Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Kneaders Key Lime Tarts

These were very fun to make! I got this recipe from Good Things Utah and it didn't come with the tart shell. So I found the recipe on Food Network from Ina Garten. It was very easy and turned out great. If you love Lime then you will Love these!

Tart Shell

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, diced
  • 2 tablespoons cold shortening (recommended: Crisco) Note: I didn't use any Crisco I just added more butter and they turned out great
  • 1/4 cup ice water

Directions

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Put the flour mixture in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the butter and shortening and pulse about 10 times, or until the butter is in the size of peas. Add the ice water and process until the dough comes together. Dump on a well-floured board and form into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out the dough and fit into 4 (4 1/2-inch) tart pans with removable sides. Don't stretch the dough when placing it in the pans or it will shrink during baking. Cut off the excess by rolling the pin across the top of each pan. Line the tart shells with a piece of buttered aluminum foil, butter side down, and fill them with dried beans or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and foil, prick the bottom of the shells all over with a fork, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until almost done. Set aside to cool. (If adding filling you'll be cooking another 5 minutes so make sure you don't overbake)

Lime Filling

Ingredients

  • ½ cup fresh lime juice (3 to 4 limes)
  • 4 teaspoons grated lime zest
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 – 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 4 (4 1/2") tart shells

Directions

1. It’s easiest to remove the lime zest from whole limes so start with that.

2. Cut the limes in half and squeeze out the juice being careful to not include any seeds.

3. Whisk the egg yolks and lime zest together in a bowl until tinted light green. This takes about 2 minutes.

4. Beat in the milk, then juice and set aside at room temp till it thickens, about 5 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

6. Pour mixture into tart crusts, bake for 5 minutes until the center is set, but still wiggles when shaken.

7. Remove from the oven and cool to room temp.

8. Refrigerate for at least three hours until well chilled.

9. Serve with whipped cream topping and decorate with a lime wedge or zest.

Makes 4 Tarts

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Ultimate Potatoes Au Gratin

This is Tyler Florence's recipe from foodnetwork.com. It is really good! takes a while to cook though, so give yourself plenty of time (I didn't and the kids were crying from hunger while waiting for it to cook!)

Ingredients:

1 head savoy cabbage, cored, cleaned, and shredded (I couldn't find savoy so I used Napa...worked great)
1 (2-inch) piece slab bacon, thinly sliced (or about 4 pieces regular bacon)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 bunch fresh chives, finely chopped to 1/4 cup
2 pounds baking potatoes, unpeeled and thinly sliced (about 1/8-inch), see Cook's note*
2 1/2 cups heavy cream (I only used two, and think that's plenty)
2 cups grated Parmesan

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Finely shred the cabbage. Cut the bacon into 1/2-inch chunks. Place a small skillet over medium-low heat and fry the bacon, until crisp. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Set aside.

Add 1 tablespoon butter to bacon fat in frying pan. When it has melted add 1/2 the garlic and give it a quick stir with a wooden spoon to soften. Add the cabbage and coat it with the butter. Slowly let it wilt. Add the bacon. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remove from heat and add most of the chives, reserving a little for the garnish.

Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 13-inch ovenproof casserole dish. In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, 1 1/2 cups of cream, 1 cup of Parmesan, and the remaining garlic. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Using your hands, place a layer of potatoes in the casserole dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan and repeat with 2 more layers. Spoon the cabbage mixture on top and spread it out evenly over the potatoes. Top it off with 2 more layers of potato and Parmesan. Pour the remaining 1 cup cream over the dish. Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan.

Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake for 1 hour. Remove foil and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Leave for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with fresh chives.

*Cook's Note: Slice the potatoes immediately before using so they don't turn brown.

Classic Bran Muffins

This is a very yummy recipe!!!


INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/3 c. pumpkin to make healthier....so good!)
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. Molasses (optional - I added it)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.
Beat together oil, egg, sugar, molasses and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
( I also squeezed a tiny bit of honey on the tops before baking, it was really good because these aren't super sweet! It kind of tastes like a Mimi's muffin...kinda)
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool and enjoy! Makes 12

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Soft Gingersnaps

Ingredients:

3/4 c. shortening (I always use butter)
1 c. sugar
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses
2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. soda
3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (I usually add a tiny bit more ginger/cinnamon/nutmeg.....just until I like the taste.....but it's good as written)
sugar for rolling

Cream together first 4 ingredients. Add remaining ingredients, except sugar for rolling. Mix well. Chill for 1 hour. Roll into 1 inch balls, roll in sugar, and bake at 375 for 8 minutes. Makes 45 cookies.