A Healthier Pie Crust

A Healthier Pie Crust

As some of you may know,  I've been going through my stacks of collected recipes.  Some of these recipes go back to the mid 1990's.

My hubby "suggested" that I toss the beloved stack.  However, I told him that I've give myself a year to try as many as possible before tossing the rest.  We have been trying the recipes, a few a week.  Actually, what's happened is that we have found many new favorites!  We both decided to remove the deadline, as long as we tried some new recipes each week.

This pie crust recipe comes from a 1996 Vegetarian Times issue, where the author remakes lemon meringue pie.  The filling is a mixture of lemonade and kudzu to thicken it, which didn't interest me.  

I am guessing the article was saved for the pie crust recipe. And I am glad I saved it!  It is a good tasting "from scratch" recipe,  and not one that uses a lot of butter, margarine, shortening, or sugar.  It's not as flaky as a crust with shortening, but it's a great tradeoff.  My husband gave it a "10", that being the highest score.  However, we don't eat a lot of pies for him to compare.  Still, we both felt it was really good, and light tasting.  Small tradeoffs can add up toward better health and weight management.

If you want to avoid a lot of saturated fats, this is a great recipe.  We hope you enjoy it also:

A Healthier Pie Crust

Adapted from Feb. 1996, issue, Vegetarian Times

Makes one crust

1 Cup             unbleached white flour

1/2 Cup          whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 tsp            salt

1 to 1 1/2 tsp  baking powder (I used a rounded tsp)

4 TBSP          canola oil  (chilled, preferably)

5 TBSP          apple juice, chilled (use 6 TBSP, if needed)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

     ***Sift flours, salt and baking powder.  Add oil, mix lightly with a spatula until oil is absorbed.  Add 5 TBSP apple juice; mix again to form a ball.  Add additional apple juice if necessary.  Knead gently 1 minute, or until smooth.  Flatten dough into a disk shape, cover with plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes in the coldest part of the refrigerator.

     Roll out dough on floured surface, 1 -2 inches larger than a 9" pie pan.  Fit dough into lightly oiled pan, easing dough along sides.  Trim excess to edge of pan, crimp with fork.  Chill 20 minutes or more.  Tightly line bottom of crust with aluminum foil, weight with rice, dried beans or pie weights.  Bake until light brown and crisp, 20 to 30 minutes.  If you want, remove the weights after 15 minutes and bake the crust a bit longer to bake the bottom.  It seemed to make a sturdier crust.

     Cool pie crust on a rack.  Fill as usual.

Note:  ***I made this crust quickly in the food processor.  The dry ingredients were mixed and then the oil.  Finally,  5 TBSP chilled apple juice was added.  A few bursts of the food processor kneaded the dough.  After removing the craggy mixture from the food processor, I formed the dough into a ball.  It didn't seem to need more apple juice, because it held together quite well.  Finally, the dough was flattened into a disk and wrapped in plastic wrap for chilling in the fridge.

    

  The crust, ready for filling!

My yummy (and first ever) lemon meringue pie!!!  We really enjoyed this pie, and the crust was just right for the light taste.

Thanks for coming by.  Happy Baking!  I would love to hear your comments, so please leave one below.  And don't forget to return soon, for my next post.

Judy

Pistachio Macaroons

I really loved the "Healthy Breads in 5 Minutes A Day" recipe for the Pistachio Twist.  It contained pistachio nuts and rosewater.  What a sublime combination!  I brought that bread to a friend's house on New Year's Day, and we just couldn't stop eating it!

I couldn't forget that wonderful combination of flavors.  There has been a macaroon recipe in my files that had this combination of flavors.  I decided to try it, after having it in my files for about 5 years.  This recipe is an adaptation of a Matthew Goodman recipe in his book "Jewish Food:  The World at Table."


In this book, Mr. Goodman tried to save many recipes from Jewish communities all over the world. For the pistachio macaroons, he states that pistachios are a very common ingredient in Middle Eastern cooking, especially by the Syrians.

To me, a macaroon should have coconut.  This was more like a meringue; it had beaten egg whites.  I couldn't find shelled pistachios here (boy do I miss Trader Joe's!), so I shelled 1/2 pound before grinding the pistachios.  I added sugar and rosewater.  Then folded in beaten egg white.  Here is my adapted recipe:

Pistachio Macaroons
1/2 pound of shelled pistachios
1/2 cup sugar 
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon rosewater

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. I used my Silpats.
2. Grind the pistachios with the sugar in the bowl of a food processor, leaving some chunks for texture; transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
3. Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Gently fold them, with the rosewater, into the pistachio mixture.
4. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls in balls onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 1 inch between. Bake until lightly browned, 17 to 20 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. (Very important to use an airtight container, or they could get hard.
Makes about 20.

We both loved it!  This one is a keeper--if I can get a good price on pistachio nuts! 

Hope you enjoy it, too!