Pumpkin Pasties

I made these for my twins Harry Potter birthday party and they were a big hit! My kids and I liked them so much I could see myself making these over and over again. They freeze really well, just freeze the individual pasties on the baking sheet uncooked and once frozen place in a freezer safe zip bag. Increase the baking time to 30 minutes.

Ingredients:
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
Pie crust
Whipped cream (optional)

Directions:
In a medium bowl combine pumpkin, honey and spices. Set aside.
Roll our\t pie crust to 1/8" thickness and use a biscuit cutter to cut out rounds. Place 1 Tbsp pumpkin
mixture in middle of the round and pinch the edges together to make a half moon. Use a fork to crimp the edges down. Cut slits in the pasties to allow it to vent while baking. Put on a greased baking sheet and bake at 400º for 20 min. Serve hot or at room temperature.
Top with whip cream if desired. Yield 2 dozen.

Potica, Povitica, Makowiec, or Nokul

Potica (Po-tee-tsa) is a traditional Eastern European nut bread that is served at Easter, Christmas, weddings and other special occasions. This particular recipe came from the hills of Poland. Warning: this is not a project to be undertaken lightly. Potica making is an all day process and like most Polish cuisine is best if done with family or friends. When I make this I must at least have my husband's help but like 2 other people. For a detailed demonstration please refer to the video.

3 pkg yeast dissolved in ½ cup warm water and 2 tsp sugar

1.    1 ½ cups scalded mild

Add into hot milk: 2 cubes butter, 2 T shortening, 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp salt. Cool with 1 ½ cups water

2.   In a medium bowl

      Beat:    6 eggs (with electric beater)

      Add:     3 cups sugar

                     2 tsp vanilla

3.   In a large bowl

      Mix:     4 cups flour

                 Yeast mixture

                 Milk mixture (1)

4, Add Egg mixture (2) to Flour mixture (3)

5. Add to above mixture

         8 cups flour, stirring (12 total) (About 5 min)

         (Add more until dough is right: about 2 cups)

(14 total) (2 minutes)

Let dough set 15 minutes

Knead 15 minutes by hand or ½ hour in mixer.

Grease large Tupperware- put in dough.

Let rise 1 hr (until double)

Punch down and let rise 1 ½ - 2 hrs.

Filling: 4 lbs. walnuts – ground

          2 squares butter

          6 beaten eggs

          3 tsp vanilla

          2 cans evaporated milk

Divide dough

Roll dough out as thin as possible

Put filling on – spread with knife

         1 cup on 1 lb.

         4 cups on large

Roll up and place into greased pans

         1 lb dough into 7 ½” pan – snake 3 times

         2 ½ lbs into angel food cake pan, twist around twice

Grease top of loaves

Let rise ½ - 1 hour

Prick with fork

Bake at 325°

         Small – 1 hour

         Large – 1 ½ hour

         Rolls –  10-15 min

9 ½ lbs dough.

1 – 2 ½ lb.  8 - ¾ lb.  6-7 - 1 lbs.

Pear (or Peach) Tart!

I got this recipe out of a baking cookbook my mother gave me ages ago. Don't tell her, but I never cook anything out of it. Oh it is GORGEOUS. There are pictures of all the food and lots of things sound really delicious, but it calls for a lot of gourmet ingredients that I don't have on hand and never think to buy. Who has ever even heard of Muscovado or superfine sugar anyway? Anyhow I had some fresh pears that I had been canning but had a few leftover that were almost on their way to the compost pile. So I pulled out the book to see what I could find.

And I found these.

And even though they called for Ready Made Pastry Puffs, I decided it was worth the trip to the grocery store just to find them.

Because they looked really good...

I did try to find a recipe to make my own Pastry Puffs, but apparently they take 2 or 3 days to make and I'm not that patient. So I went out and bought them. I found them in the freezer section. I think they were Pepperidge Farm.

As you can see from the pictures there are a few ways you can do them. The picture with the whole half pear is how the recipe called for them to be made. They were good. But they were a little too much fruit in my opinion. And that way (with the rounds) wasted a lot of the pastry puff. I did ball up the leftovers and reroll them out, but they weren't near as flaky when I did that. So the second time around I did them square (wasting NONE of the yummy pastry puffiness!) and used less fruit. I thought these were absolutely divine! Hope you find them as delectable as I (and everyone else who tried them ;) did!

Pear tart made with a whole half fruit on a round pastry.

Peach and Pear tarts made with 1/4 of a whole fruit on square pastries.

Pear (or Peach) Tarts

1 sheet Frozen Puff Pastry

1/2 C Butter

1/2 C Brown Sugar

1/2 - 1 tsp Cinnamon (depending on your taste)

2 - 6 whole fresh Pears and/or Peaches, depending on how you do the tart...

(*You could probably use canned if you really want to, but I can promise they wouldn't be NEARLY as yummy!)

OK, so to start you'll have to thaw the frozen puff pastries for about 40 minutes, or until they are workable. Then on a lightly floured surface roll out the pastry. Cut out 3-4 inch round circles OR cut in desired size squares (I think I did 16 per pastry sheet). Place the circles on a large baking sheet and prick each several times with a fork. Chill for 30 minutes (or just until you have the fruit prepared is fine!)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Cream together the butter, brown sugar and add cinnamon. Set aside.

Prepare the fruit. If using pears peel them with a vegetable peeler. Slice them in half and use a melon baller or cookie scoop to scoop out the seeds. Cut out the rest of the stem with a knife. If you are doing a lot you will want to 1) do this assembly style (i.e. peel 3-4 at a time, then cut them all in half, then take out all the center, etc) AND 2) put them in cold water and/or sprinkle them with "Fruit Fresh" to keep them from browning. (You can find Fruit Fresh in the canning section. Now is the perfect time to get it. It is packaged in what looks like a plastic spice container. The brand I've seen has a lime green lid).

If using peaches you'll want to boil some water in a medium stock pot. Drop the peaches in for about 30 seconds. Place them directly in ice water. The skins should then just slip off. Cut them in half and remove the seed. Again if you are doing a lot, put the in water and/or use the fruit fresh to keep them from browning.

Take out the pastry puffs and spread a little of the the butter-sugar mixture over each.

If you want to use a whole half of the fruit as in the first picture....Slice them fruit halves lengthways - but keeping them intact at the tip. Fan out the slices slightly. (I had a really hard time keeping them in tact, it would take some practice, but mine still looked really good, so it probably doesn't really matter...ha ha!) Place the fruit half on in the center of the pastry puff.

OR

Slice the fruit thinly. Place about 1/4 of the fruit, fanned out on the pastry puff.

Make small flutes around the edge of the pastry circles/squares or simply fold over the corners. You could even fold almost over all of the fruit if you wanted. Place the rest of the butter sugar mixture in the microwave for 30-60 seconds, enough time to melt it. Brush each tart with the melted butter mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is well risen and golden. Serve warm with a little cream, ice cream or by themselves. They are delicious any way you slice it!

Peach Pie, Times Two!

I love Peach Pie. It's always been my favorite. My sister has been asking for my recipe, so it seems like the perfect time to post it here.

First off...I always make my own pie crusts. They are a hundred times better than refrigerated, probably more nutritious and just about as easy. I've used a few pie crust recipes. Here is one of my favorites. The key to making a flaky, yummy crust is two fold: 1 - Use ice cold water. 2 - Don't overwork your dough. Ideally you should still be able to see some of the butter or shortening pieces in the dough when your done. With that here's the recipe I use most often:

Pie Crust Dough (For one crust):

1 C flour

1/3 C shortening

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 to 3/4 C water as needed

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter (or two knives if you don't have one!). Add water and mix until you get the right consistency. I'm not quite sure how to describe what the right consistency is...I started making crusts when I was probably 10, so it's just easy for me. I might suggest finding a friend that can do crusts and working with them a time or two to get the idea.

This recipe makes a little more than you actually need for one crust. So if I am doing say 2 pies with a top and bottom crust, I will triple the recipe and that usually makes enough.

On to PEACH PIE. I got this recipe from Betty Crocker. Love it! Hope you do too. I actually rarely do straight peach pie anymore. One day we didn't have enough peaches to do a whole pie, so we added some frozen strawberries. It was heavenly and I almost always add strawberries or raspberries now. If you do that, just use fewer peaches and however many berries you like to make 5 C of fruit. (I usually add 1-2 C of berries, but you could do more or less depending on your preference). Also, I usually use frozen or home canned peaches. I don't really like commercially canned peaches and so don't have them around. I don't really know how they would work with this recipe. Fresh is really good too, but I don't usually have them around either, which is why I do frozen or home preserved. OK, now back to the RECIPE:

Betty Crocker's Peach Pie:

5 C Sliced Peaches and Berries, if desired

1 tsp lemon juice (I think this is mostly for fresh peaches, to keep them from browning)

1 C sugar

1/4 C flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 TBLS butter or margarine (optional)

Heat oven to 425. Prepare pastry. Mix peaches and lemon juice. In a separate bowl stir together the dry ingredients, then mix with peaches. Turn into pastry lined pie pan (this recipe will fill a 9 inch pan), dot with butter. Cover with top crust, cut slits in the top. Seal and flute. Cover edge with tin foil if desired to avoid burning the edges. Bake 10 minutes at 425, then 25-35 minutes at 350. If desired you can baste the top pastry with milk or egg whites to help it brown.

Finally as a bonus, I'm also including my uncle's recipe for Fresh Peach Pie. This is a little different that you usually get, but is delicious when peaches are in season and perfect for eating raw. You don't bake the fruit, so make sure it is ripe, with a good flavor and texture, or you pie won't turn out well.

Fresh Peach Pie:

One pie shell

2 TLBS orange jello powder

1 C water, divided

3/4 C sugar

3 TBLS cornstarch

5 C Fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

Make one pie crust, line the bottom of your pie pan, poke holes with a fork and cook it until golden. Answers I found online suggested 425 for anywhere from 8-15 minutes. One tip said to cover your crust with aluminum foil and fill it with dry beans while you are baking to help it keep it's shape. Just remove when you are done ;)

Mix the jello, water, sugar and cornstarch. (TIP: When cooking with cornstarch you need to make sure you mix it with COLD water first. I usually use the same amount of water as I do cornstarch. So from your 1 C, just take 1/4 C or so and mix it with the cornstarch first. This prevents it from getting lumpy.) Boil the ingredients and cook until it starts to thicken. Add to peaches and put in your COOKED pie shell. Serve with cool whip. YUMMY!