After preparing 5 spectacular types of pastry dough, I am surprised to announce that Shortcrust is my favorite (so far!). I have never been a dedicated fan of pies and thought the sound of dry Shortcrust sounded unappetizing. Short, meaning crumbly, rather than airy, sounds like the worst imaginable dessert. Yet, the simplicity of the recipe and the perfect crust to filling ratio really set this dish apart for me.
Second only to making fococcia, the Caramelized Onion Mini Pie is my absolute favorite recipe. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner, snack, midnight snack, you name it and these are perfect for that time of day when you need a solid snack or 2 for a meal (or 3 or 4). I proposed to make them for a friend who was joining me in the kitchen and she tried to wriggle her way out of preparing them. Fully disappointed, I pried from her the reason why she did not want to eat savory, cheesy pies for dinner. Little tip for you: When offering these mini pies to your friends and family, do not refer to them as “Onion and Cheese Pies” because apparently no one wants to eat that.
Just wait. Once they see these scrumptious, perfectly balanced pies, they will have to try one. Once they take that first bite, they will be asking for another. We tried cutting them in half and sharing with one another, but ended up just eating each and every one. However, I can assure you that although not as good reheated in the microwave, a toaster oven does salvage them if you managed to save any for leftovers.
Take-Home Tips: The Shortcrust is easy to make, but be careful not to over-mix or it will get tough and be hard rather than crumbly and a pleasure to bite into. Also adding only the bare minimum water is key to reducing the gluten build up. If your crust is too crumbly (short) it probably had too much fat, was over-mixed, or needed more water. Adding the shortening helps reduce this possibility. Do not skip refrigerating the formed pies prior to baking because they can shrink away from the sides and ruin your shape. Ensure all ingredients are very cold, add very little flour when rolling out but I did find I needed to flour my rolling pin and work surface, use parchment or wax paper to roll out if necessary, and keep refrigerated as needed. The dough recipe makes enough for 1 tray of each filling, 6 mini pies and 12 tartelettes.
For the fillings, use your favorite cheeses for the Onion Pie and feel free to add mushrooms and chopped bacon if desired. For the Cheesecake Tartelettes, frozen or fresh berries will work but drain the excess juice and do not bake them. Prepare a graham cracker crust for any leftover cheesecake filling and bake and refrigerate those mini cheesecakes.
Scoring: 10 of 10 = Shortcrust, just the crust itself colored beautifully, no soggy bottoms, and held together very well. 10 of 10 = Caramelized Onion Pies, thought I might be a bit jaded. My family and friends agree they are much better day of, and this should drop them down to a 9 of 10, but I just cannot allow such a demotion. 7 of 10 = Cheesecake Tartelettes, the recipe has been updated to sweeten them. They definitely needed more sugar and possibly just the lemon curd or just shaved chocolate topping.
Food of the Month 