CLASSIC CHERRY PIE

Do you like your cherry pie recipe? If your attempts at making a good cherry pie were like my first attempts...they tasted good but there was always a lot of liquid in the bottom of the pie...not exactly what I wanted. Then I tried a cherry pie recipe that used flour as a thickener which ended the excess liquid in the pie but left me with a cloudy filling...definitely not what I wanted. Next I tried tapioca, but for some reason it was hard to zero in on how much tapioca to use since the moisture content of the cherries is variable AND since you add the tapioca to the pie in its uncooked state...well, lets just say tapioca results were not consistent enough for me.

Finally, I found the following recipe and it is everything I ever wanted in a cherry pie and has earned some rave reviews with my family. If you are looking for an excellent cherry pie recipe, I hope you will try it. It never fails.

CRUST
2 cups chilled all purpose flour
1 cup frozen butter flavored shortening
½ cup ice water
¼ teaspoon salt

Grate the frozen shortening into the chilled flour, stopping occasionally to toss a little of the cold flour onto the grated shortening (so that the shortening doesn't stick together). Mix in the cold water until dough comes to a smooth ball. Cover with plastic and chill while you make the filling.

FILLING
2 pounds of pitted sour cherries (see note)
1¼ cups white sugar
10½ teaspoons cornstarch (yes, 10½ tsp.)
1 tablespoon butter
¼ teaspoon almond extract

Place pitted cherries, sugar and cornstarch in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Allow mixture to stand for 10 minutes for until the cherries have moistened the sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat (stirring). When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for one minute or until juice is thick and clear. Remove from heat and stir in butter and almond extract. Set aside.

Roll out pie crust and fit into the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Fill with pie filling and put on top crust. Cut vent holes in the top crust and bake at 375F for 45 to 55 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

NOTE: Handle the crust quickly because the heat of your hands will warm up the dough (not good).

NOTE: When it is not cherry season, I use 3 (15 ounce) cans of tart pie cherries and let them drain thoroughly before I add the sugar and cornstarch. If you are using canned cherries, you can skip the 10 minute wait time in the recipe.

NOTE: If you use canned cherries, the baking time will be more like 35 to 45 minutes.

NOTE: Let cherry pie cool completely before cutting!!

THOUSAND ISLAND, RANCH AND CATALINA SALAD DRESSING

We like Light House salad dressings but the price has increased recently to nearly $4.50 for a small jar, which is ridiculous. In an effort to save a little money in that department, I have been experimenting with salad dressing recipes. The results have been surprisingly good and the convenience an unexpected plus!!

Thousand Island Salad Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise (low cal is OK)
2 tablespoons ketchup
¼ cup sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/8 teaspoon salt
Whisk everything together and refrigerate at least a couple of hours before using.

Catalina Salad Dressing

1 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

2/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)

½ teaspoon onion powder (not onion salt)

½ teaspoon dry mustard powder

½ teaspoon celery seed

½ teaspoon chili powder

big pinch of paprika (not the spicy kind)

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup sugar

Place all ingredients in a blender (I used an immersion blender) and mix on high speed (salad dressing will really thicken up as you process it).

NOTE: Catalina is the only one that needed a good whisk before using (if it has been in the fridge for a few days).

WHIPPING CREAM BISCUITS

I am fairly successful when it comes to baking with yeast, however, biscuits have been one of my big failures for many years. Every so often, I try various biscuit recipes in hopes of finding a good one. After each attempt, Hubby tells me "I like whomp biscuits" better. Are you familiar with "whomp biscuits"? They go "whomp" when you hit them on the edge of the counter to pop the tube open. Personally, they aren't my favorite, but Hubby likes them (Pillsbury Grands).

Last week, I made Paula Deen's cream biscuits for breakfast. Because the recipe has only THREE ingredients (self rising flour, sugar and whipping cream), I didn't have very high expectations, but they turned out GREAT!! The biscuits were light, moist, tasty and oh so quick. I used them to make some ham & egg sandwiches and Hubby actually liked them!!

2 cups self rising flour (see note)
1 tablespoon sugar
1½ cups heavy whipping cream


Mix all 3 ingredients together until dough forms a ball. Turn out onto lightly floured counter and knead 5 to 7 times. Pat dough out to ½ inch thickness and cut biscuits with a 3 inch cutter. Place on greased baking sheet (with 1" between biscuits) and bake at 500F for 10 minutes

NOTE: I never have self rising flour, so for EACH CUP of self rising flour, I substitute 1 cup of all purpose flour + 1¼ teaspoon baking powder + 1/8 teaspoon salt.
NOTE: I brushed my biscuits with butter when them came out of the oven.

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE DESSERT - WITH AWARD WINNING WHIPPED CREAM (and a question)

I found the recipe for this luscious peanut butter-chocolate dessert over at A Blog About Food. Teresa warned that the pie was "pure evil" because it kept beckoning to her and she couldn't leave it alone and she was right!! Evil aside, it would make a fantastic addition to ANY holiday table. It has an Oreo cookie crust, a peanut butter-cream cheese layer and then a chocolate pudding layer. It is definitely "over the top" scrumptious. Thanks for sharing the recipe Teresa.

The whipped cream on this dessert is my own tweak. It is a cream cheese-whipped cream that is completely stable (it does NOT deflate). If you look at the second photo, you can see how well it pipes and, amazingly enough, it stays that way for days (in the fridge)!!

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE DESSERT
20 Oreos, divided
2 tablespoons butter, softened
(1) 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup peanut butter
1½ cups powdered sugar, divided
(1) 16 ounce carton whipped topping, divided
15 mini peanut butter cups, chopped
1 cup cold milk
(1) 3.9 ounce instant chocolate fudge pudding mix

Crush 16 of the cookies in food processor, add melted butter and press into the bottom of an Ungreased 9” square dish (I used a 9” round spring form pan).

In large mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and one cup of the powdered sugar until smooth. Fold in HALF of the whipped topping and spread over the Oreo crust. Sprinkle with peanut butter cups (chop them pretty small).

In another mixing bowl, beat the milk, pudding mix and remaining powdered sugar on low for two minutes then fold in the remaining whipped topping. Spread over the peanut butter layer. Crush the remaining 4 Oreo cookies and sprinkle over the top. Cover and chill for at least three hours.

NOTE: I removed the frosting layer from the Oreos and then processed them into very fine crumbs.

STABLE WHIPPED CREAM
(1) 8 ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract (optional)
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Combine the cream cheese, sugar and extracts in a large mixing bowl until very smooth (scrape the sides of the bowl often). While the mixer is still running, slowly pour in the heavy cream. Continue beating on high speed until very stiff peaks form.

NOTE: I left out the almond extract for this chocolate dessert, however, if you are using this whipped cream for anything but chocolate, the almond extract is a nice addition.

NOTE: Make sure you stop and scrape the bowl sides down while you are whipping the cream. This next photo is a close up to show you how well this whipped cream "behaves" in a piping bag.
This is what the dessert looks like inside

QUESTION: What's on your Thanksgiving menu this year (from soup to dessert)??

CLASSIC PECAN TASSIE

Almost everyone has their own favorite version of a pecan tassie, the classic Christmas treat. However, for those who don't, this is a great one. Pecan tassies are a bite size pecan pie in a cream cheese pastry crust. I used to make them only at Christmas, but they have become one of Hubby's favorites, so I make them throughout the year. This recipe makes 4 dozen and freezes well.

PASTRY CRUST
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
6 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour

Cream the butter and cream cheese (with electric mixer) until it is light and fluffy. Add the flour and beat until the dough comes cleanly away from the inside walls of your mixing bowl. Flatten dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for one hour (I NEVER chill this dough, it is a dream to work with).

FILLING
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1¾ cups light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Beat the eggs until very well mixed and lemon colored. Stir in everything else.

ASSEMBLY
Roll pastry into 1 inch balls and place them into an ungreased mini-muffin pan. Using your fingers, press the balls of dough into the bottom of each cup and up the sides. (I use the floured end of my rolling pin to press the dough into place). Put a few chopped pecans in the bottom of each pastry shell and top with about a tablespoon of filling. (see note)

Bake in pre-heated 375F oven for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden and the filling is set, yet still a little soft in the center. Remove from oven and sit the pan on a wire rack for about 10 minutes before you try to lift them out. Lift tassies out of pan and cool on a wire rack.

NOTE: Keep in mind that the filling puffs as it bakes, so don't overfill the unbaked shells. If you overfill them, they will be hard to get out of the pans. For those stubborn tassies, use the tip of a knife to help you lift them out of the pan.

WEATHER UPDATE: For those of you who have sent me "stay warm" e -mails, I thought I should let you know that our cold snap has moderated a little. Today it actually got up to 20 degrees, so I scurried out to the grocery store to stock up just in case we get house bound with sub-zero temperatures any time soon. Hopefully this "heat wave" will continue.

CHEDDAR & BACON HASH BROWN SIDE DISH

I needed an easy side dish to go along with some fried chicken yesterday and decided to throw together some "cheater" Au gratin potatoes. I had a bag of fresh hash browns (called Simply Potatoes) so I decided to use those (they are sold, in our market, next to the eggs). I made a quick white sauce, stirred in the hash browns, some cheddar, a little sour cream and some bacon. What more can you ask for?? They were very cream & cheesy-delicious.

1 package Simply Potatoes
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2¼ cups milk
¼ cup chopped onions sauteed
2 cups cheddar cheese shredded
¼ cup sour cream
4 slices bacon fried crisp and crumbled

This is what the potatoes look like:

In a small, heavy bottomed sauce pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter and add 3 tablespoons flour and simmer for about a minute; stir in the sauteed onions and crumbled bacon. Whisk in the milk (whisk quickly, at first, so you don't get lumps) and cook until the mixture thickens. When it comes to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the cheese, potatoes and sour cream. Pour into a greased 2 quart baking dish and bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes or until bubbly and potatoes are tender.

I don't see why you couldn't use frozen hash browns (as long as you thaw them first).

CHOCOLATE-PEANUT BUTTER FILLED COOKIES

It's TWENTY BELOW ZERO tonight...what do they call that, a three dog night? It is supposed to be this cold for the next several days...what do you do when it's too cold to even start the car? BAKE!!!

There should be a warning attached to this recipe...do not eat these while they are still warm, because you won't be able to stop!! These chocolate spritz dough cookies with a mini-Reese's center, are heavenly right out of the oven. I "accidentally" knocked a few of them over, while they were still hot, and the melted chocolate sort of got drippy like in this photo (so I was FORCED to eat those imperfect ones...snicker).



The chocolate shell is a spritz cookie recipe

1¼ cup butter (room temperature)
1 cup white sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar packed
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2½ cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup bakers cocoa
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
Frozen miniature Reese's cups

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars at medium high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Add vanilla extract. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Add this gradually and beat well. Let dough sit for about 15 minutes.

Roll dough into 1½ inch balls and place in an ungreased mini-muffin pan. Bake at 375 for about 12 minutes, leave the cookies in the pan.
Immediately press a frozen miniatuare Reeses cup candy into the center of each baked cookie, pressing down as far as you can. Let cookies sit in pan for about 10 minutes, then carefully lift them out and place them on a cooling rack. The chocolate will be very liquid, so be careful not to spill it.

Cookies will cool and set in an hour so so. After the chocolate "sets" the cookies are no longer messy. Makes about 4 dozen.

NOTE: Christmas sprinkles or candy would make these a wonderful addition to your Christmas cookie trays.

SWEET POTATO PECAN PIE TARTS

I'm posting this at midnight and it is FIFTEEN BELOW ZERO HERE!!
This last weekend was our 39th wedding anniversary; we were high school sweethearts. To celebrate, I made a big roast beef dinner and these heavenly little tarts that I found on Shelby's The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honybunch. They are absolutely delicious tiny bites (about the size of a tassie) of cinnamon spiced sweet potato and pecans all baked in a pre-prepared mini-phyllo cup. They are impressive looking, great tasting, ultra-easy and (believe it or not) the recipe says they are only about 45 calories each!! It doesn't get much better than that!!!

1 cup cooked & mashed sweet potato
3 tablespoons white sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon dark corn syrup (I used light)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg white
2 (2.1 ounce) packages mini-phyllo shells

Poke sweet potatoes a few times with a knife and place them in a pie plate with 2 tablespoons of water; cover loosely with waxed paper and microwave on high for five minutes (mine took 7 minutes) or until tender.

Mash and measure out 1 cup of sweet potato. Add sugar, cinnamon and salt and stir well (I used my electric mixer to really mash the potatoes). Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine toasted pecans, brown sugar, syrup, vanilla and egg white. Stir well and set aside.

Set mini phyllo shells on a baking sheet and put about 1 teaspoon of the sweet potato mixture into the bottom of each shell (gently push down-in a little). Spoon ½ teaspoon of pecan mixture over the sweet potato mixture. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

NOTE: Our super-store sells these little pre-made phyllo shells in the ATHENS brand.

FUDGE FOR CHRISTMAS

We are all snowed in today (big storm yesterday) and the temperature didn't get above +20F today (tonight it is zero), so it was a great day to play in the kitchen.

This fudge recipe comes from Tried and True Yummy Recipes and it is excellent. I made a full batch and poured it into these neat little foil stars made by Reynolds foil. If you wrapped them in a clear cellophane bag and tied them with bright Christmas ribbon, I think they would be a perfect little "Merry Christmas" gift for the mail man, school teacher, newspaper boy and even stocking stuffers.


The little foil pans (24 in a box) come in a variety of shapes. The foil is rigid enough to contain the hot fudge, but also soft enough (when the fudge has cooled and set) that it can be peeled back like a candy bar wrapper.
4 cups white sugar
1 twelve ounce can of evaporated milk
2 sticks of good quality butter (not margarine)
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 ounces milk chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vanilla
chopped nuts if desired

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, mix the white sugar and evaporated milk; boil for six minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir until melted and pour into a foil lined 9 x 13 pan. Cool in the fridge to set.
NOTE: I used one package of semi-sweet chocolate chips and one package of peanut butter chips and a cup of dry roasted peanuts, it was delicious.


NOTE: Any kind of chocolate chip would work in this recipe I'm sure. Two packages of peanut butter chips would make a nice peanut butter fudge.

BACON MACARONI & CHEESE

This recipe has evolved over the years, to what it is today; one of our (my) favorite side dishes. It's just your basic mac & cheese with a few small tweaks. I've tried it with almost every kind of cheese you can think of and I still like good old American cheese the best.

2 cups mini-penne pasta
4 cups chicken broth
¼ cup finely minced onions, sauteed
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (corn,peas,carrots)
5 strips of bacon fried and crumbled
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon ground dry mustard
1 tablespoon dry parsley flakes
2¼ cups milk
1 cup diced American cheese
bread crumbs & butter

Saute the finely minced onions until they are tender and sweet, set aside. Boil the pasta and vegetables (together) in the chicken broth until tender, then drain and stir a tablespoon of butter and set aside.

In a sauce pan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter then stir in 3 tablespoons of flour, parsley, pepper & dry mustard. Stir and cook very slowly (let it just bubble) for about a minute, then add the milk, sauteed onions and bacon (whisk like crazy when you first start to add the milk to avoid any lumps). Stir and cook this sauce until it thickens. Remove from heat and add the cheese. After it sits for a few minutes, stir and the cheese should be mostly melted. Pour over the pasta and veggies and mix well.

Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish and top with bread crumbs (see note). Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.

NOTE: Place 2 cups of plain dry bread crumbs in a frying pan and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Toast over medium high heat (stirring) until bread crumbs have absorbed all of the butter and the crumbs are golden. Spread evenly over the macaroni and cheese before putting in oven.

MINI-LINZER TORTE CUPS FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS COOKIE TRAY

We woke up to three inches of snow this morning and it is snowing again this evening (snow is a full 2-3 weeks late this year). The first snow of the season always flips a switch on in my head that says it is time to start planning my Christmas baking list. I know a lot of people say that we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, but oh well...

These little linzer torte cups have a rich, tender, shortbread crust that is packed with finely ground toasted pecans, sweet cream butter, vanilla and a raspberry jam center. They look very festive with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar just before serving. This recipe makes 4 dozen cookies, so there will be plenty for your cookie exchange!!


1½ cups unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1½ cups toasted pecans (ground finely in food processor)
red raspberry jam with seeds

Finely grind/chop the toasted pecans in your food processor. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and ground pecans on medium speed until very soft and light, about 3 minutes. Beat in the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract until well combined. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and add the dry ingredients. Beat for about 30 seconds, or until well combined (dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl).

Roll the dough into 1" balls and place in an UNgreased miniature cupcake pan. Find something in your kitchen that is the same diameter as the cupcake hole, and press gently down on each ball to make an indentation like this:

Place a rounded half teaspoon of raspberry jam in each depression and bake at 350F for 20 minutes. The jam will melt and spread out evently.

Keep the baked cookies IN the pan, but on a cooling rack for TEN MINUTES. After 10 minutes, you will be able to VERY GENTLY lift the cookie cups out of the pan. You can use the tip of a knife to help, but it shouldn't be necessary...just lift with a steady, gentle pressure and they will pop out. I've also had luck turning the pan upside down on a soft towel and tapping it gently...they should pop out.

Isn't Christmas Baking Fun?? November is my baked goods rehearsal month, where I try out new recipes and plan my holiday baking list.

EASY PLAY DOUGH - A GREAT WEEKEND PROJECT FOR THE KIDS or GRANDKIDS

I've tried many play dough recipes over the years and this one is, by far, the best yet. It is made with common pantry items and is ready to play with, literally, in a few minutes!! It's soft, pliable and super easy to work with. When the kids are done with it, recipe says to keep it in an airtight container in the fridge, but with all that salt, I doubt that is necessary.
EASY PLAY DOUGH
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup table salt
2 cups water
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
food coloring (see note)

Put everything in a large, heavy bottomed, sauce pan and cook (stirring) on medium high until this comes away from the sides of the pan and thickens to the consistency of Play Doh (it just takes a couple minutes). Make sure you have a very sturdy wooden spoon to stir this with and it takes a little elbow power at the very end.

Remove the cooked dough from the sauce pan and knead it for a minute or so until it becomes smooth. I did this kneading stage with my stand mixer which cooled the dough down almost immediately (a good thing).

If you want the play dough to be all the same color, add the food coloring with the water before cooking. I wanted to try two colors, so I divided the cooked dough in half and put half in my stand mixer (for the kneading step) and I added food color paste to the dough while the machine was kneading the dough (this step can be done by hand, but I would suggest you use rubber gloves so you don't get green fingernails).

My one concern with using the concentrated food color paste was that it would come off on my hands when I "played" with the final product...it did not!! This is a great weekend project for the kids!!

NOTE: The colors in this photo were obtained by using Wilton frosting color paste, which is very concentrated color. You can use ANY food coloring (or NO food coloring) that you like.

CREAM CHEESE WAFFLES FOR THIS WEEKEND

More often than not, we have sourdough waffles or sourdough pancakes on the weekends. However, recently I've been searching for a quick-fix waffle recipe and I have found a great one in our electric co-op newsletter, submitted by a lady named Sarah Wolcoff. Her deliciously moist and fluffy cream cheese waffles are oh so good!!!

1¾ cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
(1) 3 ounce cream cheese (room temperature)
2 eggs (separated)
1½ cups milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (my tweak)

Mix the cream cheese and 2 egg yolks together until smooth; stir in milk, vanillaextract and vegetable oil. Add dry ingredients and stir just until combined, it will be a little lumpy. Beat 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold them gently into the batter, leaving lots of fluffs of egg white (don't over mix). Cook in waffle iron. Recipe makes about 6 good size waffles

CROCKPOT ORANGE CHICKEN

Crockpot Orange Chicken

Katy, over at Food For A Hungry Soul posted a crockpot recipe for orange chicken a week or so ago. It sounded delicious, so I gave it a try today. Katy made several tweaks to her version and called it Ginger Orange Chicken. I stuck with the basic recipe (except I added black pepper) and it was excellent. The recipe makes it's own gravy (lots of it) which was an added bonus.

CROCKPOT ORANGE CHICKEN
8 boneless and skinless chicken thighs
½ cup barbecue sauce
¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup orange juice
¼ cup orange marmalade
3 tablespoons soy sauce
½ teaspoon black pepper (my tweak)
Place the chicken in the crockpot and whisk everything else together and pour over the chicken. Cook on the low setting for five hours...that's it!! Couldn't be easier or more satisfying. NOTE: Recipe calls for 8 chicken thighs, I only used 5 and I put them in the crockpot frozen and poured the sauce over the top. In five hours they were PERFECT and super tender. I served them over veggie rice.
NOTE: Next time I make this, I'm going to use pineapple jam and pineapple juice.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE & DULCE de LECHE TASSIES

Chocolate Fudge & Dulce de Leche Tassies

PASTRY CRUST
½ cup butter softened
(1) 3 ounce package cream cheese
1 cup all purpose flour
Beat the cream cheese and softened butter with electric mixer until well mixed. Add 1 cup of flour while mixer is on low speed, just until well combined. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes or until it is easy to handle (I never chill this dough). Divide this dough into 24 balls. Press the balls into the bottom and up the sides of an (UNgreased) mini (1¾ inch) muffin pan (see note).

FILLING
½ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup dulce de leche

In a small saucepan, combine the chocolate and butter; heat and stir over low heat until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, egg and vanilla.

ASSEMBLY
In the bottom of each pastry-lined cup, place a teaspoon of dulce de leche (you can find a super-easy method for making this caramel HERE. Put the chocolate mixture on top of the dulce de leche (filling pastry cups ¾ full).

BAKE
Bake in preheated 325F oven for 25 minutes (mine baked for almost 30 minutes) or until filling is puffed. Cool in pan for five minutes then gently lift them out. If they do not come out easily, use the tip of a butter knife to help you lift them out. Cool on wire rack.

NOTE: I imagine you could use any caramel in this recipe, although the dulce de leche is super thick and does not get runny when baked.
NOTE: I never chill this dough. Instead, I place the ball of dough in the mini-muffin cup and use the rounded end of my wooden meat grinder plunger (fits perfectly). I just push down gently and evenly on the dough and the pastry cup almost forms itself. If you don’t have anything to try this method with, just use your fingers.

BEAN and HAM SOUP

It has been very cold and windy here for over a week. Tonight, the ground is frozen hard and the thermometer says 10 degrees...it is definitely hot soup weather. Thick, rich, ham flavored and comforting; a crockpot of this ambrosia, simmering away in the kitchen, is all I need to battle the winter elements.


This bean soup is made with beef stock instead of water. In the final product, you do not taste beef, but you do taste its richness. I use a mixture of many different kinds of dried beans for this recipe (see note).

1 pound of good quality ham (cubed)
½ cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
2½ cups dry navy beans (rinsed but not soaked)
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
5 cups beef broth

Brown the ham cubes until you get a little color on the edges of the ham. Put the ham in the crockpot. In the same frying pan, sauté veggies and use the moisture from the veggies to loosen up any ham bits from the frying pan. Transfer veggies to crockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients to the crockpot and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours.

At the end of 8 to 10 hours, there is a trick. Scoop 2 cups of beans out of the soup and put them into a blender (try not to get any large ham chunks). Blenderize and return to the crockpot. This will give you a nice THICK soup.

NOTE: No need to pre-soak beans.
NOTE: Beef broth in a box is best, do not use beef bullion.
NOTE: You can use an immersion blender for the blender step, but if you do, be very careful because you can end up liquefying ALL of the beans and you don't want to do that.
NOTE: I keep a bean canister in my pantry. Whenever I use dry beans in a recipe, there always seems to be a half cup or so left in the package, so I put them into "the bean canister". Eventually, there is a very good mixture of MANY kinds of dry beans in the canister and I use them to make this soup; the bean variety is wonderful. When I do not have enough mixed beans, I use dry navy beans.

CROCK POT BBQ PORK SANDWICHES

This is a great weekend crockpot recipe because you can turn the "extras" into many different things over the weekend. The crockpot method makes the best pork sandwich ever (and there is lots of sauce in the crockpot to make them extra juicy)...plus you can turn the extra pork into tacos, or burritos, or pork and rice just to name a few. I like to make this recipe with pork tenderloin but any pork roast will work.

2½ pound pork tenderloin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup favorite barbecue sauce
2 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon dried red chili flakes
Our market sells pork tenderloin in 2½ pound packages and there are two tenderloins in each package. Cut each tenderloin in three pieces. If you are using a pork roast, trim obvious fat and cut it into pieces about the size of your fist. Mix the dry ingredients (except for the chili flakes) and rub all surfaces of the meat; place, covered, in refrigerator for an hour or so.

Brown the meat in a couple tablespoons of canola oil then put it in the crockpot. Mix the honey & dried red chili flakes into the barbecue sauce and pour over the meat. Cook on low for six or seven hours - every crockpot is different. To check for readiness, use two forks to see if the pork will pull apart easily.

Remove meat from crockpot and pull apart with two forks. Stir sauce and put the meat back in the sauce to keep it hot.

The above sandwich was made with my bun recipe which you can find HERE

NOTE: It isn't absolutely necessary to put the meat in the fridge after you put the dry rub on it, but it strengthens the flavor.
NOTE: Turn the meat over a couple of times during the cooking cycle...not absolutely necessary.