Cordon Bleu Crescent Rolls

I finally caved and joined Pinterest. Although I try to avoid the recipes for the most part, once in a while one jumps out at me. If you haven't already guess, we like Cordon Bleu anything in our home. I saw these and knew Blaine would be a big fan. Erika happened to be in town, so she was another guinea pig. It got a thumbs up from each of us. Plus, they were pretty good the next day for lunch. Not bad! Here is the original.

1 can crescent rolls (biscuit dough would work, too)

4-8 breaded chicken tenders, pre-cooked and cooled

8 slices swiss cheese

8 slices ham

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Depending on the size of the chicken strips, you may need to cut them in half. Smaller works better. Roll out each crescent roll. Place a slice of ham, cheese and a chicken strip on the fat end. Then roll up. Repeat till all are used. Bake on a cookie sheet or baking stone for 12-18 minutes until golden brown. Rest about 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Cornish Pasties (meat pies)

Erika made this recipe for us while we were visiting her last fall. The Pirate Pie's are from that trip. I LOVE Pasties! My Grandma made them all the time while I was growing up. Here is the original from Sorted. It's worth watching. There is also a Cornish Pasty Company in Phoenix, AZ that I miss eating at. If you get the chance, GO! It's delicious. Having an easy recipe for traditional Cornish Pasties was an easy sell. I made them for Christmas and meant to freeze some. That didn't happen. I ate them for lunch for two weeks straight until they were gone. It was worth it! You can make your own dough or use store bought. Both work great!

1 lb stewing steak

1 small onion

1 small carrot

1 rutabaga

1 potato

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp mustard powder

3 oz water

1 egg, beaten

Enough dough for 4 pasties. (1 box store bought, one recipe of Best Pie Crust EVER.)

Preheat oven to 320 degrees. Peel and finely dice all of the vegetables. Try to make them as uniform as possible. Finely cube the beef as well, to match the vegetables. Mix veggies and beef together in a bowl. Add the seasonings and a splash of water. Mix well. You can cut the dough in circles to make half-moons, make mini-pies or make Pirate ships. Put about 1/4 of the mixture in the center of your dough shape. Use a bit of water along the edges of the dough to seal and crimp shut. Repeat till all mix and dough is used. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper or non-stick foil. Brush the entire top of each pasty with the egg wash. Bake for 1 hour. Let cool for about 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Soft Pretzel Dough

I made "bites" and a couple regular pretzels

I love soft sweet pretzels.  I will probably increase the sugar the next time so they are even sweeter.  They were still pretty savory.  I was surprised at how easy these were.

Ingredients:

1 ½  cups warm water (around 110 – 115 degrees F)
¼ cup light brown sugar (if you like less sweet dough, decrease)
1 package active dry yeast
3 ounces unsalted butter, melted
2 ½  teaspoons kosher salt
4 ½  to 5 cups flour (I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat and they turned out great, not heavy)
oil
2 quarts water
½ cup baking soda
1 whole egg, beaten + 1 tablespoon cold water
Coarse sea salt

Directions:

Combine the water, sugar and yeast in a bowl – if using a stand mixer, mix with the dough hook, until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast has proofed.  Add the butter and salt on low speed.  Once mixed, add the flour 1 cup at a time mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, approx. 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour in small increments. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands – do not add more flour.

Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Spray a cookie sheet with oil.  Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope and shape – cut to make pieces, or shape into traditional pretzels. Bring the water to a boil in a large stock pot over high heat and add the baking soda slowly (Note: I learned the hard way that it can boil over.)  Boil the pretzels in the water solution in small enough batches that they can move freely. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon. Place pretzels on the cookie sheet so they are not touching. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt. Place into the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown.  Remove to a cooling rack and let cool 5 minutes before eating.

Best Calzones EVER

These are delicious, fairly cheap, and, best of all, so fast! Honestly, as long as you do the dough early (I usually make a double batch and freeze some so I have extra. Then, just throw it in the fridge to thaw the night before, and you're ready!), these really throw together quickly.

They're some of our favorites--in Marc's opinion, even better than pizza. !
The calzones are pretty big though--1 1/2 usually fills up all three of us, so plan on leftovers if you make the whole batch.

Italian Supreme Calzones

Ingredients:
½ batch pizza dough (see below for BEST pizza dough recipe)
2 links Italian sausage, removed from casings
½ medium yellow onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
4 oz. sliced mushrooms, chopped
Sliced black olives
Red pepper flakes
10 slices pepperoni, chopped
Shredded mozzarella cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp. water for egg wash
Pizza sauce, for serving

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 500° F. Place a pizza stone in the oven and let it heat for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, divide pizza dough in half on a lightly floured work surface and roll out into two rounds approximately 7-8 inches in diameter. Transfer to a piece of parchment paper about the size of your pizza stone.

In a skillet over medium-high heat, crumble the sausage and cook until browned. Transfer to a medium bowl. Return the skillet to the heat and add the chopped onion and green pepper. Sauté briefly, about 3 minutes. Mix in the slices mushrooms and sauté a few minutes more. Transfer the veggie mixture to the bowl with the sausage. Toss in sliced black olives and red pepper flakes to taste. Mix in the chopped pepperoni.

Sprinkle one half of each dough round with a small amount of shredded mozzarella, leaving a thin border around the edge. Divide the meat and veggie mixture between the two dough rounds, on top of the mozzarella. Top with more mozzarella cheese, to taste. Fold over the remaining dough on top of the cheese and filling, pinching the free edges of dough together to seal. Transfer to the heated pizza stone and bake until browned, about 12-15 minutes. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

Basic Pizza Dough

Yield: enough dough for 2 medium pizzas or 4 calzones

Ingredients:
½ cup warm water
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1½ tsp. salt
1¼ cup water, at room temperature
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle the yeast over the top. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour and salt, mixing briefly to blend. Measure the room temperature water into the measuring cup with the yeast-water mixture. With the mixer on low speed, pour in the yeast-water mixture as well as the olive oil. Mix until a cohesive dough is formed. Switch to the dough hook. Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1½-2 hours.

Press down the dough to deflate it. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball. (If freezing the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at this point.) Cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.

From Annie's Eats website - check out her other recipes, she's amazing!

Best Pie Crust Recipe EVER!!

This really truly is the best one EVER!! I love to make pies but pie crusts can be finicky.  I found this one in the Arizona Republic's Food section a couple years ago. Tried it and was hooked! It's a picture file that I made after scanning in the photos from the pastry chef's article. I've made it with whole wheat flour for pasties & pot pies as well. Hope you enjoy it!

P.S. I only use unsalted butter when I make mine. Make sure the butter comes straight from the fridge, or it'll melt too quickly as you 'cut' it into the flour.