Kathys Brown Sugar Cheese Pie Recipes

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Generously grease 9-inch glass pie plate with shortening.
• In large bowl, stir together cookie mix and 1/2 cup softened butter; mix with pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Press 2 1/2 cups of the crumbly mixture in bottom and up side of pie plate. Add pecans and 1 tablespoon melted butter to remaining crumbly mixture; toss to combine, and set aside.
• In medium bowl, beat cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add granulated sugar and flour; blend well. Add egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla; beat until smooth.
• Spread cream cheese mixture in cookie crust. Top with remaining crumbly pecan mixture. Bake 28 to 33 minutes or until top of pie is light golden brown. Cool 1 hour; refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving. One hour before serving, make Brown Sugar Sauce.
• To make sauce: In 1 1/2-quart saucepan, melt 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar; cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low; carefully stir in whipping cream and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Return heat to medium; heat to simmering. Cook 1 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until mixture is slightly thickened. Cool 45 minutes before serving. Sauce should still be pourable. Using sharp knife, cut pie, and serve drizzled with sauce.

Steps:

• For the cornmeal pie dough crust: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, and salt together to combine.
• Add the cubes of butter, tossing them through the flour until each piece is well coated. Cut the butter into the flour by pressing the pieces between your fingers, flattening them into big shards. As you work, continue to toss the butter through the flour, recoating the shingled pieces. If you have warm hands, you may want to use a pastry cutter (sometimes I do a few passes with pastry cutter, then toss the mixture with my hands before continuing). Take care to ensure that all the cubes of butter are fully coated in flour as you work.
• For a flaky crust, continue cutting the butter into the flour just until the pieces of butter are about the size of walnut halves. Or, for a mealy crust, work the mixture together until the pieces of butter are about the size of peas.
• Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the ice water to the well. (Different types, or even brands, of flour hydrate differently, so it is difficult to give a precise amount that will work every time; Consider the base amount given as a solid jumping-off point, knowing that you will almost always need to add more.) Using your hands, toss the flour with the water to start to mix the two together (this begins to combine them without creating too much gluten). As the flour begins to hydrate, you can switch to more of a kneading motion -- but don't overdo it, or the dough will be tough. Then add more water, about 1 tablespoon (15 grams) at a time, until the dough is properly hydrated. It should be uniformly combined and hold together easily, but it shouldn't look totally smooth. Dough that is too dry may have a sort of "dusty" appearance, or pockets of unhydrated flour; it will not hold together and will look crumbly. Dough that is too wet will feel sticky or tacky to the touch, and it is often smoother and/or lighter in color than a properly hydrated dough.
• Form the dough into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.
• Lightly dust your work surface with flour. I use about a handful of flour to dust the surface and the dough, and I often don't need to use any more during rolling. Use just enough flour to prevent the dough from sticking, as using too much can make the dough tough or dry.
• Begin to roll out the dough by positioning the rolling pin in the center of the dough, then applying gentle pressure and pushing it away from you. Return the pin to the center and do the same, this time bringing the pin towards you. Although this method may feel a bit awkward at first, it's useful for learning how to apply gentle, even pressure to the dough rather than just pressing down while rolling the pin back and forth, which can often make the crust too thin at the edges and thicker in the center.
• Rotate the dough frequently as you work, or even flip it over. That will help keep the dough from sticking and also allow you to feel the thickness to determine if there are thicker areas you haven't hit evenly with your pin yet. As the dough round (or rectangle) gets bigger, use the pin to help you move it around -- roll it up around the pin, then unfurl it in a slightly different spot. Rather than focusing on the diameter of the rolled- out dough, focus on the thickness. When the dough is rolled out evenly to the correct thickness (1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 to 6 mm)), it should be the correct size and about 1 inch wider than the pie plate. Of course, you can always use your pie pan as a guide while you roll, placing it lightly on top of the dough to help see when you're getting close.
• Transfer the dough to the pie plate. To use the rolling pin to transfer the dough, place it at the end of the dough farthest from you, wrap the edge of the dough up around the pin, and roll the pin toward you, wrapping the dough around the pin. Position the far edge of the dough to the far edge of a 9-inch pie plate and gently unfurl it into the plate. Then lift up the dough gently at the edges and gently push it into the base of the pie plate.
• Once you've lined your pie plate with dough, trim away any excess dough, ideally ending up with 1/2 inch (1 cm) of excess dough all the way around the edges. I like to use scissors for this task -- they make it easy to cut cleanly. Then tuck the excess dough under itself so the edges of the crust are flush with the outer rim of the pie plate. Press lightly to seal the dough all around. This technique serves to give you thicker dough around the edges of the pie, which makes it easier to crimp, and this final folded effect at the edges makes the edges of the crust look (and taste!) particularly flaky when you slice it.
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the pie plate lined with dough until chilled, 15 minutes to 1 hour if time allows.
• Dock the bottom of your crimped and well-chilled pie crust all over with a fork.
• Cut a square of parchment paper that is slightly larger than the pie plate. Place it on top of the pie shell and fill with pie weights (make sure you use enough weights to come up to the inner rim of the pie plate). The crust is now ready to be parbaked.
• Parbake the crust: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) with a rack in the lower third of the oven, preferably with a baking steel or stone on it. Place your docked/weighted crust on the rack and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until the edges appear set and are just starting to lightly brown. Remove the pie from the oven and use the parchment paper to lift the weights out of the pie shell. Return the crust to the oven and bake until the bottom appears set, 2 to 3 minutes more.
• To make the egg wash, whisk the egg and cool water together to combine.
• As soon as the pie crust comes out of the oven from parbaking, brush the crimped edges of the dough with a thin layer of the egg wash to form a sort of "seal" on the base of the dough.
• Let the crust cool completely before filling.
• For the Brown Sugar Chess Pie: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) with a rack in the lower third (preferably with a baking steel or stone on it).
• In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar and cornmeal together to combine. Add the eggs and egg yolks and whisk until the color has lightened noticeably, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the milk, melted butter, vanilla, and salt and whisk until well combined.
• Place the parbaked pie crust on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pour the filling into the crust. Transfer to the oven and bake until the crust is deeply golden and the custard is set around the outside edges but is still slightly jiggly in the center, 35 to 40 minutes.
• Cool the pie completely, then chill for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving. Serve topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and some kind of candied nuts, if desired.

Steps:

• Put the raspberries, lemon juice and 1/3 cup of the granulated sugar in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until the berries are soft and the liquid has thickened, about 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.
• Combine the ricotta cheese, cream cheese, vanilla and remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a bowl and stir until smooth.
• Whisk together the egg and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl for the egg wash; set aside. In a separate small bowl, combine the sanding sugar with the cinnamon; set aside.
• Fill a Dutch oven or deep fryer with the oil and heat to 325 degrees F.
• Dust a work surface with flour, roll half of the pie dough to 1/4-inch thickness and then cut out five 5-inch circles. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of the ricotta-cream cheese mixture onto one side of each circle, leaving about a 1-inch space from the edge. Top with a heaping teaspoon of the raspberry mixture, then brush the bottom edge of each pie with the egg wash and fold over to make a half-moon. Use a fork to press around the edges. Repeat with the remaining dough, filling and egg wash.
• Working in batches, fry the pies until golden and crisp, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
• In a food processor, add the flour, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is coated with flour and is still in chunks, 3 to 4 times. Slowly pulse in the water until the dough holds together when squeezed between your fingers.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, divide into 2 equal parts, shape each into a disk and wrap with plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Combine brown sugar and flour in a mixing bowl. Mix in melted butter. Add evaporated milk, eggs, and vanilla extract; stir well. Pour into the pie shell.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue to bake until center is soft but not jiggly, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.