makes it forgiving and easy to work with. When baked, the crust is very tender—almost like a shortbread cookie.

Ingredients

9 oz. (2 cups) bleached all purpose flour
7 oz. (14 Tbs.) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 Tbs. chilled heavy cream
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. table salt

Preparation

In a food processor, combine the flour, butter, egg, sugar, cream, lemon juice, and salt and pulse until the dough starts gathering together in big clumps, as shown below. Turn the dough out onto a counter and gather it together. Shape the dough as directed in the recipe you’re making.

Pie Crust
Shape the dough into a 1-inch-thick disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate to firm a bit, 20 to 30 min. You want the dough to remain pliable enough to roll, but not so soft that it’s sticky and difficult to move once it’s rolled out. Lightly flour a clean surface and your rolling pin. Roll out the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick round. (Run a dough scraper under the dough after every few passes of the rolling pin to prevent sticking, and reflour the surface as necessary.) Lay the rolling pin in the center of the crust, fold the pastry over it, and transfer it to a 9-inch pie pan. Gently press the dough into the pan. Trim the overhang to about 1/2 inch. (You’ll have about 6 ounces of excess dough.) Fold the overhang under to build up the edge of the pastry; crimp to flute the edges. Prick the entire surface, including the sides, with a fork. Cover loosely and refrigerate for half an hour. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400°F.

Apply a light coating of nonstick cooking spray to one side of a piece of aluminum foil that’s slightly larger than the diameter of the pie pan. Line the pan with the foil, oiled side down, going up and over the edges, and fill with pie weights, raw rice, or dried beans. Set the pie pan on a baking sheet and bake for 20 min. Carefully remove the foil and pie weights and bake until the crust is golden brown, about another 15 min. Transfer the pie crust to a rack and let cool while you make the filling.

Mixed Berry Tarts with Lemony Filling, Lemon Curd

Mixed Berry Tarts with Lemony Filling
By Janie Hibler Fine Cooking Issue 79 http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/mixed-berry-tarts-with-lemony-filling

Yield: Yields eight 4-3/4-inch tarts.
You can decorate these delicious tarts with berries before serving them, or set out dishes of berries and let guests garnish their own tarts with the berries of their choice.

Ingredients
1 recipe Buttery Shortbread Pastry Dough http://charisstoma.dreamwidth.org/1279894.html
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup Lemon Curd *
1 cup each fresh raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries or boysenberries (rinsed, picked over, and dried) placed in separate bowls

Preparation
Have ready eight 4-3/4-inch fluted tart pans with removable bottoms

Working quickly, shape the dough into an 8-inch log and divide it into eight equal pieces.  On a lightly floured surface, roll a piece of dough into a 5-inch round. Gently press the dough into a tart pan. Repeat with the remaining dough. Put the tarts on a baking sheet and chill in the refrigerator for 15 min.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 400°F.

Cut out eight roughly 6-inch-square pieces of foil and spray one side lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

Line each tart with a square of foil, oiled side down, being sure to gently fold the foil over the top edge of the tart. Place a handful of pie weights, raw rice, or dried beans into each lined tart. Transfer the tarts (still on the baking sheet) to the oven and bake until the crust turns golden brown and starts to pull away from the sides of the pans, 25 to 30 min. (Check the color by carefully lifting up the foil on a few of the tarts.) Let the tarts cool on the baking sheet on a rack for 5 min. Carefully remove the lining and weights. Let cool completely on the baking sheet on the rack.

In a medium bowl, whip the cream to soft peaks. Add the lemon curd and gently fold together with a rubber spatula until combined. Divide the mixture among the pastry shells and smooth the filling with a spatula or the back of a spoon. The filling should be no higher than the edge of the tart shell. Carefully remove the outer rings and bottoms of the tart shells (use a metal spatula for the bottoms) and arrange the tarts on a large platter. Top each tart with a mixture of raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries and serve immediately.

Make Ahead Tips
You can combine the lemon curd and whipped cream and hold the filling for about two hours in the fridge. The shells can be baked a day ahead (store the cooled shells in an airtight container); fill them shortly before serving. The baked shells also freeze well; thaw before filling.

*Lemon Curd for Berry Tarts

By Janie Hibler Fine Cooking Issue 79 http://www.finecooking.com/recipe/lemon-curd-for-berry-tarts

Yield: Yields about 1-3/4 cups.
This recipe makes more than you need for the Mixed Berry Tarts, but once you taste this lemon curd, the leftovers may disapper before you know it.

Ingredients
3 large eggs
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice (from about 2 large lemons)
6 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 Tbs. finely grated lemon zest

Preparation
In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs until well blended. Combine the sugar, lemon juice, butter, and lemon zest in a small (1- to 2-quart) saucepan. Gently heat over medium-low heat until the butter has melted. Don’t let the mixture come to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk the lemon mixture into the beaten eggs. Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook gently over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with the whisk, until the mixture thickens and reaches at least 160°F, about 5 min. Again, don’t let the mixture boil.

Let the lemon curd cool briefly before transferring it to a heatproof container. Press a piece of plastic wrap onto the surface of the curd and poke a few holes in it with the tip of a knife—this will keep a skin from forming on the curd. Refrigerate until completely chilled. The curd will continue to thicken as it cools.