Date Orange Meringue Filling Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Line pastry with aluminum foil and a layer of pie weights or dried beans. Bake in the preheated oven until edge of crust is golden, about 10 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and weights; bake about 5 minutes more.
• In a small saucepan, stir together the 3/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup cornstarch, and salt. Mix in the orange juice, lemon juice, and water. Whisk in the egg yolks. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until thick and bubbly, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and orange zest. If desired; stir in diced orange segments. Pour into prepared pie crust, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to cool.
• When pie filling has cooled to room temperature, preheat oven and prepare meringue. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a large glass or metal bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/2 cup sugar and cream of tartar, continuing to beat until stiff peaks form. Lift your beater or whisk straight up: the egg whites should form a sharp peak that holds its shape. Spread over pie, making sure the meringue completely covers the filling and meets the edges of the pie crust.
• Bake in preheated oven until meringue topping is golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Steps:

• Dough: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• To make the filling: Puree the filling ingredients in a food processor until evenly combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Remove and set aside. Clean the processor bowl.
• Put the flour, baking powder, the 1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar, and salt in the bowl of food processor and pulse 3 to 4 times to mix. Add the butter, oil, and milk pulsing until the dough just comes together. Take care not to overwork the dough; it will be slightly wet.
• Remove dough from the processor, and roll into 20 equally sized balls. In the palm of your hand, press and pat each ball of dough into a 2 3/4-inch round. Place a rounded teaspoon of filling in the center of each round and draw the edges up and around the filling. Pinch the dough together to make a sealed ball, and then carefully roll the cookie between your palms to make a smooth round ball. Press gently to flatten the cookie slightly, then place them seamed side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Gently prick the cookies with a fork or a wooden skewer in a decorative pattern taking care not to pierce the dough to the filling.
• Bake the cookies until firm and slightly puffed, and the tops are pale but the bottoms are just beginning to turn slightly golden, about 25 to 30 minutes. Dust generously with confectioners' sugar, cool and dust again.
• Apricot Golden Raisin Nut Filling:
• Puree in a food processor until evenly combined.
• Quince-Walnut Filling:
• Puree in a food processor until evenly combined.

Steps:

• Beat together butter, granulated sugar, egg yolks and vanilla.
• Add flour and mix to form a thick batter. Press in a greased 9"x7" pan.
• Measure water, dates, brown sugar in over dates in medium saucepan and cook till thickened. Spread over base in pan.
• Beat egg whites until frothy, slowly add brown sugar and beat to stiff peak stage. Spread meringue over dates.
• Bake in a 350* oven for 30 minutes.

Steps:

• In a food processor blend together all filling ingredients except water until an almost smooth, jamlike consistency. If date mixture is very dry blend in water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Filling may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200°F.
• In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy. With the mixer on high speed, beat in salt; then gradually add sugar, about a tableshppon at a time, beating well after each addition, until whites fold stiff, glossy peaks.
• Add vanilla and beat for 1 minute. Fold in dates and walnuts.
• Drop meringue mixture by rounded teaspoonfulls onto well-greased cooking sheets, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Bake in a 200°F oven for 1 hour or until outside is dry and set; cookies should not turn brown.
• Let cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to racks and let cool completely. Store airtight.

Steps:

• Prepare the crust: On a lightly floured surface, and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll pie dough into a 12-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Transfer to a 9-inch pie pan (not deep dish); fold the edges over and crimp them together. Prick crust all over with a fork and chill in freezer for 30 minutes until frozen. (Cover with plastic if freezing for longer than a few hours. Well wrapped, it will last in the freezer for up to a month.)
• Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line chilled crust with foil, fill with pie weights or dried rice, then bake for 12 minutes. Remove foil, lower oven temperature to 350 degrees, and bake until pale golden, 10 to 16 minutes longer. Transfer to a rack to cool while you prepare the filling. (Leave the oven on if baking the pie immediately.)
• In a heavy saucepan, whisk together egg yolks, egg and sugar. Stir in the orange and lemon juices, zest and salt. Add pieces of butter and cook, whisking constantly, over medium-low heat until the mixture thickens enough to coat a spoon, about 7 to 9 minutes. An instant-read thermometer should register 180 degrees. Inspect the filling: If you think there are any coagulated bits of egg, strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
• Pour filling into pie crust and return to the oven to bake until filling is set (it should jiggle only slightly in the center), about 18 to 40 minutes. (Pies prepared in glass and ceramic dishes can take much longer to bake than those prepared in metal dishes. Don't give up: The curd will eventually set.) Remove pie from oven and increase oven temperature to 400 degrees for baking the meringue.
• As the filling bakes, make the meringue: Fill a medium pot with 1 inch of water and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Using a large metal bowl, whisk together egg whites, sugar, cream of tartar and salt. Set the bowl with the egg white mixture into the pot above the water, and whisk constantly by hand until sugar dissolves and mixture is warm (160 degrees on an instant thermometer) and has thickened and lightened in color, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat.
• Using an electric mixer, beat on medium-low speed and gradually increase speed to high, until mixture is thick, fluffy and stiff peaks form, about 5 to 8 minutes. Be careful not to overbeat.
• Spread the meringue over the hot filling, making sure it meets the edges of the crust. Using a knife or spatula, swirl in a design if you like, and bake until lightly browned, about 8 to 12 minutes.
• Allow to cool completely and top with more orange zest before serving.

Steps:

• Beat the egg whites with salt and cream of tartar until soft peaks form, beating in sugar gradually.
• Stir in orange zest, dates and walnuts.
• Roll out coffeecake yeast dough to a long oblong.
• Spread with butter all over.
• Spread with filling mixture.
• Roll the dough up into a scroll to enclose filling. Bring ends together and pinch to seal.
• Bake as dough directions indicate, usually around 25 minutes.