- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

2. Combine all ingredients. Stir together with fork. Pat mixture into bottom and up the sides of the pan. Poke holes in bottom and side of crust.

3. Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light brown. Use as directed in pie recipe.


Adapted from: All Recipe's Easy Pie Crust
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Yield: 4 swans

Ingredients
- 1 quantity choux pastry (see 12/19/08)
- 1 beaten egg, for glazing
- fresh berried to garnish
- icing sugar to dust

Chantilly Cream
- 1 3/4 cup cream, for whipping, chilled
- 1/2 cup icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to moderate 350 F. Spoon the choux pastry into a piping bag fitted with a large plain nozzle. Pipe thick oval balls, about the size of an egg, onto the buttered baking tray (these will be the bodies of the swans). Brush the piped mixture very lightly with the beaten egg. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the pastry is well coloured. Remove the choux from the baking tray and cool on a wire rack.

2. Using a piping bag fitted with a 5 mm round plain nozzle, pipe large question marks (minus the dots) onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (these will be the necks of the swans). Weigh down the corners of the paper or stick them down with a little of the dough. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry is well coloured. Make sure that they are dry or they will not hold up when the swans are assembled. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

3. To make the Chantilly cream, pour the cream into a bowl and add the icing sugar and vanilla. Using a balloon whisk or electric beaters, whip the cream until it just forms soft peaks, which hold as the whisk is lifted from the bowl.

4. Cut the top third off the tops of the bodies and scrape out any uncooked pastry from inside. Cut the tops diagonally to form two triangles. Spoon the Chantilly cream into a piping bag with a medium star nozzle and fill the bodies. Place a triangle of pastry on each side to form the wings and push the necks into one end of the bodies. Fill with the berries and dust with shifted icing sugar.

Notes: I made these at the cottage. They were originally for boxing day dinner, but I did not have enough time to make enough. I used a regular glass as a measuring cup and a big cooking pot for the bowl.

Adapted from: Le Cordon Bleu, Home Collections: Tarts and Pastries Read more...

Ingredients
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup flour
- 3.5 tablespoon oil
- pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons caster sugar
- 2 eggs

Directions:

1. Sift the flour onto a clean sheet of greaseproof paper. Place the water, butter , salt and sugar in a pan. Heat until the butter and water come to a boil. Remove from the heat and add the flour all at once.

2. Mix well using a wooden spoon. Return to the heat and mix until a smooth ball forms and the dough leaves the sides of the pan.

3. Removes from the heat and place the dough in a bowl. Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl. Using a wooden spoon or electric beaters, add the eggs to the dough a little at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. The mixture is ready to use when it is smooth, thick and glossy.

5. Preheat the oven to moderate 350 F.

6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the pastry is well coloured. Remove the choux from the baking tray and cool on a wire rack.

Notes: We spooned the pastry onto tray. Made at the cottage and used with chantilly cream and chocolate sauce. This was supposed to be a practice run to prepare for dessert on boxing day.

Adapted from: Le Cordon Bleu, Home Collections: Tarts and Pastries
Read more...