Robin’s Random Recipes

Pie Crust:

2 cups flour
1 cup cake flour
1 cup Crisco shortening
1 whole egg
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup ice water

Cut the shortening into the flour. Beat together the rest of the ingredients and add to the flour mixture. Mix just until incorporated. Form into a disk and wrap in plastic and chill. Roll out and line pie dish.

Filling:

¾ cup brown sugar
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
2 cups pumpkin pulp or canned pumpkin
1-1/2 cups heavy cream

Blend all together and pour into 9-inch pastry lined pie dish. Bake at 400 degrees for about an hour. Cool and then add the pecan topping.

Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Topping, continued

Pecan topping:

2/3 cups brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
2 tablespoons syrup
1/3 cup chopped pecans

Cook the sugar, milk and syrup just until sugar is melted, add the pecans and cool. Pour on top of the cooled pie. Serve with whipped topping or ice cream.

Pie Crust:

1 ½ cups AP flour
½ cup butter flavored Crisco
½ pinch of salt
3 TBS Water
1 TBS Apple cider vinegar

Chocolate Layer:

6 TBS AP flour
½ tsp baking powder
½ pinch of salt
4 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup butter, diced
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 snickers bar (super sized) thinly sliced, about ¼ inch thick

Cream cheese layer:

9 oz. Cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz. Macadamia nuts (diced finely, toast in oven)

Garnish:

2 oz semisweet chocolate chips
2 TBS heavy whipping cream

Pie Crust:

Mix flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut in Crisco with a pastry blender. Mix water and vinegar in a spray bottle, add 3 or 4 ice cubes to keep water mixture cold. Spray flour mixture lightly with water solution mix to combine. Repeat just until piecrust comes together. Put crust in a Ziploc back and bring together into a circle place in refrigerator for 10 minutes. Pull crust out of the refrigerator and roll out to pan size. Poke holes in the bottom as well as the sides of the crust. Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 5 minutes.

Chocolate Carmel Nut Pie, continued

Chocolate layer:

In a medium mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. In a double boiler melt semisweet chocolate and ½ cup of butter, stir until smooth. Cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile beat sugar, whole egg, and egg white in a medium bowl until slightly thickened. To this mixture add vanilla and cooled chocolate. Mix until well blended. Stir in dry ingredient mixture and mix until just combined. Pour mixture into crust and bake in a 375 degree oven for about 19 minutes. Cool on rack for 10 minutes. Place candy mixture (sliced snickers bars) on top.

Cream cheese layer:

In a mixing bowl beat cream cheese and sugar until blended. Add vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Spread mixture over candy bars, add your macadamia nuts over cream cheese, and bake for 20 minutes, or until set. Cool on rack.

Garnish:

In a small sauce pan, stir chocolate and whipping cream over low heat until smooth. Drizzle over pie. Refrigerate and serve chilled.

Pie Crust:
2 cups flour
2 TBS sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup very cold unsalted butter, cubed
2 tsp. cider vinegar
1 TBS canola oil
5 TBS heavy cream
1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp. water
Sugar for sprinkling

Filling:

6 cups cooking apples, pared, cored, thinly sliced
1 cup sugar
4 TBS cornstarch
1 tsp ground cinnamon
freshly ground nutmeg to taste
1 1/2 TBS butter, cubed

Mix together in a large bowl all dry ingredients for crust. Cut in shortening and butter until mixture is well blended, but still has very small chunks of butter. Mix together in a small bowl, the vinegar, oil, and cream. Slowly add this to the flour mixture and stir together well. Pour this onto counter and further blend together with palms of your hands. Then form dough into two disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour. Roll out one disk into a 10″ round. Place in a 9″ pie plate.

Mix together in a large bowl the first 5 ingredients for the filling. Place filling in pie plate. Dot with butter. Roll out remaining disk to a 10″ round and cover filling. Trim excess and seal edges of pie. Make slits in top of crust or cut a 1″ round in center for ventilation. Brush some of the egg mixture on top crust and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake on center rack in a 400° preheated oven for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 375° and bake for another 40 minutes or until juices are bubbling inside and pie crust is golden brown. Cover edges with foil if necessary, to prevent burning.

1 lb unsalted butter
½ tea. table salt
2 cups granulated sugar
3 tbsp. water
1 cup slivered almonds (do not use sliced almonds)
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (chips are fine)
1½ -2 cups lightly toasted pecans (or walnuts), finely chopped

Melt ¾ of chocolate over hot water or in a microwave oven at half power for 2-3 minutes. When melted, stir in remaining chocolate and set aside. Line a large jelly roll or half-sheet pan with heavy-duty foil and butter the foil.

Melt the butter with the salt in a heavy 3 quart saucepan over medium heat. Slowly add the sugar, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Add the water about halfway through this process.

After all the sugar is added, begin testing the mixture to see if the sugar is dissolved. Place a drop of mixture on wax paper; allow it to cool and rub it between your fingers to make sure it doesn’t feel grainy. If it does, continue to cook and test again. The mixture will probably be boiling at this point.

When sugar is dissolved, add the almonds, and increase the heat to medium high. Cook to the hard-crack stage, or about 310-320 degrees on a candy thermometer, stirring often to keep the candy from burning on the bottom. When it’s done, it should be a medium-dark amber color and have a caramel aroma. The almonds should have a toasted color but they should not burn. This is the tricky part, as there’s a thin line between perfect and overdone, and to some extent it’s a matter of taste.

Remove from heat and pour into the prepared pan, spreading as evenly as possible with an offset spatula. Be careful, this stuff is hot! Set the pan on a cooling rack. After 2-3 minutes, when toffee is just set, pour reserved chocolate on top and spread evenly. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, and press them in gently with a spatula or bottom of a glass to anchor them in the chocolate.

Allow the toffee to harden at least 6-8 hours—overnight is better. Break into pieces using a sharp pointed knife with a rigid blade, or you can use your hands. Store in an airtight container in a cool place. Makes about 3 pounds.

5 pounds

1 lb. butter
2 lbs. brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
16 oz. Light Karo syrup
2 (15-oz.) cans Eagle Brand Sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon Vanilla extract

Melt butter in a heavy 6-quart pan. Add brown sugar and salt. Stir in corn syrup, mixing well. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Cook over a medium heat until it reaches the firm ball stage (245 degrees). Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Pour into a well buttered 11” x 18” jellyroll pan. Cool, cut, and wrap in wax paper squares.

CHECK YOUR THERMOMETER before you start to make the caramels, by placing it in boiling water for a few minutes. It should register at 212 degrees, if it doesn’t then add or subtract accordingly.

I use a non-stick jelly roll pan and then when the caramel is cool I turn it out on a huge board and cut it. I also get the special wax paper squares from Sweet Celebrations, see page 132 of their catalog Item B. It is a heavy duty, double sided wax paper that is already cut and comes in different colors. See: http://www.sweetc.com/Cat/Set13/pr132lg.htm

From the Cook’s Illustrated bulletin board:

Here is my Mom’s caramel apple recipe:

1 C. sugar
3/4 C. dark corn syrup
1 C. light cream
2 Tbls. Butter
1 tps. Vanilla
5-6 medium size crisp, tart apples. Cleaned, dried, with a stick inserted

Combine all ingredients except the vanilla. Stir over low heat until sugar dissolves, then cook, without stirring to firm ball stage. (245° F–250° F, sugar concentration: 87%)
Take off heat, stir in vanilla and dip apples.
Cool on a sheet of parchment or buttered foil. (I used that non-stick foil and it released the caramel without a problem.)

From www.allrecipies.com.

Simple and delicious. Makes either a 10″ tube or bundt cake or 12-14 mini loaves/bundt pans. My mini loaves and bundt pans each take 3 #16 dishers’ worth.

12 oz butter (1.5 c) butter
1 8 oz package cream cheese
3 c sugar (1 lb 4 oz)
2 tbs vanilla
6 eggs
12 oz (3 c) cake flour

Preheat oven to 325F. Spray pan(s) with Pam with flour.

Cream together the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light. Do not underbeat! Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour and the eggs alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).

Bake for 1:15 (large pan) or 35 minutes (small pans) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.