Lesson Learned: Pie Crust

I have made exactly three pie crusts in my life, before this weekend. I couldn't figure out why everyone complained about pie crusts being finicky, because my three were perfect! Maybe not perfect, but they certainly were not failures. I used the same basic recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. But looking back, maybe the pie crusts were just okay, because I definitely don't remember them being fabulous compared to the actual pecan and cherry pies themselves.

So. This weekend I decided to make homemade chicken pot pie! With a real official top and bottom pie crust (man I love crust!). All I can say is...Epic Fail. The recipe I used called for like two cubes of butter- and Shenli and I don't need that! So I tried substituting some shortening (yah, because that's better for you. not.). In short, the pie crust wouldn't even roll out, was way too mushy and butter, so I ended up dropping spoonfuls of it onto the pot pie like it was biscuit dough! Then when it baked, it never browned, it got all floury and dry, and was basically just horrible.

What did I do wrong??? I started researching pie crusts, and I realized--I did everything wrong. Warm ingredients (my kitchen is so warm that my shortening is always almost liquid) and definitely over mixing. So I decided to give in and actually try a pie crust recipe the right way. Luckily, beef empanadas were on the menu this week!

So the day before, I made the pie dough. I used this wonderful recipe and it will be my go to recipe for savory crusts now! I tried to do everything perfectly. I froze the butter before, then cut it into little chunks. I washed my hands in cold water, and I made sure the water in the recipe was ice cold. I only mashed in the butter until I had little smaller-than-pea size butter balls (I read somewhere that pie dough isn't mixed together. It's just coating the butter in flour! Weird concept). I only kneaded the dough once with my palm and then let it "relax" in the fridge overnight.

The next day I took out the dough, floured up my work surface all nice, and rolled it out thin- rolling in only one direction. I read I'm supposed to roll one way, then turn the dough a quarter turn, roll some more, etc.

Man. Can I just say, AMAZING? Even Shenli noticed how good this dough was (I baked the empanadas in the oven so they turned nice and golden brown!). It was flaky, crisp, it tasted amazing, and it truly stole the show from the beef filling. This dough was PERFECT! The pictures are horrible, but I am officially converted to pie dough the right way. Doing it the night before made it much easier- and the relaxing in the fridge was just what it needed. WOW. I can't get over it. So flaky! Thank goodness Thanksgiving is almost here because I want to try my new found pie dough skills on apple pie, peach pie, pecan pie, cherry pie, everything! (except pumpkin. ew.) This was not just a lesson of pie dough though, this is a lesson to me to learn all I can about why recipes call for the strange methods they do!

Recipe Review: Egg Drop Soup

We are feeling a little sickly in our home this week, so I have been searching Pinterest all day long to find new soup ideas! Once we got sick of regular chicken and noodle and cream of mushroom, I have decided to try a few new ones--maybe a french onion, pasta fagioli, and we're having chili on Friday night for the Ward Halloween Party, so that'll be great!


I have never liked egg drop soup--but I'm also not sure if I've ever had it (can you tell I was a picky kid?) Just the name egg drop turned me off from ever doing more than just dipping my spoon in once or twice at a restaurant. But in my search for soups, this one sounded so warm and brothy- perfect for our sick bodies on a cold day. Plus I had all the ingredients on hand!


I wasn't as happy with this soup as I could have been. My main problem was that the soup wasn't the burning hot warm-your-whole-body-as-it-goes-down soup I had hoped for. By the time I served it (and maybe I could time this better next time) it was just warm because the egg gets poured in after it is taken off the heat. So that takes some time. And I wanted longer egg strands. Is that possible? Oh well, I really can't complain. We just had a dinner that took like 12 minutes to prepare and we have leftovers too!

Egg Drop Soup
from Gimme Some Oven

Ingredients:

• 4 cups good chicken broth
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 3-4 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. sesame oil
• 3 green onions, sliced thin
• 1/4 cup corn or creamed corn (optional)
• salt and white pepper to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp. each)

[We also added some shredded cooked chicken -Eliza]

Method:

Pour the chicken stock into a room-temperature pot, and whisk in the cornstarch until it is well-blended.  Add in the garlic, ginger and soy sauce.  Turn on the stove and heat over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs in a small measuring cup or bowl.  (I find the measuring cup easier for pouring.)

Once the soup is boiling, turn off the heat.  Then while using one hand to continually stir the soup in one direction with a fork, slowly pour the whisked eggs into the soup.  (This will create the nice egg ribbons!)  Then gently stir in the sesame oil, green onions and corn (optional).  Season with white pepper (be careful) and salt (depending on your chicken broth, be generous).

Serve immediately.

Lesson Learned: Banana Oatmeal Cookies

It's pretty much a weekly thing that I buy too many bananas and end up with "ripe" ones (why are the black mushy ones called ripe?). So I am trying to branch out of the regular banana bread and try new banana creations! These low-fat banana oatmeal cookies from Skinny Taste sounded good from the moment I saw them. The only problem? Mine. are nothing. like the picture.

I've been trying to figure out why, because I actually tried to follow the recipe exactly! I didn't have any walnuts to put in however. So the only thing I can think of (which now I am pretty sure must be the culprit) is that I just mashed one full banana into the bowl instead of measuring the 1/4 cup it calls for. But hey- what was I going to do with extra banana? How am I supposed to know how much banana equals 1/4 cup? Why would a recipe call for only part of a banana??? I know...lame excuses.

As much as I know I should have measured the banana, that's not the lesson I learned (because I will never measure banana! I refuse!) My lesson is this: if I am uncertain about the consistency of the dough before I bake it, then only bake a few to test it out! The dough did seem pretty thin (and DELICIOUS if I do say so myself). But rather than test a few, I went ahead and baked a dozen! They turned out a little something like this:

Yes, those are flat, chewy, slightly-banana-y, almost cookies. They basically fall apart in your hands! So after I messed up those dozen, I added some more flower to the Shenli batch (aka the batch with chocolate chips!). They turned out slightly better.....

But how come neither of them look like the original picture!? I am just unhappy about this. I think I might have to crumble the flat ones up and use them as ice cream topping or mix in with my yogurt. Hmm...actually....not a bad idea..... And as for the second batch, I hope I put enough chocolate chips in them that Shenli will look past the other awful flaws!

Chewy Low Fat Banana Nut Oatmeal Cookies

(Skinny Taste)

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup mashed ripe banana
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups quick oats
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350°; line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use a silpat.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, with a mixer, cream together the butter and the sugars on medium speed.  

Add the egg, followed by the mashed banana and vanilla extract.

Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain; stir in the chopped walnuts.

Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until cookies become light brown at the edges.

Let cool on baking sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container so you don't eat them all in one sitting!

Zucchini Muffins: My Experiment!

I have been researching like crazy how to substitute "healthy" ingredients into my foods. Some recipes I see are just crazy- black bean brownies? cookies without any flour, eggs, butter, or sugar? And what the heck is agave nectar? But I have also been impressed that I can cut out the butter or sugar in my recipes with simple substitutions like apple sauce and honey!

So I've made these muffins before - they are AMAZING. Moist, delicate, the zucchini gives them some depth while the lemon zest and cinnamon give a lightness of flavor. So I decided this was a good and simple recipe to try to make healthy! (Also, we just got a zucchini about 2 feet long from my sister. Yay for zucchini brownies, oatmeal cookies, muffins--anything not to use the zucchini for its real purpose!)

(photo by Eat Cake for Dinner)

When I told Shenli about my idea, he said "Wow that's great! Because I don't like apple sauce, you don't like honey, and we both hate zucchini!" Okay, so in theory, none of these ingredients are really loved at our house. But somehow, put together, they are all AMAZING! (Shenli still didn't like the muffins. But what can I say- I should have dipped them in chocolate if I really wanted his attention.)

I was afraid to substitute all the sugar for honey, because I didn't know how the batter would behave. It turned out well! Here is my (my very first!) recipe below. I had to add some more oatmeal to make the batter thicker, so it's not quite a perfect halving of the original recipe.

Healthy Oatmeal Zucchini Muffins
(adapted from Eat Cake for Dinner)

1 cup Flour (next time I might try some whole wheat in there!)

3/4 cup Oatmeal

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup honey

1 egg

1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1 tsp. vanilla

zest from 1/2-1 lemon

1 1/2 c. grated un-peeled zucchini

Whisk together, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.  In a separate bowl, stir together honey, sugar, egg, and apple sauce.  Add vanilla, lemon zest, and shredded zucchini. Mix together the dry and wet ingredients and stir just until combined. Add more oatmeal or flour if needed until batter becomes pretty thick.  Spray mini muffin pan with cooking spray (or use melted butter). Drop spoonfuls of batter into each muffin cup and fill to the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-16 minutes (the original recipe says 21-23 minutes for regular muffins if you want that instead).  Muffins will look very shiny on the top, but will still be done as long as the top is no longer doughy.

Enjoy! I looked it up online and I believe they are about 70 calories apiece, and my recipe made 21 mini muffins. They are slightly gummy for muffins- I think it might be the honey or the apple sauce. But they are delicious and filling and my first recipe adaptation was a success! I don't know if I'm quite up for black bean brownies yet, but the apple sauce instead of butter idea is my new favorite friend!

Review: Caramel-Filled Snickerdoodles

I finally got around to making another of those four cookies I wanted to try! Caramel-filled snickerdoodles from The Baker Chick. 

(Picture by The Baker Chick)

The best part is, I think I might actually be getting better at baking! Or at least knowing how my oven works. I read up on old ovens lately, and learned that I should make sure my oven preheats fully so that the heat is well distributed--I have always just put the cold pan in the cold oven and hoped for the best! Also, putting parchment paper on my cookie sheets helps the bottoms of the cookies not burn!!

These cookies were really good. REALLY good. I love snickerdoodles, and the recipe was so simple! Baker Chick recommends using caramels that are really soft at room temperature and I can't stress that enough. Because I didn't. I just used your basic wrapped caramels (Western Family I think)....and the cookies were amazing straight out of the oven: crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, oozing caramel and cinnamon goodness! But I just had another bite a few minutes ago of a cooled cookie. Oh dear. My jaw hurts! The caramel sure did harden up like Baker Chick said it would so I'll be microwaving every cookie we eat now. :(

On the whole, amazing! But I think I actually like my snickerdoodles without any filling. How can you get any better than the regular cinnamon-y chewy goodness! What do you think of my photography skills below? Pretty good for a little pink camera, and the only "natural light" was from the 7:00pm setting sun on a cold rainy day!

Failure--But some Resolutions!

Is conference great or what? I love hearing the inspired messages from the Lord's servants that help me make changes in my life to be a better person!

Cinnamon Roll Review
Oh dear, where to begin? I planned to make lovely Cinnabon knockoffs Friday night, then refrigerate and bake fresh the next morning! Then....I realized I had no yeast (at 10pm, which is when I start all my yeast-needing-one-hour-rising baking projects!) So I found this recipe for no-yeast-needing cinnamon rolls! I was excited. It was so simple- just regular dough, kneed a few times, and it called for enough butter and sugar to make anything delicious.

Except that I think I ruin everything. So somehow my cinnamon rolls did not look like those lovely ones in the pictures. Mine were scrawny little lopsided rolls. But hey, I thought, they will cook okay right! Not. Maybe it was the refrigerating overnight, but they didn't puff up in the oven at all! I did mine on a cookie sheet too, so they had tons of room to not expand. The cinnamon mixture in the middle leaked out everywhere on the pan and burned, and the rolls were like...biscuits? Not the nice fluffy kind, the (made by Eliza) kind that turn out flat and dry.

But, they did at least taste good. They were cinnamony, and the cream cheese frosting makes them super yummy! The cinnamon filling did get a little crunchy from the burning in the oven....but hey. I guess the taste is all I really care about in the end. Working on presentation of my dishes is one of my goals!

"Practically Perfect in Every Way" Omelet

Thanks to my amazing friend Kirsten, I have finally learned how to create the perfect omelet. But just because I know how to do it, doesn't mean it actually was. It was pretty good though as you can see by my artistic photo of it. Notice how the brown plate brings out the rich tones of the mushrooms...
Here's what you'll need:

3 eggs (1 entire egg and two just egg whites)
Add ins like mushrooms, green onion, shredded cheese, etc.

Instructions:

1. Cut up the mushrooms and green onions. Start cooking them in the pan on medium heat.

2. While those are hanging out, whisk the 1 whole egg with the two egg whites. You can add milk to them, just a little bit, if you want.

3. Most important step!!! Turn down the pan to a 3 or 4 (medium low) BEFORE you add the eggs. I even took the pan off the burner for a bit because the veggies were sizzling so much. This means your omelet won't be over cooked on the bottom and still runny on top. Ew.

4. Now you add the eggs and swirl them around to fill the pan. This is where you pretend to be a fancy chef who trained in France (if you want to pretend the whole time, you have to crack the eggs with one hand and chop the veggies really fast with a giant butcher knife).

Tip for swirling: don't get too crazy or else you'll have this weird flaky crust around the edge. It has a weird texture and doesn't taste very good.

5. Covered the pan so the steam cooks the top. Let it sit until the top isn't runny anymore. Then remove from pan and fold in half. Voila! The Perfect Omelet!

When you try it, let me know how it goes and if you have any tips to add. And of course I must thank my wonderful friend Kirsten for making this post possible. P.S. her blog is kind of amazing. Just sayin'.