Pie Crust No. 1

Basic pie crust. Simple, yet so varied. There are three basic pie crust recipes. Basic Pie Crust No. 1 with Crisco, that I tried today. Basic Pie Crust No. 2 with oil and Basic Pie Crust No. 3 with butter and cream cheese. The flour and fat ratios vary but by today's Crisco version, I felt pretty confident in my crust making skills.

That, and that I had decided to fill it with guayaba and queso (guava and cream cheese), so I was pretty excited to get to baking.




I've never been a big sweets fan. Give me a croqueta over a cupcake any day.

But these pie crusts, and the pies that come with it, have been quite the treat. Easy, delicious and perfect vehicles for whatever you'd like to put inside - sweet or savory.



A giant pastelito de guayaba y queso, as one reader called it. Yes. Yes indeed.

Cangrejitos de Jamón - Ham Pastelitos

Hitting my hundredth recipe is quite a landmark. Coming across this one was a nice surprise. You really are making ham pastelitos in your kitchen with this. Really.

When I saw I had to make my own dough, I shuddered, but kept on. Good thing - this uses the easiest dough recipe I've made to date - Receta Basica No. 3. It has cream cheese in the dough. Deliciousness.

I had to grind up my super Cuban staple, ham cubes, and place it by the spoonful atop triangles of the deliciousness dough. Then you roll up the triangles and get cangrejitos (little crabbies).

I didn't realize you needed to brush with egg wash before I started (I always have ham cubes, I never have eggs) so the crabbies came out dull, but they were still wonderful.

You get a good number of Cangrejitos from the recipe so if you're daring and want to have a kiddie party, bake these up and you're a homemade Cuban bakery.