Fresh Tomato Tart with Basil-Garlic Crust

If I were on death row, this very well may be what I choose as my last meal.  And since it would be my last meal, I would eat the entire thing. After all, I wouldn't have to worry about slipping into my skinny jeans the next day.

All joking aside, this really is a delicious tart. I could never turn down a dish that contains tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil. That is my favorite flavor combination. This recipe is unique because the basil is actually inside the crust. Genius! If you really want to impress someone, make this tart... it's so easy and delicious!


Fresh Tomato Tart with Basil-Garlic Crust

Ingredients:
1 recipe Basil-Garlic Tart dough (below)
8 ounces sliced mozzarella
2 large, ripe tomatoes, cored and cut crosswise into thin slices
Salt and pepper
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
Prepare the dough, and press it into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.

Preheat oven to 375-F. Line the bottom of the tart shell with mozzarella. Arrange the tomatoes over the cheese in a ring around the edge of the tart and a second ring in the center. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil.

Place the tart onto a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment paper, and bake until the crust is golden brown and the cheese has started to brown in spots, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes before slicing. (The tart may be covered and kept at room temperature for 6 hours.)


Basil-Garlic Tart Dough

Ingredients:
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
1 medium garlic clove
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 8 to 10 pieces
4-5 Tablespoons ice water

Directions:
Place the basil and garlic in the work bowl of a food processor. Process, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until finely chopped. Add flour and salt; pulse to combine.

Add butter. Pulse about 10 times, or until the mixture resembles pea-sized crumbs.
Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing several times after each addition. After 4 tablespoons water have been added, process the dough for several seconds to see if the mixture forms a ball. If not, add remaining water. Process until dough forms into a ball. Remove dough from processor.
Flatten the dough into a 5-inch disk. Wrap it in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (The dough can be placed in a zipper-lock plastic bag and refrigerated for several days or frozen for 1 month. If frozen, defrost the dough in the refrigerator.)
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle. Lay the dough over the tart pan, and press it into the pan. Trim the dough, and proceed with the recipe as directed.

Source: Ezra Pound Cake, originally adapted from The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop

BBQ Chicken Calzones

I love homemade pizza crust, but if I want to be honest with myself, I just don't have the time to make it very often. My new secret to a wonderful homemade pizza crust is to drive down the road to the local pizza shop and purchase the dough. I usually buy a couple of crusts and stick one in the freezer since they freeze really well.

This recipe is from the recipe swap that I participate in, and I was so pumped when I got this one. Chicken was the theme this week, and this recipe came from The Jey of Cooking. The original recipe is for a pizza, but I decided to make calzones. Who doesn't like their own little hand pie? These calzones were so good. My man helped me make these, and he kept raving about how good they were. He's already hinting around that he wants us to have these again, and I'm all in! I used the Easy Peasy BBQ Sauce for this recipe, and the flavors were perfect with the chicken and bacon.


BBQ Chicken Calzones

Ingredients:
1 recipe of pizza dough
2 chicken breasts from a rotisserie chicken, chopped or shredded
1/2  small red onion, chopped
1/4 cup BBQ sauce
1/4 cup Ranch dressing
Shredded cheddar cheese, to taste
1/2 package bacon, cooked and diced (I used turkey bacon)
1/4 cup fresh oregano, chopped
Olive oil cooking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven and pizza stone to 500-degrees.

In a bowl, mix together the bbq sauce and ranch dressing. Add the chicken and stir to combine.

Divide the pizza dough into 4 even pieces. Stretch each piece into a circle and place on a lightly floured surface to prevent sticking.

Spread 1/4 of the chicken mixture onto one half of each circle, leaving a 1-inch edge. Sprinkle with bacon, onion, cheese, and oregano. Fold into a half moon shape and crimp the edges with your fingers or with a fork. Spray the top of each calzone with cooking spray for even browning.

Place calzones onto the preheated pizza stone and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.

Serve warm with extra bbq-ranch sauce for dipping.

***Calzones freeze really well. Let them cool after baking and then wrap each one in plastic wrap. Place the wrapped calzones into a freezer bag and freeze.

Source: recipe from The Jey of Cooking

Strawberry Margarita Pie

We got together with Aubrey's family on Monday for a Memorial Day cookout, and I was in charge of bringing dessert. This frozen pie was perfect since the sun was out in full force that day, and the flavor mimics a strawberry margarita... hence the name.  It's almost like ice cream but not as creamy. This is definitely one of my favorite pie recipes, and I'll be making this again and again.

I'm really curious to know how it would turn out if I lightened it up a bit by using the fat free cool whip and fat free sweetened condensed milk. Heck, you could even use a store-bought pie crust, although it wouldn't be as good. I think this would be considered "semi-homemade" (hellloooo Sandra Lee). I'll have to try that in the future and let you all know how it "pans" out (pun intended). If any of my readers get to this before me, please let me know how it turns out. I have a feeling it will be yummy!

Strawberry Margarita Pie

Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
6 Tablespoons tequila
1/4 cup triple sec
3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
Zest of 1 lime
2 cups heavy cream

For garnish:
Fresh strawberries
Lime slices


Directions:
For the crust:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the parchment, as well as the sides of the springform pan. In a medium bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs and sugar. Add the melted butter and toss with a fork until well combined. Transfer the mixture to the springform pan and evenly cover the sides and bottom of the pan with crumbs. Use the bottom of a ramekin or your fingers to even the bottom crust. Bake in the preheated oven for 13-15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the filling:
Combine the strawberries, sugar, condensed milk, tequila, triple sec, lime juice and lime zest in the bowl of a food processor. Process until completely smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Transfer to a large bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. Add one third of the whipped cream to the puree and gently fold in with a rubber spatula. Stir in the remaining cream.

Assemble the pie:
Pour the filling into the crust, cover, and freeze overnight or until firm. To remove the springform sides, wrap a towel soaked in hot water around the outside of the pan for 10-15 seconds. Carefully remove the sides of the pan. Before serving, garnish with fresh strawberries and lime slices as desired. To serve, slice with a dry sharp knife, wiping the blade between slices.

Source: Annie's Eats

Pecan Pie

I made this pie for Thanksgiving, and I jokingly called this my "Charlie Brown Pecan Pie" because the crust looked so sad. I really have to work on my pie crust skills. It reminded me of Charlie Brown's christmas tree.... kinda wimpy. However, the taste wasn't wimpy. This pie was delicious, and it all disappeared. It was especially delicious and rich with the Whiskey Maple Cream Sauce.

Ingredients:

1 whole unbaked pie crust
1 cup white sugar
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter
3 whole eggs, beaten
1 heaping cup chopped pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350-degrees.
Mix sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl. Place the unbaked pie crust in a pie dish, and pour chopped pecans in the bottom of the pie shell. Pour syrup mixture over the top.

Cover top and crush lightly/gently with foil. Bake pie for 30 minutes. Remove foil, then continue baking for 20 minutes, being careful not to burn the crust or pecans. Pie should not be overly jiggly when you remove it from the oven. If it shakes a lot, cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until set. Required baking times vary widely with this recipe. It took mine almost 1.5 hours to cook.

Allow to cool for several hours or overnight. Serve in thin slivers.
Yield: 12 pieces

Source: Pioneer Woman

Southern Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie is a favorite dessert of my mother-in-law, so this was an easy choice for me to make for Mother's Day this year. I'm typically not a fan of meringue like my in-laws (and hubby) are, but this dessert was for them. It was also helpful in using up the extra egg whites left over from the filling. Everyone told me that the pie was delicious, and Aubrey even ate the only piece left over for breakfast the next morning.



Ingredients:
4 eggs
1/3 cup lime juice
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1 graham cracker crumb pie crust

Directions:
Separate egg yolks from whites. Set whites aside. Add lime juice to egg yolks and beat. Then add sweetened condensed milk and beat with electric mixer. Add powdered sugar until well blended. Pour into graham cracker crust. Beat egg whites (at room temperature). Add cream of tartar at high speed of electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Add 2 teaspoons sugar at a time, until all sugar is added. Continue beating until stiff peaks form. You should be able to turn the bowl upside-down without the meringue moving. Spread over filling and bake at 350-degrees for 15 minutes. Chill thoroughly and enjoy!

Source: My cousin, Donna Powell

Lightened O'Charlies Caramel Pie

The O'Charlies Caramel Pie is one of those recipes that's been floating around for a while, but I rarely ever use the full fat recipe. I'll try anything to "lighten" up a recipe, and this one works just perfectly with the fat-free sweetened condensed milk. This is about the easiest dessert to make. You just have to make sure you have sufficient time. I usually make it the night before I serve it, but you can surely do it on the same day. Just throw the whole can of sweetened condensed milk in a pot and boil for a couple of hours. I usually do laundry or clean while it's boiling. You have to add more water every once in a while to make sure the whole can is covered, but it's about the hardest dessert to mess up...... and it's delicious.

Ingredients:
1 graham cracker pie crust (I use the reduced fat)
1 can sweetened condensed milk (I use fat free)
1 container cool whip (I use light)

Directions:
Take the paper off of the milk can. Fill a large pot up with water and place the can of milk inside. Make sure the can is fully submerged in the water. Bring to a boil and boil for 2 hours. The milk will turn to caramel like magic. Take the can out with tongs (it will be very hot), and let cool to room temp... this will take a while. Once cool, open can and spread the caramel evenly in the pie crust. Spread the cool whip on top of the caramel. Refrigerate until time to serve.

**If you have issues with boiling a can, you can certainly pour the contents into a double boiler and stir until it turns to caramel. I don't have that kind of patience, but if you do.... go for it. Personally, I've never had a problem with boiling the can, and I've made this pie numerous times.

**A good variation of this pie would be to add toffee bits within the caramel and sprinkle some on top of the pie. Mmmmm.

Source: O'Charlies

Daring Bakers Cheesecake Challenge

Key Lime Cheesecake

April's Daring Bakers challenge had us getting creative with cheesecake. I love cheesecake, and I was so excited to find a key lime version to kick off the summer with. I was really pleased with the taste of it... Aubrey says it's the best he's ever had, but he wishes it had a little more lime flavor in it. Cheesecake wasn't as hard to make as I thought it would be. I was scared to death that it would crack in the middle, but low and behold... it held up. Hooray!

Ingredients:

Crust:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter, melted
2 Tablespoons sugar
Zest of 1 lime
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each, room temperature
Zest of 1 lime
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
3 Tablespoons key lime juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine sugar and lime zest and mix with the cream cheese in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream and key lime juice and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

"Healthy-ish" Key Lime Pie

Key lime is my dad's favorite pie flavor. Since he was coming to visit, this was the perfect opportunity for me to try my hand at this pie. The reason I named this "healthy-ish" is because I used the fat free sweetened condensed milk and the reduced fat pie crust. To be honest, I couldn't even tell a difference in taste and neither could Aubrey or my dad.

Ingredients:
4 ounces key lime juice
4 egg yolks
1 can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free)
9-inch graham cracker pie crust

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine eggs and milk with an electric mixer and slowly add juice until well blended. Pour into pie crust and bake for about 8 minutes.
**Note: I forgot about the pie being in the oven and accidently cooked it for about 15 minutes, but nothing was burned at all... whew!

All-American
Mini Apple Pies

I got a recipe for these mini pies from a Time Life recipe card that was mailed to me. They were a perfect ending to the meal we had tonight. I love anything that's "mini," and these were really delish! They remind me of little apple pie cupcakes. Mama, Aubrey, and I had a nice midnight snack while watching a movie. Good times!

Ingredients:
2 medium tart baking apples (I used fuji)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 sheet refrigerated pie crust (1/2 box)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Peel, core, and chop apples into 1/4-inch pieces. In medium bowl, combine apples, sugar, flour, and cinnamon, tossing gently. Set aside.

Open and unroll pie crust flat onto work surface. Using 4-inches-wide bowl or cup, cut our five circles, reserving scraps. Press each circle inside 5 spaces of muffin tin.

Evenly divide apple mixture into each prepared muffin cup. Cut reserved dough scraps into strips 1/4-inch wide. Top each pie with strips. Fill remaining empty muffin cup 1/4 way up with water.

Bake until bubbling, about 18 minutes. Let pies cool in muffin tin, then remove.

Nutritional Info: (per serving) - 270 Calories; 40g Carbs; 2g Protein; 5g Fat; 160mg Sodium; 10mg Cholesterol; less than 1g Fiber; 18g Sugar.