Pie Crust

They say there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing. That is a lie because my pie crust is really good and it is very easy to eat too much of it. But as a homemaker with a somewhat limited set of culinary skills, I have to find ways to be creative with the food items I CAN make, and pie crust is one of them. So, here is my recipe, and a few things you can do with it.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour

1 cup butter or shortening

¼ cup water

(optional salt to taste)

Use a fork to incorporate butter (or shortening) into flour until it is a bunch of crumbs and small clumps. Add water (ice cold is best) a little at a time and mix with your hands until it’s all combined as dough. Refrigerate if you want your crust flaky once cooked.

Things that are delicious and easy to make using this pie crust recipe:

Pot pie

Quiche

Empanadas

Knishes

Cinnamon sticks

Fruit pie

And….these adorable mini pastries!

Directions: make one batch of pie crust recipe above. 

Roll out onto a floured surface. Use a cookie cutter (or a mason jar lid, like me) to cut circles. 

Place each circle into a mini-cupcake tin well. 

 Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350F, until dough starts to turn golden brown. Fill with anything delicious, and bake for another 5-10 minutes to warm throughout.

In this photo I have made sweet potato pecan, yukon potato rosemary, and stuffed mushroom filling. They were all the best one.

Almond Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I've done it. I'VE DONE IT! I have created the perfect cookie. They're so soft and delicious, and best of all, they use up the almond butter that comes in a giant jar at Costco which I can never seem to find enough uses for. So without further ado:

1 cup almond butter
1 cup butter or shortening (I use a 1/2 cup of each)
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup oats

Cream butter (softened first), almond butter, and both sugars. Add eggs and almond extract, mix until blended. Add salt and baking soda first, stir until incorporated, then add flour and mix until dough forms. Add oats last, stirring just until incorporated.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Take out of the oven as soon as they start to brown. They will be on the soft side and you will probably think they are not ready yet, but trust me, once they cool they will be perfectly soft and chewy!



* Notes *

Peanut butter obviously will work as a substitute. In this case just leave out the extract. Also, you're boring.

I haven't tried it yet, but my partner mentioned adding slivered or chopped almonds to the recipe to give it some crunchy texture. Might be a good idea!

I suggest everybody go out and invest in a KitchenAid stand mixer. It makes cooking and baking so much faster and easier. Seriously, mine is a gem. I love it so much.