The holidays are coming and growing up in my family that meant PIE and lots of it. I have struggled for a decent pie crust and have not found anything that worked like regular roll out pie crust. What I have come up with is a cookie crust that works well for most pies. I can use it for pumpkin or key lime (2 favorites here), or with apple or blueberry if I add a crumb topping. So, in preparation for the holiday season this week I made cookie pie crusts to freeze to be ready when I need them. The basic cookie recipe I use was published in the United Buying Clubs Catalog last fall and is useful for many types of cookies. This recipe makes quite a large batch(I got 8 pie crusts and 3 pans of cookies out of it) but it can be split easily.
Basic Cookie Recipe/Cookie Pie Crust
3 C powdered sugar
2 C granulated sugar
2 C shortening- we use palm oil
6 eggs- we use Pete and Gerry's Organic exclusively-why is another story
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 C vanilla extract
1 C amaranth flour
2 C potato starch
2 C sweet rice flour
4 C brown rice flour
2 Tbsp xanthan gum
3 Tbsp baking powder
Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl mix together the flours, potato starch, xanthan gum and baking powder. In your largest bowl cream together the sugars and shortening. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix together until well blended. Add the flour mixture about 1/4 at time stirring vigorously. At the end you will likely have to knead in the last portion. It should be about the consistency of Play-doh. If too dry, add 1 Tbsp of water at a time until it is the right consistency. The original recipe said to use an ungreased cookie sheet but I find that a thin coating of spray oil makes everything go more smoothly particularly as you will be using the cookie pans multiple times.
For Pie Crusts
Spray oil your pie pans. Take a smallish baseball sized ball and put it in the center of each pan. push the dough out toward the sides and edges creating a thin layer of cookie dough. Since the dough rises some during baking it is not necessary that it be thick, in fact that is undesireable. remove any excess that gets worked over the edge. For a more finished looking edge roll small bits of dough into "snakes" to lay along the edge and blend in. When the crust is complete, prick the bottom with a fork across the surface and bake for about 15 minutes. It should be a light golden brown, darker if you will be using it for an unbaked filling. Cool on a cooling rack completely and fill or freeze for future use.
For Thumbprint Cookies
Spray oil a cookie sheet or minimuffin pan. We use minimuffin pans because they make for a nice deep well in the bottom and we don't have to worry about filling spilling out. Make a 1" ball and push your thumb in to create a well in the center. In the minimuffin pan push the dough up the sides to create a little cup. If you are using jam to fill these you can add that now or you can wait and fill them when they are cooked and cool. We like to fill the cooked ones with a chocolate coconut ganache or with homemade peanut butter cups(those don't last very long here.) I will post that recipe in a couple of days but if you want to be able to make the peanut butter cups you need to cook some of the cookie dough as crumbs. I usually cook about 1C that way then freeze whatever I don't use for toppings, etc.
