Cooking lesson 101

[Karen]

Well, I tried an experiment tonight - took the grands biscuit dough, and chopped up an apple, mixed with some cinnamon and sugar. On one, I just flattened out the biscuit dough, and put the apple mixture in the center, though I did crimp the edges some. The others I put one flattened biscuit on the bottom, stuff in the middle, and another on top.

Verdict: failure for the two-biscuit version, as the dough in the center didn't cook, even after 16 minutes. The outsides were done, but not the middle. Scraped the apple out and ate that, and the edges, threw out the rest.

The one that I didn't put a "lid" on worked okay, but the edges didn't stay "crimped" - when I pulled them out of the oven, I put three thin slices of sharp cheddar on top, and it melted nicely onto the apples. That one was yummy, but not really worth doing again, next time I want an apple tart, I'll make a real one, but the biscuit dough was about to expire ... and it was worth a shot!

[RICHARD]

Well, I tried an experiment tonight - took the grands biscuit dough, and chopped up an apple, mixed with some cinnamon and sugar. On one, I just flattened out the biscuit dough, and put the apple mixture in the center, though I did crimp the edges some. The others I put one flattened biscuit on the bottom, stuff in the middle, and another on top.

Verdict: failure for the two-biscuit version, as the dough in the center didn't cook, even after 16 minutes. The outsides were done, but not the middle. Scraped the apple out and ate that, and the edges, threw out the rest.

The one that I didn't put a "lid" on worked okay, but the edges didn't stay "crimped" - when I pulled them out of the oven, I put three thin slices of sharp cheddar on top, and it melted nicely onto the apples. That one was yummy, but not really worth doing again, next time I want an apple tart, I'll make a real one, but the biscuit dough was about to expire ... and it was worth a shot!

Could you possibly pre-cook the dough halfway? Then put the topping/filling on?

I have a pizza stone that, when pre heated, just takes a few minutes to make dough crispy, I 've done breads and stuff on it. you just have to watch the cooking times.They are way shorter than the standard.

[Karen]

I think it was just the wrong kind of dough for this application. A thinner dough, or a pie crust type dough, would have worked much better. It ended up pretty darned sticky, too - next time I'll butter the "pan" - just foil on a cookie sheet this time. I'd still be likely chipping it off a pizza stone!

I bet if I stuck the biscuit dough in like a muffin tin or custard cup it would work, too - but the apples cooking inside the "pocket" helped steam the dough in the middle, rather than letting it bake. I think that's why the one that kinda ended up pizza-like cooked fine, but the others didn't.