Blueberry Cream Cheese Mini Pies

INGREDIENTS 


Streusel
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1/4 cup cold butter or margarine Blueberry Filling
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup water
4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Cream Cheese Filling
1 package (8 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar 1 egg
Crust
1 can (16.3 oz) Pillsbury® Grands!® Flaky Layers refrigerated biscuits

DIRECTIONS
1 Heat oven to 350°F. In medium bowl, mix flour, 1/4 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon peel. Cut in butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Set aside.

2 In 2-quart saucepan, mix 3/4 cup sugar and the cornstarch. Gradually stir in water. Cook and stir over medium heat about 10 minutes or until thickened. Add 1 1/2 cups of the blueberries. Reduce heat to low. Cover; cook about 10 minutes or until mixture returns to a boil. Stir in 1 teaspoon lemon peel and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Add remaining blueberries; stir gently. Set aside.

3 In small bowl, beat cream cheese filling ingredients until smooth; set aside.

4 Separate dough into 8 biscuits. Split each biscuit in half to make 16 rounds. With floured fingers, flatten each to form 4-inch round. Press 1 biscuit round into each of 16 ungreased regular-size muffin cups. Spoon 1 tablespoon cream cheese filling and 2 tablespoons blueberry filling into each biscuit-lined cup. Sprinkle each with about 1 tablespoon streusel (cups will be full).

5 Bake 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups to cooling rack. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Source: Pillsbury.com

Blackberry Apple Pie

Old-Fashioned Sweet Shortcrust Pastry, recipe follows
1/4 cup butter, plus extra for greasing
1/3 cup raw sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
2 large Bramley or McIntosh apples, cored, peeled and each cut into 16 wedges
4 Cox's, Empire or Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and each cut into 8 wedges
1 heaping tablespoon chopped ginger, in syrup
5 ounces blackberries
1 large free-range or organic egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 1/2 cups organic all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons good-quality cold butter, cut into small cubes
1 lemon, zested
2 large free-range or organic eggs, beaten
Splash milk
All-purpose flour, for dusting

First, make your pastry dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and rest it in the refrigerator for at least half an hour. Then preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the butter and sugar into a saucepan and, when the butter has melted, add the apples, ginger and a tablespoon of the ginger syrup. Slowly cook for 15 minutes with a lid on, then add the blackberries, stir and cook for 5 more minutes with the lid off.

Meanwhile, remove your pastry from the refrigerator. Dust your work surface with flour, cut the pastry in half and, using a floured rolling pin, roll 1 of the pieces out until it's just under 1/2-inch thick or looks as if it will cover a shallow 10-inch pie dish. (Rolling the dough between 2 layers of waxed paper will also stop it sticking to your rolling pin.) Butter the shallow 10-inch pie dish and line with the pastry, trimming off any excess around the edges using a sharp knife.

Tip the cooled apples and blackberries into a sieve, reserving all the juices, then put the fruit into the lined pie dish so you have a mound in the middle. Spoon over half the reserved juices, (if desired use all the juice). Brush the edge of the pastry with beaten egg. Roll out the second piece of pastry, just as you did the first, and lay it over the top of the pie. Trim the edges as before and crimp them together with your fingers. Brush the top of the pie with the rest of the beaten egg, sprinkle generously with sugar and the cinnamon, and make a couple of slashes in the top of the pastry.

Place the pie on a baking tray and then put it directly on the bottom of the preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, until golden brown and crisp. To serve, slice the pie into portions and serve with a generous dollop of custard.

Old-Fashioned Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
Sift the flour from a height onto a clean work surface and sift the icing sugar over the top.
Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture. This is the point where you can spike the mixture with interesting flavors, so mix in your lemon zest.
Add the eggs and milk to the mixture and gently work it together until you have a ball of dough. Flour it lightly. Don't work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top. Pat it into a flat round, flour it lightly, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator to rest for at least half an hour.

Source: jaimeoliver.com

Berry Pancake Puff

Berry Topping:
3 cups (any combination) fresh berries, such as raspberries, blueberries, blackberries or hulled sliced strawberries
1/3 cup orange marmalade

Pancake:
3 tablespoons butter melted, divided
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons
powder sugar

Preheat over to 450° F. For berry topping, gently stir together berries and marmalade; set aside. For pancake, use a pastry brush to coat a deep dish baker with butter.

In a Classic bowl, combine milk, eggs and remaining 2 tablespoons butter whisk. Slowly whisk in combined flour and salt until egg mixture is smooth. Pour batter into baker.

Bake 13 minutes. Reduce over temperature to 350° F. and continue baking 15-17 minutes or until sides are crisp and golden brown. Remove pancake from oven; immediately sprinkle with powdered sugar. Fill center with berry topping.

Cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Source: The Pampered Chef