Grilled Tri-Tip Chunks

Grilled Teriyaki Tri-Tip Chunks

Just pink in the middle.  Served with Bacon Fried Rice.

Ah, beef.  Other than chile colorado burritos, I think this may be my next favorite way to enjoy beef.  When I lived in California, tri-tip came whole, like a 2.5-3.5 pound roast kind of thing.  My mom would marinate it and grill it whole, slice it, and it was fabulous.  I did that a little bit, until our friend Jamie Gillentine served us some tri-tip at their house.  But it was in these 3-inch chunks.  The flavor of the marinade and caramelized exterior was amazing.  I never grilled a whole tri-tip again.  Now that I live in Iowa, the only place I've found that sells something called "tri-tip" is Sam's Club, and they sell it in these long strips.  This actually makes it easier to prepare it the way I like.  I just cut each strip into three or four pieces.  It works.
Like I said, when you grill this cut of meat in this way, each bite has the flavorful, caramelized exterior and the tender, juicy pink interior.  Mmmmm... I'm looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow, which are great even cold.
If you're going to grill, and you want it done right, I really think you ought to invest in a meat thermometer.  Mine is almost dead, and I need to replace it, but it works just well enough to get by.  I like to grill my beef to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, and then I allow it to rest for about 10 minutes.  It creates what I think is the perfect piece of meat, and it's what you see pictured above.
My favorite way to enjoy this grilled meat is with Mr. Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce, which is pretty much a teriyaki sauce.  I can't find it here in Des Moines, so I import it from California.  My mom either brings it when she comes, or I stock up when I'm out there in the summer.  I know I should ask my grocery store manager to get some, but I just haven't yet.  It gives me an excuse to see my mom and go to California.

Grilled Tri-Tip Chunks

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds tri-tip cut into 2 1/2 to 3 inch chunks
• 1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (I love Mr. Yoshida's Gourmet Sauce)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil

Instructions:
About two to four hours before you want to eat, put meat and teriyaki sauce into a large plastic zip-top bag and place in the refrigerator.
About half an our before you want to eat, heat your grill to about 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place oil in bag with the marinating meat and smoosh it around.
Place meat on grill, leaving at least an inch between pieces.  Check and turn meat after about 5 minutes.  Adjust heat, if necessary.  Check meat again after another 4 minutes or so.  When the exterior is dark and caramelized, start checking the smallest chunk with your probe thermometer.  You really should check each individual chunk, but you can also guess that similarly sized/shaped pieces are probably cooking at about the same rate.  When meat gets to 145 degrees Fahrenheit, remove to a clean, heat-proof plate to rest.  Not all pieces will be done at the same time, so close the lid between temperature checks, and remove meat as it finishes cooking.
Allow all meat to rest at least 10 minutes before serving.
Makes about 5-6 servings.

The way tri-tip comes at Sam's Club

In case you're wondering what the store calls it.

Dutch Apple Pie Cookies (Three-Bite Dutch Apple Pies)

Dutch Apple Pie Cookies

I think I've discovered my favorite way to enjoy these cookies:
atop a bowl of Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream.

I first made these little things about two years ago.  I'm not quite sure why or how I thought this up.  Maybe I saw somebody else do it and I stole their idea.  I don't think I did that, but if you recognize your work here, let me know.  I want to give you credit.

These cookies really are just a couple of bites of Dutch apple pie, complete with real pie crust on the bottom.  So cute too.  Imagine eating a piece of Dutch apple pie.  If you think about the last inch or so of pie, where the ratio of filling to crust shifts so that you're eating slightly more crust than filling, that's what these cookies taste like.  To me, that's the sweet spot of the pie, and that must be why I like these.

I entered these "cookies" into a Tone's Spices competition at the Iowa State Fair.  They made it behind the secret curtain, but they didn't win anything.  I think they're awesome, though. My friends and coworkers loved them. I thought so much of these that I even entered them in the Pillsbury Bake Off.  Well, Pillsbury wasn't very impressed either, apparently.  If you think they look good, give them a try and let me know what you think.  I know I've made them sound like losers, but they're really just under appreciated.
The cookies taste best when they're fresh, when the topping and crust are crisp, but just like an apple pie, they still taste great later too.

Dutch Apple Pie Cookies (Three-Bite Dutch Apple Pies)

Ingredients

Crust (You can also use store-bought refrigerated pie crust):

• 1 ¼ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoon butter
• 3 tablespoon Crisco (vegetable shortening)
• 3 tablespoon ice cold water
• flour for dusting 

Topping:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• ¾ cup oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ cup butter, cut into chunks
• 1 1/2 cups canned apple pie filling* roughly chopped (I took a knife and cut the apples while still in the can.)
• powdered sugar for garnish (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Prepare pie crust: In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Cut 4 T butter into flour until it looks like coarse meal, and then cut in Crisco until well blended. Add ice cold water and stir with fork. Then use your hands to gently work the dough into a ball.

3. Flour a square sheet of wax paper, place dough ball in the middle, flour the ball, and cover with another square sheet of wax paper. Roll dough out to a thickness of about 1/8”. Using a 2” round circle cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Carefully place circles on a wax-paper-lined cookie sheet and place in the freezer until needed. Collect dough scraps and roll and cut more circles that you will add to the pan in the freezer.

4. Prepare topping: In a large bowl, mix all of the dry topping ingredients with a fork. Add butter chunks and mix with your fingers until all the butter is incorporated and it begins to form crumbles. Set aside ½ cup of this crumb mixture.

5. Stir chopped apple pie filling into remaining crumble mixture, just until mixed.

6. On a parchment-lined baking sheet, evenly place 12 of the frozen dough circles. Place a scant tablespoon of apple mixture onto the middle of each circle. With your finger, flatten the top of the apple mixture a little bit. Using a fork, place about ½ teaspoon of the reserved crumble mixture on top of each cookie. 

7. Bake at 375°F for 14-15 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove from oven and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. Shake a little powdered sugar over cookies to make them look pretty.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies. Recipe is easily doubled. 

I might have put too much filling on these.

*If you want to go completely homemade, here's the recipe for apple pie filling, which I think tastes the best, and most like the dutch apple pie taste I was trying to replicate in a cookie. This makes twice what you need for the cookie recipe, so you can either halve this, or you can freeze half of it for another time. Or you can try making some Apple Turnovers.

 Apple Pie "Filling" 

Ingredients:

• 4 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced into 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup white sugar 
• 3 T cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup apple juice (fresh apple cider is better)
• 1 cup water (you can use just 2 cups water, but the apple juice/cider is better)

Directions:

-In a large bowl, toss diced apple with lemon juice and set aside.  Pour apple juice and water into a high-rimmed saute pan over medium heat.  Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, salt, & nutmeg.  Add to liquid in pan, stir well, and bring to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

-Add apples and return to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer until apples are tender, about 5-6 minutes.  Cool for 30 minutes.

-Ladle into plastic containers to refrigerate or freeze.  Cool at room temperature no longer than 1 1/2 hours.
Makes about 3 1/4 cups apple pie filling.

Canned apple pie filling
makes it easier. Remove some of 
the goo if there's a ton.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Oven Roasted Red Potatoes

These seem like such a basic side dish to me, that I'm only now thinking that I should post it. I didn't learn to roast potatoes like this until about six years into my married life of cooking for my husband. This boil first, then roast method was taught to me by my awesome sister-in-law Heidi. 
These are currently one of my son's favorite things to eat. He kind of hoards them at dinner. There are several ways I make these potatoes, but here is a recipe for the most basic. I have my lovely sister-in-law Heidi to thank for teaching me the trick of boiling the potatoes first, to rough up the outsides so they crisp up nicely. These red potatoes didn't do it as well as my usual yellow-fleshed potatoes, but they were still fabulous.  I find that yellow potatoes are the best, red next, and last russets. All are good, but that's my order of preference. Since I can no longer find my Klondike Goldust potatoes, I have to make do with whatever other non-russets I can find.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds yellow or red potatoes
• 3-4 tablespoons canola oil (or olive oil, if you prefer)
• salt & pepper to taste
• pot of water with 1 tablespoon water

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line a cookie sheet with non-stick aluminum foil or parchment paper.
Clean potatoes and cut into 1-inch chunks (very small potatoes are quartered, medium small, cut into eighths, etc.).
Place in a heavy medium saucepan and cover with water.  Add the tablespoon of salt.  Bring potatoes to a rolling boil (uncovered) over medium-high heat.  Only allow to boil for 1-2 minutes.
Using the saucepan lid, carefully drain the boiling water into the sink.  Place the pan back over a low heat, shaking and tossing potatoes until they look dry, about 1 minute.
Remove from heat and add oil.  Toss with a silicone spatula until potatoes are coated with oil.
Pour potatoes onto prepared pan, scrape excess oil out of the saucepan onto the potatoes, and spread potatoes evenly over the pan.  Sprinkle lightly with more salt and pepper to taste.
Roast potatoes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20-30 minutes, or until as brown as you like, turning/stirring every 10 minutes.
Remove from oven.  Serve hot.

Makes 4-6 servings, depending on how hungry you are and how much you like potatoes.

Hume Lake Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hume Lake Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, today I decided to update my "About" tab for this blog, and I ended up with what I consider an excessively long piece about myself.  I don't like the focus to be on me, so I feel a little uncomfortable with that being the first thing people see if they go straight to the home page of my blog.  This is my attempt to "bury" that post, as my husband calls it.  His suggested post was a chocolate rolled ice cream cake, but after looking up a couple of recipes, I decided that there are easier ways to bury the "me" post, and so, I bring you this recipe from Hume Lake.
The summer between my sophomore and junior years of college (I think), I worked in the bakery at Hume Lake Christian Camp, located in the Sequoia National Forest in central California.  My first choice on my application was to be a camp counselor.  I was sooooo disappointed when I saw that I was hired for the bakery.  Seriously, in my immaturity I thought I wanted the "glory" of being a camp counselor.  Now that I have a couple of decades between me and that experience, I am so thankful that I was given the bakery assignment.  I got to work with an awesome group of people, and when my supervisors saw the passion with which I approached baking, they let me make special baked items for the restaurant they had for visitors just passing through for the day.  This is where I got to experiment with cheesecake, lemon cake (still need to do that one for this blog), cookies, pies, and scones, which I discovered are different all over the world.  I also got to work with real Hobart mixers, which was pretty cool.  Someday I hope to own a small home version of that mixer.  Sigh.
At any rate, I got to make these cookies several times while working in the bakery.  We would make the dough about a day in advance, stuff it into 5-gallon buckets, refrigerate, and slice off huge discs of dough from the bucket, then use a round biscuit cutter to cut out cookies.  I had to scale down the recipe for a normal kitchen, and I hope I did the math right.  These taste good anyway, and I'm glad I got to take this little trip down memory lane today.
Oh yeah, the cookies.  These oatmeal cookies are light and crisp and just slightly chewy in the middle.  The refrigeration of the dough is necessary to keep them from spreading and being too flat.  They're also good made with cinnamon and no chocolate chips, but I'll have to do that another day.

Hume Lake Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/3 cups oatmeal (I mix quick and old fashioned oats)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

In a medium bowl combine all of the dry ingredients.  In large bowl, cream sugars, butter, and shortening until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.   Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients just until mixed.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Cover and refrigerate two hours to overnight.  Scoop dough into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls onto cookie sheets.  Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes.  Allow to cool 5-10 minutes on the pan before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container.  Only bake as many as you think will get eaten in a 48-hour period. The dough can remain in the refrigerator fora  week or so. (That's my cookie-baking philosophy, anyway.)

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Deb's Caramel Corn

Deb's Caramel Corn

I love my job.  One of the best parts of my job is the people I get to work with AND our common passion for food.  I keep saying that if any kid wants to poison the entire teaching staff at his school, all he has to do is put some tainted cookies or cake on the teachers' lounge table.  Put it on the table and they will eat.  Fortunately, I don't know of any kid trying that yet.
One of the things we do pretty regularly is have potlucks for one reason or another.  At one of our last food-bringing days, Deb brought this fabulous caramel corn.  It was a little chewy, and just perfectly shiny and well-coated with caramel.  Mmmm...  My other caramel corn recipe always ends up sort of dry and crispy, but I like this slightly chewy version.  It reminds me of fresh caramel corn you might get on a boardwalk or the mall.  I WILL be making this again.  Thanks for the recipe, Deb, and for all the food talk over lunch.

Deb's Caramel Corn

Ingredients:

• 6-7 quarts air popped popcorn
• 2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees Fahrenheit.  Make sure you have the popcorn popped and in a large bowl or deep roasting pan before starting the caramel.  I also like to make sure I've picked out any unpopped kernels.  Bad for teeth, you know.
In a heavy medium saucepan, bring the butter, sugar, salt, and corn syrup to a boil over medium to medium high heat.  Keep stirring pretty much continually.  Deb said to boil for 5 minutes or to 245 degrees Fahrenheit.  Remove from heat and stir in baking soda.  It will fluff up at this point.
Pour caramel over popcorn and stir to evenly distribute caramel.  Spread onto some combination of roasting pan and/or cookie sheets.  Bake at 225 degrees for about 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes.
Remove from oven and keep stirring until caramel corn is no longer sticky.  Then stir occasionally until it's relatively cool.  Allow to cool completely and store in airtight containers.

Easy Baked Pasta (for 2)

Easy Baked Pasta

My husband doesn't really like pasta.  I know, I know.  Sad, isn't it?  He blames his aversion to this fabulous food staple on his mother feeding him canned ravioli as a kid.  So, I guess you can't really blame him.  He WILL eat spaghetti on occasion; but it's on evenings that he is gone (like tonight he's at class) that I will make pasta for me and my son Ezra, aka My Eating Buddy.  I came up with this little ditty on the fly one night, and Ezra said it was his favorite pasta ever.  I quite liked it myself.  I really got the idea for it from my husband's Aunt Willa, who makes this heart-warming crock pot pizza, which I'll have to post some time as well.  This recipe is so easy, I hadn't really thought to post it, but I have time and light this evening, so here it goes.  

Since I make this for just me and Ezra, it's not a lot.  It's enough for us and for me to have some for lunch the next day.  The recipe is easily doubled

Easy Baked Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 jar (about 7 oz.) pizza sauce (I use Ragu Traditional Pizza Quick)
• 2 cups dry mini pasta (I use Barilla Piccolini Mini Farfalle)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded Italian cheese blend
• salted water for boiling pasta

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Brown ground beef in a medium pan.  Drain fat, if necessary.  Pour in pizza sauce.  I add a little water if it seems too thick/dry.  Simmer over low heat for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large-ish pot of water to a rolling boil.  Add pasta and boil for one minute less than the package directions.  Drain pasta and add to the meaty sauce.  

Pour into a medium sized baking dish.  Top evenly with cheese.  Place in the oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is just melty.  Don't let it go so long that the cheese browns.  It doesn't taste as good when it goes that far.

Makes about 3 servings.

Baby bow-tie pasta

Grandma Schmidt's Streusel Coffee Cake

Grandma's Streusel Coffee Cake

My Grandma Kelly used to make this coffee cake for us when we would visit her and Grandpa Kelly up in Santa Cruz.  I don't know if I ever saw her make it because I think the woman would spend the two or three weeks before our arrival, baking and freezing coffee cake and Parkerhouse rolls.  I think my favorite was the rolls, while my brother loved the coffee cake just a little more than the rolls.  I think we both devoured more than our share of each.  

Now that I'm an adult, when I make this coffee cake, I think I either tend to over-bake it, or it's just not what I remember, but this coffee cake is a little bit on the dry side.  I still love it because it is chock full of memories for me.  Memories of sitting in my Grandma and Grandpa's light blue kitchen early in the morning while Grandma worked on dinner.  She always seemed to be standing there in her kitchen cooking up something, which is kind of funny, because I think that describes me now.  When I'm not cooking and baking, I'm taking pictures of food or blogging.  

At any rate, here's to Grandma Kelly who got this recipe from her Grandma Schmidt.  God bless them both.

Streusel Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

Dough

• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup milk 
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast 
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

Streusel Topping

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into slices or chunks

Instructions:

1. Place lukewarm water in a small bowl and sprinkle with the yeast.  Allow to soften, about 5-10 minutes.  Scald the milk in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat (scalding means to bring to a boil), and then remove from heat immediately.  Place 1/4 cup butter in a large heat-proof bowl and pour scalded milk over it.  Stir to melt butter and then let mixture cool to lukewarm or a little cooler.

2.  Once milk/butter has cooled somewhat, add the softened yeast, sugar, salt, eggs. lemon zest, and flour.  Stir with a sturdy spoon until completely mixed.  Dough will be the consistency of a thick batter, more than a dough.  Cover with plastic wrap and set in warm place to rise until double in bulk.  (Grandma's original recipe called for a greased bowl, but really, why dirty another bowl?)

3.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Prepare streusel topping by mixing the sugar, flour, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.  Add butter chunks and mix with your fingers until all the butter is incorporated into the dry ingredients.  Squeeze and crumble so you have a nice semi-chunky consistency.

4.  Grease two  9" round or square pans.  (I like to use butter, of course.)  Once dough has risen, punch down and scrape down sides with a rubber/silicone spatula.  Divide dough in half with rubber/silicone spatula and scoop half into each pan.  With greased fingers, spread the dough out to the edges of the pans.  Top each with half of the streusel, spreading the streusel out evenly and to the edge of the pan.

5. Let it rise again (about 45 minutes) and bake at 400° for about 20 minutes, or until top is a deep golden brown color.  Move pans to wire rack to cool.  Serve warm. 

Makes about 16 healthy servings.

 Note: These freeze really well too.   If you want to freeze one, wrap cooled coffee cake tightly in aluminum foil and then place in a gallon zip-top bag.  Freeze it.  If you want to eat it in the morning, remove from the freezer the night before and leave on the counter.  Reheat in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes, loosely wrapped in foil.

This one came out fairly moist.  I only let it bake the 20 minutes.

Bite-Size Coconut Cream Pie

Bite-Size Coconut Cream Pie

Here's one more bite-size pie to add to the growing collection (see also Bite-Size Chocolate Cream Pie and Bite-Size Banana Cream Pie).  I've actually only eaten coconut cream pie once in my life, I think.  Maybe twice.  I remember it was super tasty, but when faced with a pie selection, usually something chocolaty wins out.  I don't eat a lot of pie, until I start making little bite-size versions like this.  This little morsel is cool, sweet, and really creamy.  
When I was looking for a coconut cream pie recipe, I read quite a few.  Some were as simple as mixing up a box of instant vanilla pudding (like I do with my banana cream pie bites and simple banana cream pie), but I wanted to try out a homemade custard.  Some recipes called for flour in the custard, and that just didn't sound right to me.  I found this one on Simply So Good, and I had to half the filling recipe because it would have been too much.  Certainly, if I was making these babies for a large crowd, I would have used the whole recipe and doubled the crust, but I really just wanted to post about them.  Fortunately we have an Easter gathering tomorrow I can bring these to.  I had to make some adjustments because halving 3/4 cup of something, or three egg yolks is too complicated.  What I came up with below seems to work.  I did add a little more coconut than the original recipe.  Feel free to adjust to your taste.  As always, if you try these out and like them, please add a comment below.  I love it when people try my recipes!  That's why I do this blogging thing, after all. 

Bite-Size Coconut Cream Pie

     --adapted from Simply So Good

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2/3 cup cream
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup shredded coconut, divided (I use sweetened)
• 1 batch of pie crust (see below)
• stabilized whipped cream (see below) or 1 cup heavy cream whipped with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread 1/3 cup coconut on a pan and toast at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until light brown.  Stir occasionally for even browning.  Set aside to cool. Then turn the oven up to 400 degrees to preheat further for the pie crust pieces.

Mix cornstarch, sugar and salt in a medium size saucepan.  Add milk and cream and cook over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly.  Pour a spoonful amount of hot mixture into egg yolks; blend thoroughly.  Add about 1/3 of the milk mixture to the egg yolks, then pour back into the saucepan.  Cook another 2 or 3 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add the butter and vanilla.  Stir in 1/3 cup of the coconut.  Cover with plastic wrap and press plastic against the custard.  Refrigerate until completely chilled.

Meanwhile, prepare the pie crust pieces and the whipped cream.

Once filling and crusts are cool, spoon filling into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip or a quart or gallon size zip top bag.  If you're using the zip top bag, once it's got the filling in it, cut about a half-inch or a little less off one corner. Also place whipped cream into pastry or zip top bags, preferably fitted with a star tip, but that's not absolutely necessary.

Squeeze about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of filling onto each little crust.  Then top with about a teaspoon of whipped cream.  Top it all off with  toasted coconut.  Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

Makes 60-70 bite-size pies

Pie Crust Pieces

Ingredients:

(Note: you can also use store-bought refrigerated pie crust, like from Pillsbury)

• 1 ¼ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoons salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons Crisco
• 3 1/2 to 4 tablespoons ice cold water
• flour for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. Cut 4 T butter into flour until it looks like coarse meal, and then cut in Crisco until well blended. Add ice cold water and stir with fork. Then use your hands to gently work the dough into a ball.  Flour a rectangular sheet of wax paper, place dough ball in the middle, flour the ball, and cover with another rectangular sheet of wax paper. Roll dough out to a thickness of about 1/8”.  With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough roughly into 1.5”x 1.5” squares.  You can also be creative and use cookie cutters to make cute shapes.

Place dough pieces on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Prick each piece a few times with a fork.  Bake at 400°F for 11-13 minutes, or until browned on the edges.   Remove from oven. Cool completely before using for bite-size pies.

Stabilized Whipped Cream Frosting
--adapted from cdkitchen

• 1/2 tsp unflavored gelatin powder
• 2 tbsp cold water
• 1 cup whipping cream
• pinch salt
• 2 tbsp confectioner's sugar

1. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small bowl to soften.

Gelatin mixture--I let this get too firm in the fridge, but it worked.

2. Scald 2 tablespoon of the cream; pour over gelatin, stirring till dissolved.
3. Refrigerate until consistency of unbeaten egg white. (This takes about 10-15 minutes.) Then, with a whisk, beat until smooth. 
4. In a stand mixer with a whip attachment, or with a hand beater, whip remaining cream and sugar just until soft peaks form; whip in the smoothed gelatin mixture, stopping to scrape the bowl twice. You will probably only need to whip it another 10-20 seconds before it's done.

Fills and frosts top of 2 8" or 9" cake layers; or frosts 10" angel
cake or spongecake. Tops one standard 9" pie with some left over to enjoy from a spoon.  Stands up well, even in warm weather. Keep leftover frosting and any product topped with it in the refrigerator until ready to eat.