Lorna Doones okay for cookie-crumb pie crust?

[Normandie]

I had bought some gingersnaps to make a crust for a blueberry tart for tomorrow, but they taste almost...burnt. (Have to test the ingredients, ya know.) I have a package of Lorna Doones in the pantry. Love their taste, but are they too soft/buttery/greasy to hold together in a crumb crust? I would blind bake it...unless you guys tell me not to do that :-D.

[SaraASR]

DO IT... and let me know how it is. That sounds amazing.

[Normandie]

Yep; I'm going to try it, Sara. If it works, the LDs are delicate and buttery enough to go really nice with wild blueberries--I think. :-O

Give you a report when I can. TY for the encouragement. :-)

[goodhealthgourmet]

be sure to pulse them gently as opposed to pulverizing them on a steady setting in the FP, that should help you avoid a greasy, gummy mess. if they still get too soft/mushy when you grind them, grind some oats/oatmeal as well, and fold it in. don't stress - it'll be great!

[Normandie]

I don't have an FP, ghg. I usually use a baggie and rolling pin, although LDs are so soft, anyway, I could probably just mash them in a bowl. That's a great idea re the oatmeal, if I find the LD mixture consistency needs a little help. Panko might work, too, though, for that matter--just a little mixed in? I'm only going to add a second type crumb if the LD solo looks like it's in trouble. Thank you for the guidance!

[goodhealthgourmet]

if you have a coffee grinder you can use that to buzz them into finer crumbs after you smash them with the rolling pin :)

[Normandie]

Ooh. I have two coffee grinders. Usually I do okay manually, but that's a great idea, if my natural agressions plus the rolling pin become tedious tonight. ;-)

I saw the olther day that grinding a piece of bread in your coffee grinder/spice grinder is a good way to rid it of the remains of whatever you ground last before grinding a different substance. Maybe it was Alton Brown who said it? Not sure.

[goodhealthgourmet]

that's an old trick - it does work well. unfortunately it's no longer a viable option in my gluten-free kitchen. boo.

good luck with the crust, and post back with a report. oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!

[Normandie]

<<that's an old trick>>

Hah! Show off! I have an excuse--er, reason--for not knowing that. I'm more of a cook than a baker. Or anyway that's my story.

I certainly will update you on the tart crust after the smoke clears (figuratively speaking...I hope). In the meantime, here's an interim report on the chocolate chip cookie bars, since you're so into technology: As of the Fourth Quarter, 2009, electric mixer manufacturers still have not found the means to prevent gobs of cookie dough from flying twenty feet into three different rooms when the operator forgets to use the "off" control before removing the beaters from the mixture.

I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving, too--and a much less messy one than mine. :-)

[goodhealthgourmet]

LMAO! if i was gonna show off, i'd choose something flashier/more impressive than that ;) and i *really* don't like to laugh at other people's expense, but i couldn't help it with the visual i just got of your flying cookie dough...but look at it this way, it would have been a lot messier if you had been making something like red velvet cake!

[Normandie]

<< if i was gonna show off, i'd choose something flashier/more impressive than that ;) >>

Remember. You're talking to a woman whose idea of state-of-the-art technology is the wall against which she throws tenderloins to turn them into scallopine. So I thought it was pretty impressive :-).

Oh my word, yes. Thank heavens it wasn't red velvet cake--or egads!--pomegranate juice. It's all cleaned up, though. Or at least it will be once the Goldie finishes licking off that last big blob that landed on her sister's ear.

Hot off the wires! Houston, we have lift-off! Well, really what we have is a Lorna Doone tart crust, just out of the oven from its partial baking. So far, no spontaneous combustion. That's something at least. We're just waiting for it to cool down a bit before we assemble the filling. ("We" being the royal we, of course, since we fool is the only one up, cooking, in this household.)

[goodhealthgourmet]

hooray! happy chowing :)

[Cherylptw]

Lorna Doones are perfect for a crust; after all, it's a shortbread and is an open pallet for pies...one of my fav cookies....

[Normandie]

Mine, too, Cheryl. I really don't like storebought cookies very much, because they seem dry to me. But Lorna Doones....yum. Pecan Sandies, too. I think I like them both because they have the same kind of texture (sort of).

I often make shortbread crusts for pies and tarts, but I didn't know if those funny substances they use to make manufactured cookies would change their behavior. Plus there's always the issue that blueberry pies have so much moisture. But if it works, should be delicious.

[Normandie]

Well, folks...thanks you all so much for your help as we came down to the wire, but in the "Just One of Those Things" category, in the end I deemed the pie to be--well, to use the technical term, I'd say it was "yuck!". So in the end I cranked out an emergency substitute and left the LD-blueberry pie at home.

I think the LD crust is still workable, and should be deliciously, as we had discussed, when done right. Next time I'll try NOT partially baking the shell before filling it. Even though the blueberry filling did not have to cook very long, by the time it was done the pre-baked crust had gone past the "slightly ovedone" stage to that one which presents an unpleasant burnt aroma. I was so concerned about the smell of it, that I borrowed one of Paula Deen's tricks, pushed some of the filling aside, tried a small enough piece of the crust so that I could push the filling back over it, were the crust acceptable. But it wasn't. It also taste burnt.

And the filling didn't taste right to me, either. That I cannot figure out. The blueberries tasted great all by themselves and in other goodies. And I didn't do anything especially wierd to the filling. The only thing I can thing of is that I used a recipe that called for cornstarch in the filling, versus flour, which is what I almost *always* use to thicken up pie juices. Does cornstarch get "old"? It tasted truly unpleasantly flat, and no matter what I thought of to "doctor it up", that unpleasant "flat" quality remained.

But, again, thank you all so much for stopping to help me at such a busy time, and I'm not giving up on the LDs.

[goodhealthgourmet]

"Does cornstarch get "old"?"
~~~~~
depends how it's stored. it's actually one of the most shelf-stable baking ingredients there is, *if* it's kept tightly sealed and *dry* - under the right conditions one box will pretty much last you forever. but if any moisture gets in there you can end up with bacterial growth and it'll go off.

having said that, even if your cornstarch was fresh/fine, it *does* have a distinct flavor that may not appeal to you.

[Normandie]

As I said, I don't use it that much, but I do use it now and then to make *light* chicken-stock-based sauces for--well, I'll call them "Chinese-inspired stir fries". They're not really authentic. I don't even taste it in those.

Well, this will just be one of life's little mysteries, I guess. Next time, I'll stick to using flour as my thickener, since that works out for me in pies. TY for the info, ghg.

[goodhealthgourmet]

my guess is that the stronger flavors in your stir-fries help mask the cornstarch. anyway, lesson learned :)