Author Notes
One rainy morning, my daughter had an idea to make Mrs. Mouseling's Cheddar Cheese Pies from Angelina Ballerina book. We didn't have a recipe, so had to improvise. This resulted in the most addictive appetizer in the literary world! —Eat Already!
Ingredients
- Pie Shells
-
2 cups
all-purpose flour
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1/2 teaspoon
salt
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1/2 cup
stick cold unsalted butter (1 stick)
-
1/4 cup
ice cold water, plus some more
- Filling
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3
large eggs
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1 cup
half and half or thin cream
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1 tablespoon
fresh thyme leaves, coarsely chopped
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3-4 ounces
Smoked Cheddar or another distinctively flavored cheese
Directions
-
Mix flour with salt and dump out on a chopping board
Using a pastry cutter or a knife, cut in the cold butter until pea-size crumbs form
-
Make an indentation in the middle of the crumb pile
Pour about 1/4 cup ice cold water in and using the knife or your hands, mix it in to form the dough. Do not knead the dough, we are trying to preserve the crumbliness, not to achieve elasticity. Keep adding cold water in very small quantities and pat the dough together, just until it forms a ball without falling apart.
-
Flatten the dough ball into a disk, cover with plastic and chill for 1 hour.
-
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Remove the dough from the fridge, roll it out on a board into a 1/4? (or slightly thinner) crust.
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Using a 4? cutter or a glass with an similar size rim, cut out 12 circles. I find that you first can cut out about 9 circles, then re-roll the dough scraps quickly and cut more.
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Using a medium muffin tin (12 slots) turned upside down crown each muffin slot with a circle of dough, molding the dough around the slots to form an upside down basket.
Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the little baskets are pale golden. Let cool on rack.
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Arrange the pie shells, now properly turned bottom down, on a baking sheet, or set them into the muffin slots
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Prepare the filling by whisking the eggs with cream until uniform and smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and stir carefully.
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Pour the filling into the pie shells, dividing it as evenly as possible, and bake for about 30-40 minutes, or until the custard is set in the middle. The custard may puff up and then fall, which is completely normal in the literary world.
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