After many, many years of making pie dough and having
excellent results I messed up today. I had been making it
long enough that I had the recipe memorized, even able to
cut I cup of Crisco without having to check the guide on the
outside flap. I was making a batch of pastry to do my
mincemeat tarts this afternoon. The dough just wasn't
working. I told my wife I was having a problem. She, who
doesn't often make pies, looked at it and told me that it
was short on shortening. DOH!!! I used 1/2 cup instead of a
cup. I cut off another 1/2 cup, cut it into the halfassed
dough and stuck it in the fridge for 10 minutes then rolled
it out and cut out the circles for the tarts, stuffed them
into the pans, filed them, put a top on them and baked them.
They turned out beautifully.

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> After many, many years of making pie dough and having
> excellent results I messed up today. I had been making it
> long enough that I had the recipe memorized, even able to
> cut I cup of Crisco without having to check the guide on the
> outside flap. I was making a batch of pastry to do my
> mincemeat tarts this afternoon. The dough just wasn't
> working. I told my wife I was having a problem. She, who
> doesn't often make pies, looked at it and told me that it
> was short on shortening. DOH!!! I used 1/2 cup instead of a
> cup. I cut off another 1/2 cup, cut it into the halfassed
> dough and stuck it in the fridge for 10 minutes then rolled
> it out and cut out the circles for the tarts, stuffed them
> into the pans, filed them, put a top on them and baked them.
> They turned out beautifully.

Sorry, you lost me at mincemeat tarts!

Big YUK.

Glad they turned out ok though

Elaine

Dave Smith wrote:
> After many, many years of making pie dough and having
> excellent results I messed up today. I had been making it
> long enough that I had the recipe memorized, even able to
> cut I cup of Crisco without having to check the guide on the
> outside flap. I was making a batch of pastry to do my
> mincemeat tarts this afternoon. The dough just wasn't
> working. I told my wife I was having a problem. She, who
> doesn't often make pies, looked at it and told me that it
> was short on shortening. DOH!!! I used 1/2 cup instead of a
> cup. I cut off another 1/2 cup, cut it into the halfassed
> dough and stuck it in the fridge for 10 minutes then rolled
> it out and cut out the circles for the tarts, stuffed them
> into the pans, filed them, put a top on them and baked them.
> They turned out beautifully.
>
>
>

*that* is what I have to make for my mom. Can I have your recipe, Dave?
(the mincemeat tarts, not the short-on shirtening crust )

--

saerah

"Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a
disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."
-Baruch Spinoza

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly
what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear
and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There
is another theory which states that this has already happened."
-Douglas Adams

"Dave Smith" > wrote in message
...
> After many, many years of making pie dough and having
> excellent results I messed up today. I had been making it
> long enough that I had the recipe memorized, even able to
> cut I cup of Crisco without having to check the guide on the
> outside flap. I was making a batch of pastry to do my
> mincemeat tarts this afternoon. The dough just wasn't
> working. I told my wife I was having a problem. She, who
> doesn't often make pies, looked at it and told me that it
> was short on shortening. DOH!!! I used 1/2 cup instead of a
> cup. I cut off another 1/2 cup, cut it into the halfassed
> dough and stuck it in the fridge for 10 minutes then rolled
> it out and cut out the circles for the tarts, stuffed them
> into the pans, filed them, put a top on them and baked them.
> They turned out beautifully.

There you go) what would you do without her?)

sarah bennett wrote:

>
> > was short on shortening. DOH!!! I used 1/2 cup instead of a
> > cup. I cut off another 1/2 cup, cut it into the halfassed
> > dough and stuck it in the fridge for 10 minutes then rolled
> > it out and cut out the circles for the tarts, stuffed them
> > into the pans, filed them, put a top on them and baked them.
> > They turned out beautifully.
>
>
> *that* is what I have to make for my mom. Can I have your recipe, Dave?
> (the mincemeat tarts, not the short-on shirtening crust )

The pastry ended up not short on shortening. I just added the extra half cup
later after the water and egg. :-)

There is no real recipe. I just made the pastry as per the Crisco recipe
(using all the ingredients properly for the second batch). Cut out pastry
rounds with a cookie cutter, pressed them gently into muffin tins, put some
bottled mincemeat in, cut out smaller rounds and plopped them on top and
popped them into the oven at 425 for 15 minutes. I could not find Cross and
Blackwell mincemeat so I tried Presidents Choice, which turned out to be
quite good.





>
> --
>
> saerah
>
> "Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a
> disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice."
> -Baruch Spinoza
>
> "There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly
> what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear
> and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There
> is another theory which states that this has already happened."
> -Douglas Adams

Ophelia wrote:

>
> > was short on shortening. DOH!!! I used 1/2 cup instead of a
> > cup. I cut off another 1/2 cup, cut it into the halfassed
> > dough and stuck it in the fridge for 10 minutes then rolled
> > it out and cut out the circles for the tarts, stuffed them
> > into the pans, filed them, put a top on them and baked them.
> > They turned out beautifully.
>
> There you go) what would you do without her?)

She surprised me by readily identifying the problem as the lack of
shortening. She doesn't often make pie dough, usually leaving that
job for me because I usually don't have a problem with it.

I have always thought that technique was an important factor in
making pastry, especially when it comes to cutting in the
shortening. I didn't want to waste the whole batch, but I was
delightfully surprised that it not only worked out, but that it
came out so nicely.