Golden Pecan Pie (Pecan Tart)

Here comes Christmas holidays!

It feels great to look out the window and see all the decorations that my neighbors have put up on their houses.

It makes me feel all warm and cozy:))

I know it's not Christmas yet, and it's not the holidays yet either, but I wanted to celebrate the first of December with something holiday-ey!

I've never made a pecan pie before, but I've always wanted to try one, so I whipped up my favorite pie crust recipe and filled it with sweet, gooey, crunchy, nutty, indulgent pecan filling... YUM!

I had a problem with some filling being left over, but that's probably because I used a tart pan instead of a pie pan(which I sadly didn't have). But no worries! I simply baked the rest in some crushed graham crackers and called it an individual pecan pie:)

Golden Pecan Pie (Pecan Tart)
makes one 9-inch pie
Recipe from Pillsbury: Best Desserts
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold shortening
2 to 4 tablespoons ice water
For the Filling:
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons all purpose flour
1 1/4 cups light corn syrup*
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup pecan halves
2 tablespoon margarine or butter, melted

Directions:
For the Crust:
In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt; mix well. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the cold shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time, mixing lightly with a fork. Add water until the dough is just moist enough to form a ball when lightly pressed together. Shape into a ball and flatten to a 1/2-inch thickness. On a floured surface, roll into a 11-inch circle, using gentle, light strokes from center to edge. Do not roll back and forth, or else it will become tough! Roll up the circle onto the rolling pin, place it just above the pie pan, and roll it off to place it on the pan. Gently press in the bottom and up the sides with fingertips. Do not stretch. You can trim the edges and use the scraps to fill in any holes.
For the Filling:
Preheat oven to 375F.
In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, corn syrup, vanilla dna eggs; beat well. Stir in pecans and margarine/butter. Pour into pan lined with the crust.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until the filling is puffed and the crust is golden brown. Let it cool completely, then store in the refrigerator.

Notes:
*I found this a little too sweet, so I would reduce the corn syrup to 1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) OR reduce the brown sugar to 1 tablespoon. But then again,  I don't even eat the icing on cupcakes because it's too sweet.

Fresh Blueberry Pie

Yes, it's a pie; not a cobbler.

I made this fresh blueberry pie at 10pm and I didn't want to try it late at night (even though it would have been best as soon as it came out of the oven... all warm and gooey...*sigh*)

So when I heated it in the microwave the next morning, the filling melted completely and made itself a "jam".

Oh, well. It was awesome anyways:)

I'm sure the same thing would have happened if I had it last night... right?

This pie has the perfect amount of sweetness and every mouthful bursts with blueberries.

Honestly, I don't know what would explain it better than that.

OMG just looking at the photos makes me want to have a slice, like, right now.

Too bad I already had two this morning. I should restrain myself!

The crust is nice and flaky, and it is a no-fail recipe, so I highly recommend you try it out!

Fresh Blueberry Pie
makes one 9-inch pie (serves 8-10)
Recipe adapted from Pillsbury Best Desserts
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup cold shortening
5 to 7 tablespoons ice water (I used 7 and it still felt a bit dry - the end result was fab though!)
For the Filling:
3 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons margarine or butter (I forgot this, but again, turned out gorgeous)
Topping:
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons sugar
Dash of cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425F.
For the Crust:
In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt; mix well. With a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the cold shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of ice water at a time, mixing lightly with a fork. Add water until the dough is just moist enough to form a ball when lightly pressed together. Divide the dough into two, shape each into a ball and flatten to a 1/2-inch thickness. On a floured surface, roll them into a 11-inch circle, using gentle, light strokes from center to edge. Do not roll back and forth, or else it will become tough! Roll up the circle onto the rolling pin, place it just above the pie pan, and roll it off to place it on the pan. Gently press in the bottom and up the sides with fingertips. Do not stretch. You can trim the edges and use the scraps to fill in any holes. Roll out the other half of the dough, then use it to top the pie filled with the blueberry filling. You might want to wrap the dough in plastic wrap and keep it in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
For the Filling:
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the margarine/butter and gently toss to coat evenly. Spoon into the pie pan lined with the bottom crust. Dot with margarine/butter. Top with second crust; seal edges and flute. Cut 4-5 slits to let the steam out; brush with milk, sprinkle with the 2 teaspoons sugar and dash of cinnamon.
Bake at 425F for 45 to 55 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. After 15 minutes of baking, cover the edges with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning.

Mini Pistachio Pudding Tartlets

It's October already!

The weather is getting cooler... well, it's supposed to, but here in Arizona, it's still nearly 100 degrees in midday..

So! I was going to make a warm, gooey apple pie to welcome Fall, but it still felt pretty much like summer, so then I decided to make refrigerated mini tartlets:)

This is a very quick and easy dessert to whip up in 10 minutes. 

Okay, maybe not 10 minutes, because you have to bake the crust a bit, but it was the easiest tartlets I'd ever made. Plus, it looks and tastes wonderful! 

Mini Pistachio Pudding Tartlets
Makes 2

Ingredients:
For the Crust:
10 Oreos
1-2 tablespoons milk
For the Filling:
1/2 pkg  jello instant pistachio pudding mix (you can use any flavor you'd like!)
scant 1 cup of cold fat free milk
kiwi, for garnish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Remove the cream in the oreos and set aside. Do not throw away the cream. Crush the oreo cookies with the milk in a ziploc bag; press into a 3" mini tart pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
For the filling, combine pudding mix with cold milk and whisk for 2 minutes. Pour into cooled crusts and pop them in the refrigerator.
For garnish, stir the reserved Oreo creams until smooth. Put them in a ziploc bag, cut off the corner, and pipe them into a swirl on the cooled tartlets. Garnish with kiwis.

Rosy Apple Tart

My view of apples have changed so many times during my life.

At first, when I was about 3 years old, apples were like 'my dad's fruit', because he used to pick apples for me and my sister from apple trees every weekend. We would eat them on the spot, dripping apple juice all over ourselves, munching them down happily. 

Then, I started to like strawberries, and my love for apples slowly diminished. I thought apples were too hard, and my mom insisted on eating the peels as well, even though I hated them. 

But then I came to America, and I discovered millions of different varieties of apples that I could buy, and I was amazed. 

Gala, fuji, honeycrisp, grannysmith, red delicious...

It was ridiculous! (in a good way)

So I just HAD to try all the apples that I could find in stores, and I started to love apples again! Fuji apples are by far my favorite apples to snack on, and honeycrisp apples for baking.

Then there was a time when I was obsessed about restricting myself from sugar because I found out that my grandfather had diabetes, so I simply didn't eat any fruits at all, except tomatoes (is that a fruit?). 

But now, I LOVE fruits! I still try not to overeat them, but I tend to use them a lot for baking, and apples are especially versatile, so they're back on my 'like' list again:)

This rosy apple tart tastes just as good as it looks. I'm sure a lot of you will be able to make it way prettier than mine, and mine's not exactly perfect, but you get the idea, right?

It's supposed to resemble a rose garden, the rolled apple peels being the roses, and the chopped pistachios being the umm... green background:)

Anyways, I had a little trouble with the roses, so it didn't turn out as beautiful as I had hoped it would, but it tasted DIVINE, and that was enough for me. For now. 

Oh, FYI, this is tart doesn't have the best crust in the world, but it works for me. It's more like a crumbly crust rather than a flaky one, so you might want to use another tart shell recipe if you like flaky crusts.

Rosy Apple Tart
makes 1 9-inch tart
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
40g/1.5 oz ground almonds (almond flour)
100g/3.5 oz cake flour
40g/1.5 oz powdered sugar
1/3 tsp baking powder
60g/2 oz unsalted butter

1/2 egg


For the Almond Filling:
160g/5.7 oz ground almonds
110g/3.5 oz powdered sugar
120g/4 oz unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2-3 drops vanilla essence


For the Apple filling:
2-3 large apples, peeled without breaking, peels reserved
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup granulated sugar


For the Roses:
4 large apples 
1 cup salted and roasted pistachios, in shell, coarsely chopped
1/4 of Almond Filling


Directions:
For the crust:
In a large bowl, or in a food processor, combine flour, ground almonds, powdered sugar, and baking powder, or pulse a few times. Put in butter and eggs into bowl or food processor, and cut into the flour with two knifes or a pastry blender, or pulse until mixture forms a ball. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours in refrigerator. 
Roll chilled dough into a 10-inch circle and fit into the tart pan. Prick many holes in the bottom with a fork, and bake in a preheated 320F oven for 20 minutes.
Let cool completely.
For the Almond Filling:
Cream butter with powdered sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer. Gradually add eggs and egg yolks, and beat in vanilla essence. Stir in ground almonds with a spoon or a  spatula. Reserve 1/4 of the filling in a ziploc bag, for garnish.
For the Roses:
Halve 6 apples (including the ones for the filling AND the roses) horizontally. Peel apples with a paring knife, peeling around the apples without breaking it. Lay them out nice and long on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated 350F oven for 4 minutes. Cut off small corner of the ziploc bag and pipe reserved almond filling along the apple peels.
Roll them up to make them look like roses, and secure with rubber bands. 
For the Apple Filling:
Chop apples (they should be already peeled, since you made the roses with them) finely and toss with the rest of the apple filling ingredients in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat until softened.
To finish:
Spread almond filling on cooled tart shell. Spread the apple filling on top. Arrange the roses on the apples after taking the rubber bands off; press down to secure. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 30-35 minutes.
Sprinkle chopped pistachios on top to make a green garden.


Slice and enjoy!