Peanut butter hard biscuits

Dry side:

1 cup - 150g - all purpose flour
2 tbsp - 18g - corn starch
1/2 tsp - 1.5g - baking powder
1/2 tsp - 2g - salt

Wet side:

110g peanut butter
55g honey
20g - 1/3 whole - beaten egg
40g water

Prepare the dry and wet mixes, then make a malleable dough, roll it out between sheets of parchment paper to a 1 cm (3/8" inch) flat disc, cut into small pieces and bake for 18-20 minutes at 300 F.

Macine

Dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
5 tbsp corn starch
1/2 tsp baking powder

Wet stuff:
1 stick butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp cream
1/8 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter in the sugar until uniform, then add rest of the wet ingredients and beat some more until creamy.

Add the dry and wet components and knead until a soft dough is formed.

Cover in plastic and put in the fridge for 1/2 hour.

Turn on the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Spread the dough on a flat surface to a thickness of about 3/8 inch. Divide it into any shape you like. Typically these are made into round cookies with a hole in the middle, but anything works. Roll up any edges and divide until there is no more dough left.

Arrange the pieces on the parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

Enjoy dipping them in coffee!

Spanakopita - Greek Spinach Pie

8-10 sheets of phyllo pastry dough
1 lb spinach, or baby spinach, washed
8 oz feta cheese
8 green onions
1/4 cup dill (*)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves (*) (optional)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 tbsp butter
4 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

(*) approximate amount

Time to make: 1 hr work plus 45 minutes for baking plus 15 minutes cool down.

I use a 9x13 rectangular pyrex pie dish for baking, and it results in a pie about 1 inch thick. If using a smaller pie dish, the pie will be thicker and the baking time should be increased proportionally.

Blanch the spinach in a large pot with a splash of water, covered, over low heat. Should take 5 minutes.Drain them and chop them coarsely. You can save the green broth to use in other dishes.


Chop the green onions and the herbs finely. Put them in a mixing bowl.

Crumble the feta cheese and add it to the bowl. One can use some mozzarella, or some ricotta, or both, to substitute some of the feta. Increase the salt if doing so, as feta is generally saltier than other fresh cheeses.

Add the eggs and the spinach to the bowl, and mix it all well together.

This is a good time to turn on the oven and set to 350 degrees F.

Put the butter in a ramekin and microwave it until melted. Add the olive oil to the same ramekin and mix it well with a pastry brush.

Lightly grease the bottom of the pie dish with butter. Open the phyllo dough box and line the bottom of the pie with one sheet. Brush the sheet, then cover it with another sheet. Lay the sheets so their edges are hanging over the sides of the dish.Repeat until you have 4 or 5 well greased sheets lining the pie dish.

Pour the spinach mix and spread it out evenly. Grate some Parmesan cheese on top. Add salt and pepper if you haven't done so already.

Lay more dough sheets, brushing each one with the butter/oil mixture, until you have a couple of layers on top. Fold in the edges of the bottom sheets, then add another couple layers on top, and try to tuck it all in in a somewhat orderly fashion.

Place it in the middle rack in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, until the top and the edges turn golden.

Pie crust

This makes enough crust to line a 9 inch pie dish with some dough to spare, for decorations, extra rim, and so on.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 stick butter, cold, cut into small chunks
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbsp ice water

The flour can be general purpose white wheat flour, whole wheat, 50/50 white and whole wheat. I've used various combinations and it doesn't seem to matter.

Mix the flour and the salt, then add the butter chunks.

The goal is to incorporate the butter and the flour without melting the butter. The result should be a gritty-looking mix that looks like crumbles.

This can be done by hand, by rubbing the flour and the butter together. Or with two knifes, by scissoring the butter chunks until they are very small. Both of these methods take a long time.

My favorite method is to use an electric mixer (I use a Kitchenaid) with the whisk attachment. Start it slow and slowly increase speed one step at a time until you see little pieces fly out, which means it's going too fast. Reduce speed by one notch and let it go for a few minutes.

Drizzle the ice water over the flour and press it together to make a dough. Place the dough ball over a lightly flour surface, flatten it by hand, then stretch it with a rolling pin. If it sticks too much or seems to fall apart, place it between two sheets of parchment paper and stretch it out that way.

Lay the crust on the pie dish. It's best to put it in the freezer for a while before using it, but it can also be used right away.