Cheese Pastry

Category: Pastry > Savory > Cheese Pastry

A cheese pastry is a plain pastry (a dough, often used for pie crusts) that has cheese mixed with it. You can do anything you want with a cheese pastry. I took this cheese pastry and twisted them into bread-sticks. Plain pastry is not meant to raise, so these are crunchy bread-sticks.



Recipe:

• 1 cup Bread Flour
  
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
  
• 2 tbsp. Butter
  
• 1/8 cup Shortening
  
• 1/4 cup Grated Cheese
  
• 3 to 4 tbsp. Ice Cold Water
  

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour and salt and place in a large bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in butter, shortening, and cheese until the butter and shortening are the size of peas. Add in water, a tablespoon at a time, until dough forms a ball.

Roll out dough between two sheets of wax paper. Cut dough into strips and twist/braid them together. Place bread-sticks on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake in oven for about 10 minutes until bread is nicely browned.

Baking Tips:

• Do not over knead or mix the dough or it will become tough.
  
• The less amount of water you add, the crispier and flakier the bread will come out.
  
• You can brush the top of the bread-sticks with an egg wash to give them a nicer finish.
  

Breakfast Pie

Category: Pies > Savory > Breakfast Pie

A Breakfast Pie is a savory breakfast meal. It is a pie crust filled with breakfast type foods such as eggs, sausage, cheese, bacon, and ham. You can fill and bake it to your liking.



Recipe:

Dough -

• 1 cups Flour
  
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
  
• 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
  
• 1/8 cup Cold Milk
  

Pie Filling -

• 4 Eggs
  
• 1 tbsp. Milk
  
• 1/2 Grated Cheese
  
• 4 Strips Bacon
  
• 1 cup Chopped Cooked Ham
  
• 1 tsp. Parsley
  
• Salt and Pepper to taste
  

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt. Add the oil and milk to the flour/salt mixture. Mix briskly to combine until the dough comes together into a ball.

Roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick between 2 sheets of wax paper. Fold pastry into quarter folds and ease into pie plate, pressing firmly against bottom and sides of pie plate.

Beat eggs and milk together in a medium bowl. Mix in the cheese, parsley, and salt and pepper. Cook the bacon, chop, and add to egg mixture. Add the ham. Pour the egg mixture into pie crust. Bake for 30 minutes.

Baking Tips:

• Because the pastry dough is made with oil, it must be used right away. After a day in the refrigerator, the oil will start to separate and seep out.
  

Sausage Cream Cheese Croissants

Category: Pastry > Savory > Sausage Cream Cheese Croissants

These sausage cream cheese croissants make a great little breakfast pastry.



Recipe:

• 1 package (16 oz.) Ground Sausage
  
• 1 (8 oz.) Pack Cream Cheese
  
• 2 packs of Refrigerated Crescent Dinner Rolls
  

In a skillet, thoroughly brown and cook up the ground sausage. Once the sausage is brown, add the cream cheese and stir until the cheese and sausage are mixed together well.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Open up the packs of Crescent Rolls. The rolls will be perforated into 8 triangles. Place two of the triangles together to form a rectangle and mash them together so they stick together. Do this to all the triangles so you have a total of 8 rectangles.

Take the sausage/cream cheese mixture and place it in the middle of each of the rectangles. You will want to leave 1/4 clear on each of the long sides and 1/2 clear on one of the short sides. On the side that doesn't have any clearance, start to roll up the dough. When you are finished rolling, take the 1/2 clearance and mash it down so the roll stays closed, then finish by crimping the sides closed. It will look kind of like an egg roll when you are finished. Repeat with the other rectangles.

Place in oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Baking Tips:

• If you don't want to make up all the pastries at once, you can store the cooked sausage and cream cheese in the refrigerator for few days. You can roll them in the crescent rolls when you are ready to bake.
  
• You can add less then 8 oz. of cream cheese to the sausage if you like a less cheesy taste.
  
• If you want to make smaller pastries, you can mash all the crescent pieces together, roll it out, and then cut into smaller rectangles.
  

Beef Empanadas

Category: Pastry > Savory > Beef Empanadas

Empanadas are a Spanish and Portuguese stuff pastry. They can be sweet, filled for example with pumpkin, or savory, filled with meats.

I made some beef and corn empanadas that I only liked passably well. The dough is very hard and firm and holds the food inside well. However, I was looking for something a little more flaky. I also thought that the empanadas would have tasted better with a cheese sauce poured over them.



Recipe (Empanada Dough):

• 3 cups Flour
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 cup Cold Water
  
• 1 Egg
  
• 1 Egg White
  
• 1 Egg Yolk
  
• 1 tsp. Vinegar
  
• 3 tbsp. Shortening
  

In a bowl, beat the water, egg, egg white and vinegar together. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the 3 cups of flour and salt. Cut the shortening into the flour mix with a pastry blender. Make a well in the center of the flour mix and pour the liquid ingredients from the first bowl into the center. Mix the wet and dry ingredients with a fork until it becomes stiff. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it just until all the flour is incorporated and the dough is smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Roll out dough and cut into 5" circles. Fill the dough with filling and fold over to make a semi-circle. Take a fork to crimp the edges together.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Take the egg yolk and add a bit of water. Mix well to create an egg wash. Brush the egg wash on top of the sealed empanadas. Bake the empanadas for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Baking Tips:

• You don't want to over fill your empanadas or else it will be difficult to seal them.
  
• Your filling shouldn't be to liquidy or it will run out while you are trying to seal them.
  
• If filling with a meat, it should be cooked before you put it into the dough shell.
  
• I thought the dough would be good filled with eggs, cheese, and ham to make a breakfast empanada.
  

Chicken Pot Pie

Category: Pies > Savory > Chicken Pot Pie

A pot pie is a savory dish containing meat and vegetables inside pie crust. Some pot pies only have a top pie crust while others have both a bottom and top crust. The difference between just a meat pie and a pot pie is that a pot pie is more stew like, hence the "pot" part. The crust serves as a pot for the stew.

There are many types of pot pies - turkey, beef, chicken. They are all very tasty comfort foods. You can make and put pretty much anything into a pot pie to your taste.



Recipe:

• 1 pound Skinless Boneless Chicken, cooked and cut in cubes
  
• 1/2 Medium Onion
  
• 2 cups Mixed Vegetables
  
• 1/2 cup Celery
  
• 1 can Cream of Chicken
  
• 1 (14 oz) can Chicken Broth
  
• 1/4 tsp. Minced Garlic
  
• 1 Egg
  
• Salt and Pepper to taste
  

Crust:

• 1 cup Flour
  
• 2 tsp. Baking Powder
  
• 2 tbsp. Butter
  
• 1/8 tsp. Salt
  
• 1/3 cup Milk
  

For the crust: If you want a crust for both the bottom and the top, double the crust recipe. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt. Cut the cold butter into 4 pieces and use a pastry blender to mix into the flour mixture. Mix until the butter is about the size of peas. Add the milk and mix the mixture to form into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. If you doubled the recipe, split the dough in half. Roll out until about 1/8" thick. If you have a bottom crust, you can place it into your pan.

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.

For filling: In a skillet, add chopped onions, mixed vegetables, chopped celery, and minced garlic. Add chicken broth just until covered. Put the rest of the chicken broth to the side. Shimmer for about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mixed the vegetables, chicken and cream of chicken. Add salt and pepper to flavor. Add the remaining chicken broth until you like the consistency of the mixture.

Pour mixture into the pan. Cover with the pie dough. Crimp the sides of the dough and score the middle of the pie dough with a knife. Beat the egg well in a small bowl and add a little water to make an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the top of the pie crust.

Put the pie into the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until the top is a nice golden color and filling is bubbly. Cool l0 minutes before serving.

Corn Fritters

Category: Pastry > Savory > Corn Fritter

Fritters come in many varieties. Sweet or savory, you can mix a bunch of different things into the batter. Apples, for a sweet fritter, are often popular. I liken fritters to a fried pancakes. When I was growing up, corn fritters were a special breakfast treat served on Christmas morning and other holidays.



Recipe:

• 1 cup Flour
  
• 1 tsp. Baking Powder
  
• 1 tsp. Salt
  
• 1 tsp. Sugar
  
• 2 Eggs
  
• 1/2 Milk
  
• 1 tsp. Vegetable Oil
  
• 1/2 cup Corn
  

Mix flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar together. Add eggs, milk, and vegetable oil. Mix until smooth. Mix in corn. Heat about 3 inches of oil in a deep skillet to 375 degrees. Drop small pancake size batter into oil. Fry about 5 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.

Baking Tips:

• If your oil doesn't cover your fritter in the pan, you can flip it over half way through the cooking time. Just be careful when flipping in hot oil.
  
• As you finish cooking the fritters, you can place them in an oven set to warm until you are finished cooking them all.
  
• You can half the recipe if you don't want to make as many fritters.
  

Tonight's Dinner - Shepherd's Pie

Category: Pies > Savory > Shepherd's Pie

One of my favorite dishes is ground beef, green beans and crushed tomatoes topped with mashed potatoes sprinkled with cheese. I never knew it was a Shepherd's Pie until recently.

Traditionally, a Shepherd's Pie is minced lamb covered with a mashed potato crust. It does not contain a bottom crust. Cottage Pie uses minced beef. Newer American versions can use any type of minced meat and also includes vegetable.



Recipe:

• 2 pounds Potatoes, peeled and cubed
  
• 2 tbsp. Cream Cheese, softened
  
• 1/2 cup Cream
  
• Salt and Pepper
  
• Paprika and Parsley Flakes
  
• 1-3/4 pounds Ground Beef
  
• 1-1/2 cups Mixed Vegetables
  
• 2 tbsp. Butter or Margarine
  
• 1 medium Onion, chopped
  
• 2 tbsp. Flour
  
• 1 cup Beef Stock or Broth
  
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
  

Boil potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain potatoes and pour them back into the pot you boiled them in. Add creme cheese and creme to potatoes and mash until almost smooth.

In a large skillet, add beef and onion. Season with salt and pepper. Once your meat is brown, added your mixed vegetables. Cook about 5 minutes.

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, combine butter and flour together for 2 minutes. Add broth and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until gravy thickens. Add gravy to the meat mixture.

Preheat broiler. Fill a casserole dish with the meat mixture. Spoon mashed potatoes evenly over meat. Top with paprika and broil until potatoes are evenly browned. Top with parsley flakes and enjoy.