I love Katiec's cheesecake, as does all of my family. The thumbprints are actually a Rick Rodgers recipe, given to me by Readinglady. I use my homemade habanero gold in place of the jalapeno jelly. I did find it easier to use a spoon to fill the indentations in the cookies/crackers instead of trying to squeeze the stuff out of a bag. Savory Cheddar and Jalapeno Jelly Cookies from Rick Rodgers Makes about 4 1/2 dozen 8 ounces extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded (about 2 1/2 cups) 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup all-purpose flour 1/3 cup jalapeno jelly, or sub apple butter or chutney Place cheese and butter in a food processor (could be creamed by hand or mixer); add flour and process until the mixture forms a soft dough. Gather up the dough and divide into two flat disks. Wrap in wax paper and freeze until chilled, about 45 minutes. Position two racks in the center and top third of the oven and preheat to 400F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or use nonstick sheets. Using 1 teaspoon dough for each, roll the dough into small balls and place 1 inch apart on the sheets. Bake 5 minutes. Remove from the oven. Using the handle of a wooden spoon or 1/2-inch-thick dowel, poke an indentation in each cookie. Place the jelly in a small plastic bag and force it down into one corner. Snip off the corner of the bag to make a small hole. Pipe the jelly into the indentations. Return to the oven and bake, switching the positions of the sheets from top to bottom halfway through baking, until the tops are very lightly browned, about 10 minutes. (Cookies will continue to crisp as they cool.) Transfer to racks and cool completely. Can be baked up to two days ahead. Store at room temperature in an airtight container and separate layers with wax paper. Annie

I like to fill ravioli with a filling of butternut squash and dress them lightly with some sage and browned butter. You could go the way of the Rueben with corned beef and sauerkraut, or lean toward a Michigan Upper Peninsula pastie with beef, potato and rutabaga. I do have a recipe for venison potstickers, but I'm sure you could sub another meat or poultry. Venison Potstickers Potsticker Filing: 1lb. ground venison 4 c. water 1-1/2 c. shredded or finely sliced cabbage ½ c. finely chopped green onion 1-1/2 Tbs. freshly grated ginger 2 Tbs. oyster sauce 2 Tbs. salt (for softening cabbage) 1 tsp. soy sauce 1 tsp. fish sauce (aka patis) Other Ingredients: 50 wonton wrappers bowl of ½ c. water (used as glue for sealing potstickers) ½ c. canola oil Instructions Combine cabbage, 4 c. water, and salt in medium bowl and let sit for 15-20 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes to make sure all cabbage is softened. In larger bowl, combine all other filling ingredients. Drain and rinse cabbage, and add to meat mixture. Mix in thoroughly. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to hold raw dumplings. Assembling Potstickers: Place about 2 teaspoons of filling in center of wonton wrapper. Dip finger into water bowl, then line two adjacent sides of wrapper with water from finger. Fold the two dry sides of wrapper on top of the two water-lined sides and pinch closed (NOTE: make sure potsticker edge is completely sealed, otherwise the juices may run during cooking and your potstickers may dry out). At this point, your potsticker should look like a pudgy triangle. Fold each corner of the triangle in toward the center of the potsticker, using a little dab of water to ‘glue’ the corners down. Place assembled potsticker on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Cooking Potstickers: Pour about ¼ c. canola oil into the bottom of large sauce pan and bring to medium high heat. When pan is nice and hot and evenly coated, line the bottom of the pan with one layer of potstickers. We were able to fit about ½ of the batch into our pan at a time. Fry potstickers over high heat until the bottoms look golden brown, about 3-5 minutes. Once bottoms of dumplings look nice and crispy, add enough water to submerge the bottom half of the potstickers. Cover pan with lid tilted so that steam can escape. Continue to cook until all water evaporated from pan and you hear the dumplings start to sizzle again, which can take anywhere from 5-10 minutes. Remove from heat and serve with either tongs or a spatula. If you are going to cook the whole batch in one go, place potstickers on foil-lined try (photo below), wipe out the bottom of pan with paper towel to get the crusty bits out, then add remaining ¼ c. of canola oil and start process again. Saving Potstickers: If you’re not going to eat all of the potstickers in one sitting, put the tray of raw dumplings in the freezer overnight. Make sure potstickers are not touching, otherwise they will freeze together. Once they are completely frozen, place them in a large zip-lock bag (or portion into smaller bags) and keep in freezer for up to a month. Dipping Sauce for Venison Potstickers ¼ cup light soy sauce ¾ tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar 1 teaspoon sugar 1 minced garlic clove, or more ½ teaspoon sesame oil ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional) 1 teaspoon green onion ( thinly sliced) Instructions Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Use as dipping sauce. Annie

jerzeegirl, while I'm having some success with the cast iron, it's 10" on the bottom, and we need a wee bit bigger and I tend to mess up the dough getting it into the skillet - I still want a stone! Made another pie last night - way too much mushrooms, sausage, cheese, etc.! DH loved it, I found it far too filling! So you found 2 minutes to be the perfect parbaked crust too?! : - ) Hmmph, and I thought I was the queen of freezing - it had not occurred to me to freeze the crust after parbaking... I'll do that next time - what a time saver! Thank you! I do freeze my raw dough... I let it thaw in the fridge (cold fermentation) - anywhere from 2 to 6 days works well. I let it proof in an oiled bowl in a warm location for 2-4 hours. Then I use this method to stretch, but where he 'pounds' in the middle I don't, I like to just form my crust, then use my balled up fists to rotate it... we like a thin crust and bubbly thicker edge : ) I'll set the dough down 3-4 times to check it, and by then it keeps shape. This is the latest recipe I found that is a-mazing - ann_t'srecipe! I double the recipe, freezing all but one for a pie in a few days. At the bench cutting part is when I wrap to freeze. To all those who contributed to this thread, thank you so much! I used roasted plum tomatoes, added herbs (yes, plllog's marjoram too!), garlic, and just blended to a rough sauce - the sauce was far better! Next time I'll try ann_t's method of good canned tomatoes (must find!). Not cooking the sauce is the key for me - so thank you everyone!!! Lars, wish I had fresh herbs now to use, but next summer I will!

Anything you'd put eggs in for "glue" will work with just whites, or if you're missing the fat, you could add a dab of butter. That would be meatloaf, cassole, lasagna (in the ricotta). Since you're freezing, if you do actually bake you can use an eggwhite instead of milk for glazing bread and similar. Some recipes for things like spiced nuts call for a dip in eggwhite before the spice mix to make it stick. You could use them for the coating in frying or breading, like fried chicken or eggplant for eggplant parm, again, as the glue, though I'd tend to put a whole egg in with a couple of whites, but that's instinct, and I'm not sure why. I think you can also make a custard with eggwhites and cream, though I haven't done it, if you want to make something like a quiche.