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

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!

S'sK Chocolate Chip Cookies (2nd Version)

*A Sebastian's Kitchen Original Recipe

This is my second version of my chocolate chip cookie recipe. I've changed a few things since my other version. Here's just a quick list of what I changed.

Removed whole wheat flour and adjusted all purpose flour
Adjusted white sugar and brown sugar

With this recipe, you'll need two bowls. A dry bowl for your dry ingredients (except sugars), and a wet bowl. You'll combine the dry bowl into the wet bowl at the end.

 

S'sK Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 10 oz bag Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips

1.    Beat butter with a mixer until white and creamy.
2.    Add white sugar and brown sugar to butter bowl.
3.    Add eggs and vanilla extract; continue to beat until fluffy. Set aside.

4.    In a separate bowl add all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well with a fork.

5.    Add dry bowl ingredients to wet bowl - mixing with a fork until dough forms.

6.    Add chocolate chips to the dough and fold them in with a fork or spatula gently.

7.    Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
8.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
9.    Spoon dough on to parchment paper and flatten dough with hand.

10.    Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden on top. (Time depends on how big/thick you make your cookies.

S'sK Whipped Cream

*A Sebastian's Kitchen Original Recipe

S'sK Whipped Cream

Ingredients:

1 Quart Heavy Whipping Cream (2 pints)

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Place bowl you will be using and mixer attachments in the freezer to chill for 30 minutes before you start making your whipped cream.

2. Remove bowl and mixer attachments from the freezer. Add attachments to mixer.

3. Add heavy whipping cream to bowl.

4. Begin beating heavy whipping cream for 2 to 3 minutes until it starts thickening up.

5. Add vanilla and sugar and continue beating for another 3 to 5 minutes.

6. Cream should start to thicken up. As it thickens up, you should taste test it to make sure it is sweet enough for you. If you want it sweeter, add more sugar until you are happy with it.

7. Continue beating until you reach your desired thickness.

8. Make sure to eat within 3 days and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

S'sK Snicker Salad

*This is my version of the classic Snicker Salad recipe.

Make sure to follow the 2 ½ cup of milk per package of jello pudding recipe on the back of the jello container to make your pudding thicker and not so watery.

Also... use whole milk instead of 2%.

I like to make my jello pudding the night before I make the salad so that the pudding sets and chills enough to become nice and thick.

 

Snicker Salad

Ingredients:

2 packages jello vanilla pudding mix

5 cups whole milk

2 cups washed and dried red grapes

4 granny smith apples (peeled and cubed)

9 full size Snicker bars (chopped/cubed)

Whipped cream (optional)

Day 1: Jello Pudding Mix

1. Follow instructions on back of pudding box to make thick pudding (pie filling). I made mine by adding the powder to a large bowl and adding 5 cups of whole milk and beating it with a whisk attachment with my hand held mixer for a couple of minutes.

2. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill overnight in the refrigerator to let pudding thicken up.

Day 2:

1. Remove grapes from stems and wash them thoroughly.

    a.    I like to dry my grapes using a salad spinner.

2. Set aside.

3. Wash, peel, and cube (in small cubes) granny smith apples. Set aside.

4. Cut Snicker bars into small pieces with a sharp knife.

    a.    I’ve tried having bigger chunks of Snickers in the salad in the past but once the Snickers get cold, the bigger chunks are a lot chewier and harder to eat.

5. Remove pudding bowl from the refrigerator.

6. Add grapes, apples, and Snicker bar pieces to the pudding. Mix well.

7. Serve in a serving dish.

8. Add a dollop of whipped cream to the serving dish. (Optional).