kateq's Reviews
6 recipe(s) reviewed. Showing 1 to 6Sort by: Title 
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The Pie and Pastry Bible
By Rose Levy Beranbaum
Scribner - 1998
Basic Flaky Pie Crust : page 22
This is excellent--comes together in seconds in the food processor, rolls out with no trouble, bakes beautifully and tastes great. It's wonderful all-purpose crust.
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Blackberry Pie : page 115
I used a combination of raspberries, strawberries and blackberries, frozen, and found that 4 cups really wasn't enough to fill a 9" pie crust. I agree that it wasn't quite sweet enough--I added about 1/4 cup more sugar. I baked this with the basic butter crust and used her streusel topping. It was an excellent pie.
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Flaky Cream Cheese Pie Crust : page 29
The results are delicious but I find the instructions too fussy--I had fabulous results grating cold butter and cream cheese into the flour and mixing by hand. I added lemon juice instead of vinegar. I skipped the whole "kneading in a bag" deal and mixed the ice water by hand and spatula till it came together and then flattened it onto plastic wrap and chilled it. I found it very easy to roll out on cold, well floured marble. The dough held up beautifully during par baking and the crimping was easy and looked great at the finish. Similarly, the two-crust pie looked so pretty and tasted so good. I love this crust...
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Graham Cracker Crumb Crust : page 66
As with many of her recipes, this is not quite sweet enough--it needs just a tad more sugar. I've also found that a combination of white and brown sugar works very well. Also it pays to be a bit generous with the butter. The tip about chilling and then making ridge around the rim of the pie is very helpful.
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Peanut Butter Mousse : page 317
This is very good and very easy, but needs a tad more sweetness. Part of the problem could be that I used an organic peanut butter without the additives contained in a spread like Jif (recommended in the recipe)--but I'd much prefer to add a but more sweetness and avoid the additives. The amount is just right to fill a nine inch tart or pie pan.
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Pumpkin Filling : page 200
This is outstanding pumpkin custard. I used it to fill two tarts which were eaten by quite a number of very happy people. The spicing is just right; the texture is absolutely lovely and it is really quite easy. Such a nice change from the evaporated milk/gelatin/tinned mix variations so often served at Thanksgiving. It should be noted that (in the US at least) cans of pumpkin puree are no longer 15 ounces. I use the large 28 ounce cans and always seem to have small bits left over in the freezer or the fridge.
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