Blue Cheese and Red Potato Tart

Ingredients:
1 Savory Tart Shell, below, or recipe of your choice, in a 9-inch tart pan and ready to fill
1 pound small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 cup heavy cream
1 large egg yolk
1/4 pound blue cheese, crumbled (about 3/4 cup)
1 tablespoons finely chopped herb or herbs of your choice, such as a mixture of thyme and rosemary
Fine sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium saucepan, cover potato slices with water by two inches. Simmer, uncovered, until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain. If the potatoes don’t seem very dry, pat them dry with towels.
Arrange potato slices, overlapping slightly, in concentric circles around the tart pan. Sprinkle blue cheese over potatoes. Whisk cream and egg yolk together and pour into tart shell, then sprinkle tart with herbs of your choice and salt.
Bake tart on a baking sheet until bubbling and golden brown, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan on rack and serve warm or cold. With a big green salad, for balance.

Savory Tart Shell

Ingredients:

1 1/4 (5 1/2 ounces) cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter, diced
1 large egg

Directions:
In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch and salt. Cut the butter in with a pastry blender, fork or two knives until it is in very tiny bits. Add one egg and mix with a fork until a dough forms. If this does not happen easily, toss it out onto a counter and knead it together. This dough is rather tough but with a little elbow grease, it does come together nicely.
This dough can also be made a food processor, or in a stand mixer, though I’ve only tried it in a food processor.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle. Place the dough in a 9-inch pie plate or tart pan and press to remove any air bubbles. Level the edges, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Proceed with a filling of your choice, no parbaking required.

From: Smitten Kitchen

Toll House Pie (AKA Chocolate chip cookie pie)

Ingredients

• 1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell *
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts
• Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (optional)

• Directions

  PREHEAT oven to 325° F.
  
  BEAT eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.
  
  BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.
  Enjoy :)

Peanut Butter Pie

Ingredients:
1 9-inch frozen unbaked pie shell, baked and cooled
1 1/3 cups creamy peanut butter (do not use chunky)
1/2 cup half-and-half
2/3 cup plus 2 Tablespoons powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup cold whipping cream
2 Tablespoons chopped peanuts

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix peanut butter with half-and-half and 2/3 cup of the powdered sugar until smooth.
2. Spoon into pie crust.
3. Beat 1/3 cup granulated white sugar with butter and vanilla until fluffy. Add the egg and beat until light and fluffy, then beat in the melted chocolate.
4. Spread mixture over peanut butter filling. Refrigerate 1 hour.
5. Beat whipping cream with remaining 2 tablespoons powdered sugar until peaks form. Spread on top of pie, garnish with chopped peanuts.

Baked Brie Bites

Rose and Eric made up this recipe based on our favorite baked brie!

Ingredients

- brie

- Pillsbury pastry sheet

- jam or topping of your choice (we used a fig-walnut jam and cranberries sprinkled with brown sugar)

Directions

- Cut brie into bite sized pieces

- Place brie on a laid out pastry sheet and cut squares of dough around each piece

- Top brie with a 1/4 tsp or less of jam

- fold up and press corners of the pastry sheet squares together to form a little closed pocket

- Place on a sprayed cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 375 F.

- Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!