Pie Crust and Empanada Dough Recipe

I wanted to share the recipe that I use for Pie Crust and Empanada Dough. It's the Butter Pie Crust Recipe from the Land O'Lakes Website: http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/2092/butter-pie-crust

I'm reposting just the ingredients on my blog for my convenience. Please click on their link and learn how to make this pie crust. It also works great for empanada dough.

Just a quick note about making empanadas.
1. Remember to use parchment paper on your baking sheet.
2. Once you finish assembling your empanada remember to brush egg wash on top of the empanada to give it a golden top.

I doubled their recipe for my convenience. This recipe makes enough pie crust for two pies.

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/3 cup cold salted butter

8 to 10 tablespoons cold water

Chocolate Covered Oreos Filled with Nutella

Chocolate Covered Oreos Filled with Nutella
Ingredients:
1 family size bag of Oreo Cookies
1 jar of Nutella
2 10 oz bags of Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips (dark chocolate)

1. Remove Oreos and place on wax paper lined baking sheet.
2. With a butter knife (dull), split Oreos in half.

3. Spread Nutella on 1 side of an Oreo and then add the second side of the cookie.

4. Repeat until all cookies are filled with Nutella.

5. Melt your chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals until melted.
6. Dip Oreo into chocolate. I use two forks to help with the dipping process. Then place dipped cookie on baking sheet.

7. Let chocolate set about 30 minutes.

8. Once cookies have hardened, place cookies in an air-tight container.

S'sK Ninja/Martial Arts Shortbread Cookies

*A Sebastian’s Kitchen Original

 
One of my batches makes about 40 medium sized cookies. These cookies can be shaped with cookie cutters or just by spoonful (remember to flatten with your hand) if you want round cookies. I use Ghirardelli dark chocolate for the chocolate design. It really compliments the rich buttery taste of the cookie.

S'sK Ninja/Martial Arts Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:
Cookie dough:
2 cups butter softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

Topping:

10 oz Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips (dark chocolate)

Step 1: Cookie

1.    Add butter to a large bowl and beat it with a mixer until white and creamy about 2 minutes.

2.    Add sugar to butter and beat until fluffy. It should look thick like buttercream frosting.
3.    Add egg yolks and vanilla extract and continue to mix with electric mixer until batter is very thick.

4.    Add flour a little at a time and mix with mixer until mixer struggles. Continue incorporating batter by stirring and mashing with a fork until batter is doughy.

5.    Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour or until dough is firm.
6.    Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
7.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
8.    Add cookie dough to baking sheet.
    a.    If you are going to be shaping the cookies with cookie cutters do so now, if you want round cookies: add a spoonful of dough to your hand, roll the dough in a ball and flatten on the parchment paper.

9.    Bake for 8-10 minutes until slightly golden brown. Time varies based on how thick you rolled out your cookie dough, the shape, and overall thickness of the cookie. Check the bottom of the cookies if you are unsure.
10.    When cookies are done baking, remove from oven and let sit until cool.
    a.    Let cookies sit until completely cooled to avoid them falling apart.
    b.    I slide the parchment paper full of cookies off of the hot baking sheet and let the cookies cool on the counter (on a dish towel if the counter is heat sensitive). Don’t try to pick up individual cookies as they are fragile and can break apart when warm.

Step 2: Decorate

Ingredients:

10 oz Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips (dark chocolate)

1.    Melt Ghirardelli chocolate according to package instructions.
    a.    I microwave mine in 20-30 second intervals stirring between each microwave session until melted.

2.    Add melted chocolate to a piping bag or piping bottle.
    a.    I use a piping bottle.
3.    Draw Ninja/Martial Arts stick figures on each cookie.

4.    Let decorated cookies sit out for about an hour until the chocolate sets.
5.   Once cookies have set, I usually put them in the refrigerator so the chocolate hardens before stacking them in a Tupperware container.
5.    Store most of the cookies in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. If you are going to be eating them all soon, you can leave them all in an air-tight container at room temperature. I usually store most of my cookies in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and then get a few cookies out for the day and let those sit at room temperature in an air-tight container.

Blueberry Muffin Cake Recipe

I found this bakery quality muffin recipe online at Barbara Bakes.com. The only thing I changed in this recipe was using salted butter rather than unsalted butter. Instead of using a muffin tin, I used two 8x8 pyrex glass containers.

The original recipe can be found here: Best Blueberry Streusel Muffins

Recipe posted here is rewritten in my own words.

Blueberry Muffin Cake

Dry bowl:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Wet bowl:

1/2 cup butter (salted)

1 cup white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

2 cups frozen blueberries (heaping cups)

Step 1: Dry bowl

1. Add flour, baking powder, and salt to a medium bowl.

2. Whisk well.

Step 2: Wet bowl

1. Add butter and sugar to bowl and beat with a hand mixer until well incorporated.

2. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and whole milk and beat until well mixed.

3. Add dry ingredients bowl to wet ingredients bowl and mix with a hand mixer on low until well incorporated.

4. Add frozen blueberries to batter and mix them in with a fork.

Step 3: Bake

1. Spray either 2 bread pans or 2 8x8 square glass pyrex containers with cooking spray.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Divide batter into two halves and pour batter into containers.

4. Bake for 25-50 minutes depending on how thick your batter is in the containers.

5. Muffin cake is done baking when you can insert a knife or cake tester in the middle and it comes out clean.

S'sK Plain Bagel Recipe

This recipe makes a lot of bagels. I make about 15 large bagels with this recipe. These bagels last only a few days, but I freeze half of the batch, that way I can eat one batch fresh and then take the second batch out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator to thaw.

S'sK Plain Bagel Recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups water

3 tablespoons white sugar

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

3 teaspoons salt

8 1/2 - 9 cups bread flour

Bonus items:

Parchment paper

 

Instructions:

1.       Add cold water to microwave safe bowl. Microwave water for about 45 seconds until warm. Add water to a large bowl. (Water should be warmer than lukewarm, but not hot enough to burn you.)

2.       Add sugar and yeast to water and stir with a fork to dissolve.

3.       Cover yeast bowl with plastic wrap and let yeast bowl sit in a nested bowl or Tupperware container with hot water.

a.       To make a nested bowl with hot water:

                                                   i.      I use a large Tupperware container and fill it about half way up with hot water.

                                                 ii.      Nest the yeast bowl in the Tupperware container.

                                                iii.      Water should be hot, but not hot enough to burn you.

                                               iv.      (Remove yeast bowl from nested bath when kneading)

b.      Let yeast sit in nested bath for 10 minutes. You will notice that your yeast water has become very thick, bubbly, and frothy. This is perfect. Remove bowl from nested bath and remove plastic wrap top.

c.       If your bowl is not frothy, try again. There are many factors that could affect this. Most likely your yeast died. Either your initial water was too hot and it killed your yeast, or your environment was too cold so the yeast did not wake up and begin feeding. Another possibility is that your yeast was dead to begin with. Make sure you use fresh yeast that has been stored properly - as yeast does go bad.

4.       Add salt to the yeast water. Whisk with fork until well mixed.
5.       Add bread flour slowly. Mix with fork until difficult to mix. Knead dough with hands for a couple minutes until dough has absorbed all flour.

a.       Don’t add too much flour that the dough cannot absorb it all and leaves dusty traces. If this happens, add a little water until the dough absorbs the flour.

b.      The dough should be slightly sticky to the touch, not dried out, or too wet.

      6.    Knead dough vigorously for 2 minutes.
7.       Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
8.       Let sit on counter in a nested bowl with hot water (just like before) for 1 hour.
9.       Remove dough bowl from nested bowl.
10.    Remove plastic wrap from bowl.

11.   Separate dough into 12-15 medium or large balls.
12. Grab 1 dough ball and stick your index finger through the middle of the dough ball. Flatten dough around your finger to make a bagel ring.
13. Shape all the other dough balls the same way.
14. Once all bagel rings are made, add water to a large pot and bring water to a rolling boil.

15. Once water is boiling, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
16. Add 3-4 raw bagel rings to boiling water.

17. Let bagel rings boil for 1- 2 minutes depending on how chewy you want your bagels. Flip bagels over half way through boiling (I use a straining spoon to flip them over). I like leaving mine in for about 2 minutes since I like my bagels very chewy. Your bagel dough should double/triple in size while boiling.

18. Use a straining spoon to remove the bagels from the boiling water.
19. Place boiled bagels on parchment paper lined baking sheet (or Silpat baking mat).

20. Bake bagels for 20-40 minutes flipping bagels over at the 10-15 minute mark. Depending on how thick you make your bagels.
21. Bagels will start to turn slightly golden brown on each side, this is perfect. If you are unsure if they are done, remove one bagel from the baking sheet and open it carefully with a knife (it will be hot!). Check if it is raw inside.

S'sK Shortbread Cookies with Drizzled Chocolate

*A Sebastian’s Kitchen Original

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Shortbread Cookies with Drizzled Chocolate

Ingredients:
Cookie dough:
2 cups butter softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar

4 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups all-purpose flour

Topping:

5-10 oz Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips (dark chocolate)

Step 1: Cookie

1.    Add butter to a large bowl and beat it with a mixer until white and creamy about 2 minutes.

2.    Add sugar to butter and beat until fluffy. It should look thick like buttercream frosting.
3.    Add egg yolks and vanilla extract and continue to mix with electric mixer until batter is very thick.

4.    Add flour a little at a time and mix with mixer until mixer struggles. Continue incorporating batter by stirring and mashing with a fork until batter is doughy.

5.    Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for about an hour or until dough is firm.
6.    Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
7.    Remove dough from the refrigerator.
8.    Add cookie dough to a rolling surface like a counter or a cutting board.
9.    Roll cookie dough flat and as thin as you like.
10.  Use cookie cutter to shape cookies.
    a.    I like using a heart cookie cutter - even after Valentine's Day.
    b.    Gently lift shaped cookie dough onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.
11.   Add the rest of the shaped cookie dough to baking sheet.    
12.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
13.    Bake for 8-12 minutes until slightly golden brown. Time varies based on how thick you rolled out your cookie dough, the shape, and overall thickness of the cookie. Check the bottom of the cookies if you are unsure.
13.    When cookies are done baking, remove from oven and let sit until cool.
    a.    Let cookies sit until completely cooled to avoid them falling apart.
    b.    I slide the parchment paper full of cookies off of the hot baking sheet and let the cookies cool on the counter (on a dish towel if the counter is heat sensitive). Don’t try to pick up individual cookies as they are fragile and can break apart when warm. Leave the cookies on the parchment paper for decorating.

Step 2: Decorate

1.    Melt Ghirardelli chocolate according to package instructions.
    a.    I microwave mine in 20-30 second intervals stirring between each microwave session until melted.

2.    Add melted chocolate to a piping bag or piping bottle, or drizzle chocolate on cookies with a fork or spoon.

3.    Let decorated cookies sit out for about an hour until the chocolate sets.
4.    Store most of the cookies in the refrigerator in an air-tight container. If you are going to be eating them all soon, you can leave them all in an air-tight container at room temperature. I usually store most of my cookies in an air-tight container in the refrigerator and then get a few cookies out for the day and let those sit at room temperature in an air-tight container.

S'sK Black and White Striped Oreo Truffles

*A Sebastian's Kitchen Original Recipe inspired by the classic Oreo Truffles Recipe found on KraftRecipes.com

Check the original out here: Oreo Truffles Recipe. I've written the instructions out in my own words and added white and dark chocolate as a design. I've also changed the technique for dipping the chocolate. 

S'sK Black and White Striped Oreo Truffles inspired by the classic Oreo Truffles Recipe found on KraftRecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 family size package Oreo cookies 1 lb 3.1 oz (you will have leftover cookies, nom nom nom!)
1 8 oz. package Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese
1 bag Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Dark Chocolate Chips
1 bag Ghirardelli White Chocolate Chips

Step 1: Crush the Oreos

1. Remove 34 Oreo cookies from the package.

2. Place 5-8 cookies (depending on how big your processor is you can add even more in) in your food processor.

3. Chop cookies into a fine crumb.

4. Place crumbs into a medium bowl.

5. Continue crushing cookies until all (34) cookies have been crushed. Set bowl aside.

Step 2:  Cream cheese

1. Soften cream cheese in microwave about 15 seconds until soft but not melted.

Step 3: Putting it together

1. Add cream cheese to Oreo crumbs and stir with a fork until crumbs are absorbed and become a batter.

2. Cover Oreo batter bowl with plastic wrap and set in refrigerator for about an hour or two until batter has hardened.

3. Once hardened, remove batter bowl from the refrigerator and scoop out batter.

4. Line 2 baking sheets with wax paper.

5. Roll batter in your hands to form little balls. Place rolled balls onto wax paper lined baking sheets.

6. When you finish filling one baking sheet with truffle balls, place baking sheet in the refrigerator while you continue filling the second baking sheet.

7. When you finish filling up the second baking sheet with truffles, add that to the refrigerator and remove first baking sheet.

8. Open Ghirardelli dark chocolate bag and pour chips into a microwave safe bowl. Melt chips according to package instructions.

9. Pour chocolate on top of truffle balls or dip truffle balls in chocolate. Continue until all truffles on your first baking sheet are covered in chocolate. Put truffles in the refrigerator to harden while you melt your white chocolate (next step).

10. Melt white chocolate over a double broiler. *(Read my tutorial here). Once chocolate is melted remove second baking sheet with truffles from the refrigerator. Cover second baking sheet truffles in white chocolate. Save some white chocolate to drizzle over your first batch of chocolate covered truffles and make pretty designs.

11. Add white chocolate truffles baking sheet to refrigerator to harden for about 5 minutes.
12. Remove chocolate covered truffles from the refrigerator. Drizzle melted white chocolate on top of truffles to make pretty designs. I use a fork and just wave it around. You could also add white chocolate to a piping bag and use a round tip to pipe it on. Once you are happy with how they turned out, move your baking sheet with your finished truffles back into the refrigerator. Let sit for about 20 minutes or until they harden.

13. Remove white chocolate covered truffles from the refrigerator. Drizzle melted dark chocolate on top of white truffles to make pretty designs. 

 

14. Once you are happy with how they turned out, move your baking sheet with your finished truffles back into the refrigerator. Let sit for about 20 minutes or until they harden.
15. Remove baking sheets from refrigerator and remove Oreo truffles from baking sheets. Store truffles in an air-tight container in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Do not leave truffles out for more than a couple hours, remember they are made of cream cheese, and that goes bad fast!