Cook's Country

-Today on "Cook's Country," Christie and Bridget reveal the secrets to perfect Double-Crust Chicken Pot Pie.

Jack challenges Julia to a tasting of peanut butter.

And Ashley makes Julia a classic version of cowboy cookies.

That's all right here on "Cook's Country."

-Pot pies date all the way back to the fifth century, B.C., when the Greeks were cooking Artocreas.

Now, that's a dish of meat baked in an open pastry round.

-300 years later, the Romans added a top crust and things got a little weird.

They baked everything between two crusts, including live birds.

-Wow.

Okay, the pot pies that landed in America in the 1700s were a bit more utilitarian.

They were seen more as a means to use up leftovers.

-Until the 20th century when frozen dinners became popular.

And by 1955, Americans were buying 150 million pounds of frozen meat pot pies a year.

-Boy, that's a lot, but nothing, absolutely nothing can beat scratch cooking, so Christie's gonna show us how to build a Double-Crust Chicken Pot Pie from the bottom up.

Let's go inside.

Now, when I say "scratch cooking," that doesn't mean that every single component of the recipe has to be homemade, and I think a wise cook always should pick their battles.

Speaking of wise cooks, I've got Christie here.

She's going to show us this amazing Double-Crust Chicken Pot Pie.

-We are making a homemade pie.

-Right.

-Now, we're not using leftovers, but we are going to use one ingredient that's going to save us a lot of time and no one will be the wiser.

-A frozen pot pie.

[ Both laugh ] -Never.

-Never, never.

-So, we'll start with the crust.

-Okay.

-I have 1/2 cup of sour cream that's chilled.

And I'm adding 1 large egg that I've also beaten.

It's going to add some great flavor, and it makes it really easy to roll out this crust.

So now that that's done, we can start with the flour.

I have 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour in here, and I'm adding 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt.

We'll just blend this for about 3 seconds just to get everything mixed together.

-Okay.

-Okay.

Now I have 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, I've cut this into half-inch pieces and chilled it so it's nice and firm before we start.

-Alright.

-Now, I'll pulse this about 10 pulses just to get the butter broken down, so it's about pea-size pieces.

-Okay.

-Okay.

Like I said, this is going to be a tender crust rather than a flaky crust, so the size of the butter doesn't matter quite as much.

Now, I'm just gonna add half of this sour cream mixture to the mixer bowl.

Now I'll pulse this about five times just to get everything sort of mixed together.

Now I'm just gonna add the rest of it.

So we'll go another 10 pulses to make sure that this is all combined.

-Okay.

-Now, the sour cream's going to help make everything easy to roll out, but it's also adding a nice tangy flavor.

Okay, so you can see it's starting to come together.

I don't want to keep pulsing this in the food processor, so I'll just take it out and knead it together a little bit.

-Okay.

-I'm just going to lightly flour my workspace.

You definitely have some wetter bits.

-Sure.

-So we'll just bring this all together so I can just knead it a little bit.

I'm not kneading like it's bread, but I just want to make sure that it's all -- -Cohesive.

-Cohesive.

Alright, so that looks pretty cohesive.

And now I'll just use my bench scraper, 'cause this is a double-crust pie.

So we'll just split it right down the middle, and I'll shape these into discs.

It's a little tacky, but it's not sticky.

And you can see it's not sticking to the counter at all.

I don't want to mess around with it too much, but if you have a nice, round shape now it makes it easier later.

Okay.

So I have some plastic wrap down here.

This will hydrate further when we put it in the refrigerator.

So now I'll just chill this for at least an hour.

You can put this in the refrigerator and make it up to two days ahead... -Great.

-...or you can freeze it for up to two months.

So, our dough has been properly chilled for about an hour.

I let it sit out for about 10 minutes just so it would soften a little bit.

And now we're ready so we'll just give ourselves a little flour sprinkle.

And we know that this dough is pretty well hydrated, so it can handle a little extra flour.

-A little bit.

-Yeah.

So I like to use a tapered rolling pin, put the end of the dowel next to the center of the dough... -Mm-hmm.

-...and just kind of roll around and let the taper of the rolling pin work for me.

And I'm rotating the dough constantly so it's not sticking.

-Right.

I kind of go like that.

So see how I'm turning it?

-A little twisting action.

-Yeah.

And then, see, if it does start to crack that's okay, because as you get a little bit bigger circle you can patch that up.

And then I'm turning it with each turn, as well.

-So we're going for 12 inches.

-Okay.

-Okay.

I am at 12 inches.

-And I believe I am, as well.

-So we need to get the pie from our work surface to the pie plate first.

-Okay.

-I think the easiest way is to use your rolling pin as a lifter, as a crane, and just gently try to get it centered.

Now, we don't want to stretch this, so, you know, we'll lift and let the pie crust settle down into this 9-inch pie plate.

So 12-inch circle, 9-inch pie plate -- Obviously we're gonna have a little overhang, and that's good.

Again, not stretching at all -- just make sure that it has all fallen down in so you have a nice, tight corner.

-If you stretch the pie dough into the pie plate, that's when they shrink back.

-Right.

And everything we're doing here is to prevent that from happening.

That's why we chilled it before, and we'll chill it again.

So I'll just cover this with some plastic wrap.

We'll put this on a rimmed baking sheet that I've already lined with some parchment paper.

So we'll pop these in the refrigerator, and let these chill for about 30 minutes.

-Okay.

-We have rolled these out, and we've developed some gluten so we want them to relax and get a little chilled before we fill the pie and put it in the oven.

So now it's time to make the filling, and we want this to be savory, satisfying, and I can think of no better way to get there than by starting with some butter.

-I like the way you think.

-So, I have 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.

[ Pan sizzling ] You can hear -- It is melted.

-Yes.

-So we'll start building the base, and we're starting with our classic trio.

This is one onion that's been finely chopped, which is a cup.

So we'll add that.

And now I have 2 carrots that I've peeled and cut into 1/4-inch pieces.

This is about 2/3 cup.

-Okay.

-And this is two ribs of celery, and I've also cut this into 1/4-inch pieces, so we have nice little bite-size.

-Nice.

-And that's about 1/2 cup.

So we'll add that with some salt and pepper.

This is 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper.

We'll cook it for about 6 minutes until the vegetables have softened, but we're not looking for browning here.

So as you can see, our vegetables are nice and soft.

-Lovely.

-So now we'll add some thickener.

I have 6 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, and I'll just sprinkle that over the top.

And we'll just cook this until we have a nice, golden shade just to cook out any of that raw flour flavor.

-Gotcha.

-Just 1-2 minutes.

-Okay.

-Well, this color looks good, so now I'll add the liquid.

Now, the first is 2 1/4 cups of chicken broth.

But I'm also adding half a cup of half-and-half.

This is just going to add richness to balance out the savory.

So I'm gonna turn the heat up to medium high, and we want to bring this to a boil.

-Okay.

-This sauce is starting to boil.

-Mm-hmm.

-So I have 1 small russet potato.

I've cut this into 1/4 inch pieces, and that's 1 cup of potato.

And I'm also adding 1 teaspoon of minced, fresh thyme.

-Mmm.

-And I'll turn the heat down to medium, and we'll let this simmer.

What we're looking for is to get those potatoes nice and tender, but we'll also let the sauce thicken up a bit, and that's gonna take about 8 minutes.

-Okay.

-So, Bridget, we have about a minute left on the sauce part of the filling.

-Right.

-So now it's time to talk about the elephant in the room.

-Which is the fact that you haven't roasted a chicken, cooked a chicken, poached a chicken?

-I haven't, but that doesn't mean we're not going to have chicken.

-Okay.

-We're using the most convenient thing that you can find, and that's a rotisserie chicken.

It's great, they're convenient, you can find them at grocery stores, your local market.

This was a 2 1/2-pound rotisserie chicken, and you need to be able to get about 3 cups of meat from it.

-Right.

-So the size of the chicken is important.

I've shredded most of it.

You just want them in bite-size pieces.

-Okay.

-So, this looks great.

I'm gonna turn off the heat.

So now I'm going to add my chicken.

And the final element -- I have 3/4 of a cup of frozen peas.

They're also going to help cool down the filling.

Otherwise you'd melt the crust.

So we'll just get this mixed together.

-Wow.

You have put the chicken back in chicken pot pie, 'cause that is a lot of chicken in there, and I love it.

-Let's go over to the pie crust.

-Okay.

-So, we have our fully chilled crust ready for us.

This is gonna be a nice, mounded pie.

It really looks beautiful.

So now we'll go ahead, and we'll get the top crust.

Same trick with the rolling pin -- We'll very gently drape this, trying to match it up.

-Lovely.

-Obviously we made the crust a little bigger than we needed to, so now I'll trim it.

We want to trim it about half an inch beyond the edge of the pie plate.

Yes.

I know that that's from the tip of my thumb to the base of my thumbnail.

-You've made a few pies.

-I have.

-Well done.

-Thank you.

So now we'll go around and we'll just pinch the edges together to create a nice seal.

We don't want any of that deliciousness escaping.

-Mnh-mnh.

-And now I'll fold it under, and we'll create kind of a lip.

Okay, so now it's time to crimp.

You can crimp however you like.

I love to flute the edges.

They look nice, and it provides a really great anchor to hold the pie crust on to the edge of the pie plate.

-Okay.

-So I'm just using two fingers in my one hand, and one finger in my other hand to make this nice indentation.

And my flute kind of stands straight up, and it just sits right on the edge of the pie crust.

That's going to keep it from sinking down in.

-Beautiful.

-Thank you.

Now, we have a lot of liquid in there, and as that heats up it's going to create steam.

-Mm-hmm.

-The steam needs somewhere to go.

So I'm just going to cut 4 2-inch slices.

-Little slits in the top.

-Little slits -- about 2 inches.

We're gonna put an egg wash on this to make it nice and shiny, but I'm going to move this over on to my rimmed baking sheet so it'll catch any drips if I get them.

-Good idea.

-So, I'm just gonna brush this all over to kind of lacquer.

-Mmm.

And that's just egg.

-This is just one large egg that I've beaten.

And make sure that you get in there, because this just adds such beautiful shine.

Do you see any spots?

-I do not.

-Okay.

So, the oven's ready to go.

-Okay.

-I put the rack on the very lowest position and heated the oven to 450 degrees.

We'll put it in for 18-20 minutes, and that first stage is going to make sure that we get a really nice set bottom.

-Okay.

-And the top's gonna start to brown a little bit.

Then we're gonna drop the temperature to 375 degrees, rotate the whole baking sheet, and then let the pie bake for another 12-15 minutes, and at that point we're going to see this really nice, golden brown color forming.

Oh, my goodness.

[ Both laugh ] -That's a pie.

-It is a pie, indeed.

I love the color.

Notice the sheen that we got from the egg wash. Now, we want it to stay looking fantastic.

The only other way to get that without waiting is to have to add a lot of extra flour.

-Mm.

-So we have to wait.

We're gonna wait 45 minutes.

It'll be worth it.

-5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

-[ Laughs ] -That's 45.

-Now it's time to slice into it.

-I'm really gonna appreciate it.

-Okay.

And I kind of like -- The slits that we cut sort of create a little roadmap for our pie slices.

-Tracing.

-Yes.

Oh, my goodness.

It pleases you.

-Aye, it pleases me.

I do want to try the bottom crust especially because a double-crusted pot pie with a bottom crust that's not soggy is a very rare thing.

-Mm-hmm.

-That is cooked through, absolutely.

The filling is creamy and rich, but it's not stodgy at all.

-No.

-Every single bite is full of chicken -- chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken, chicken.

-And then crust.

-Mm-hmm -- melts in your mouth.

-Mm-hmm.

-Thanks, Christie.

-Mm-hmm.

-This amazing chicken pie -- It starts with an easy-to-roll-out dough.

Cut butter into flour, then add a sour cream and egg mixture in two stages.

Divide the dough in two, refrigerate and roll out, and then fit one dough round into a pie plate.

The filling base starts with sauted aromatics, flour, broth, and half-and-half, plus a little potato.

Stir in shredded rotisserie chicken top with the second dough round and bake.

Let cool for an agonizing 45 minutes and then serve.

So from "Cook's Country," the "Can it be done?"

"Yes, it can."

It's the amazing Double-Crust Chicken Pot Pie.

Thanks, Christie.

-My pleasure.

[ Cheers and applause ] -Peanut butter can be found in 89% of all American households, and the average US kid eats over 1,500 PB&J sandwiches before they graduate high school.

So the question for Jack today is which brand of peanut butter is best?

-Yeah.

This is gonna be an interesting taste test because I think this has a lot to do with what you grow up with.

-Ah.

-So, I've got three samples to represent the sort of three different styles.

So, you can start digging in with the notion that I'm gonna do most of the talking... -Yes!

-...'cause your mouth is gonna be glued shut very quickly.

-It is.

-So when I was kid, when you were a kid, there were really two choices.

Either it was a natural peanut butter made with just peanuts and salt or it was made with sugar and hydrogenated fat.

So hydrogenated fat is oil that's been treated with chemicals so that it's solid at room temperature so you get a smooth, creamy peanut butter.

The natural peanut butters with just the salt and peanuts, they're oily, they're greasy, they separate.

They're also not sweet.

So there's now a new category out there, confusingly also called "natural," that uses palm oil instead of hydrogenated oil.

And so palm oil -- The reason they're doing this is because it is naturally solid at room temperature, so there are no chemicals in involved so they can call it "natural."

They are also sweetened, so it's basically very similar to the hydrogenated peanut butters in terms of consistency.

They just get there a different way.

So I have a little visual.

-Yeah, I was gonna say I could pour this one.

-Yeah.

So, I'm gonna do some pouring here.

So this is the traditional peanut butter with the hydrogenated fat.

-Mm-hmm.

-You see it's creamy, it's stiff.

This is what I would call a truly natural peanut butter made with just peanuts.

You see it's made a big mess here.

It's going to eventually pour.

The big thing that we found besides the fact that you can make a very different sandwich, a very different flavor profile, is these bake totally differently.

So when we made peanut butter cookies, what happened was the peanut butters that had just the peanuts and the salt, they didn't spread very much, and so you got a really cakey kind of dry cookie that really wasn't all that great.

The ones made with the palm oil, they spread too much, and so you got these little crispy almost candy-like peanut butter cookies.

They weren't bad, but they were not sort of soft and chewy.

And this is all about the amount of saturated fat in each one of these, which varies.

And so that determines how much spread you get in a cookie.

-Ah.

-And so it's a really interesting test.

I've done a lot of talking.

-Yep.

-Tell me what you think of the three samples.

-So, these were very different to me.

This one, it didn't even taste like peanuts to me.

It tasted like it wanted to be peanut butter.

It had the right sort of texture, mostly, but it was very bland.

-Okay.

-This one surprised me with how peanut-y it was.

This is the kind I grew up with, those very messy sandwiches on whole wheat bread with, you know, low sugar, homemade jam, right?

-And the peanut butter was on your shirt at school, right?

'Cause, you know, it doesn't make a very nice, neat sandwich.

-It does not.

So I grew up with this, and I really thought this was gonna have more peanut flavor than this one, but I was shocked that it didn't.

I was ready to really love this one.

But this one -- I love this one.

-So, you're abandoning your mother here?

-No.

What?

No, Mom, I'm not!

-Alright, just to be clear.

But you're having a change of heart.

-I am.

And plus, it's so smooth.

It feels like a guilty pleasure when you like a peanut butter like this.

-Alright, want to see where you're going?

-Yeah.

Alright, ready?

-Yeah, ready.

-So, you chose the overall winner.

This is the SKIPPY.

The studio audience -- This was their favorite, the expert panel, this was their favorite.

This is the best of the classic, sweetened, hydrogenated, really creamy -- You're right, it's very peanut-y.

-Surprisingly so.

-So, where do you want to go next?

-Let's go to this one.

-So this is from a company named Adams.

This was our favorite of the simplest kind with no sugar, no additional fat.

We thought it was a good choice if you're somebody who really doesn't want it sweetened.

-Yeah.

-For me, it's the sweetener.

I don't really want any sugar in it.

The texture -- I get the appeal of the creamy texture, but I don't really want a sweet peanut butter.

-You're gonna add jelly anyway.

-Yeah, it didn't really make sense to me why you want sweetness in the peanut butter.

-Gotcha.

-And then this one, which was absolutely terrible.

-Well, I would say it wasn't that terrible.

I mean -- This was our favorite of the "natural" kind made with the palm oil.

It's from Peter Pan.

I mean, it was third overall, so I wouldn't say it was terrible.

You didn't like it.

-I didn't like it.

-It -- it performed worse once you baked it.

I really don't want to see what you would think about the cookies that this thing made, 'cause it was fine in a sandwich, Julia.

-I'm sure it was.

So there you have it.

For the nuttiest flavored peanut butter, go with SKIPPY Creamy Peanut Butter at $2.69 for a 16.3 ounce jar.

[ Cheers and applause ] Every four years, Family Circle magazine has a cookie contest in honor of the presidential election.

See, they have the spouses of each candidate submit their favorite cookie recipe, and their readers get to vote.

Now, in 2000, Laura Bush's recipe for Cowboy Cookies beat out Tipper Gore's gingersnaps by a landslide, and this cookie became very popular.

And today, Ashley's gonna show us how to make them.

-Alright, so these cookies are no joke.

Imagine, everything is bigger in Texas, right?

So these cookies are large and in charge.

-They're presidential.

-They are presidential.

So let's get started with the dry ingredients.

Here I have 1 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour, 3/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt -- just gonna whisk this.

Alright, move on down over here.

Now on to the wet ingredients.

So here I have 1 1/2 cups of light brown sugar, 12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, and this has been melted and cooled.

This is 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

So I'm just gonna whisk this until combined, as well.

So now I'm just gonna add the dry to the wet all once and whisk this until just incorporated.

Alright, so that is just combined.

So, here we have 1 1/4 cups of old-fashioned, rolled oats.

Now, you can use quick or instant oats, but just don't use the thick rolled oats.

-Gotcha.

-And here we have 1 cup of toasted pecans, which I chopped coarse, 1 cup of sweetened, shredded coconut, and 2/3 cup of semisweet chocolate chips.

Now, I just want to get a spoon and eat this right now.

Using my rubber spatula, I'm just gonna combine this, fold everybody in together.

So, now let's get to portioning.

-Okay.

-I went ahead and sprayed this 1/4 cup measure with some vegetable oil spray.

So this is a rimless baking sheet.

Usually we use a rimmed baking sheet.

But because they are so large the cookies needed the room to expand as they baked.

They're definitely gonna spread out quite a bit.

In fact, we're gonna have 8 cookies per sheet, and we're gonna space them 2 1/2 inches away from each other so that they have the room to grow.

Alright, here we have the last cookie.

I am gonna take any remaining dough and just add it on to any of the cookies that look like they were a little bit skimpy.

-A little skimpy.

-Alright, so the cookies are ready to go into the oven.

Now, number one, I do want to mention that we are gonna be pulling these when they look a little pale and raw in the center but set around the edges.

I'm gonna bake these cookies one sheet at a time.

I have an oven that's been preheating at 350 degrees, and we're gonna bake them for 15-17 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking.

Oh, man.

-They did get really big.

-Oh, yes.

Alright.

So you can see, it's a little pale and puffy in the center... -Mm-hmm.

-...and the exterior is just beginning to set.

-Oh, yeah.

-So I am going to rely on carryover cooking for these cookies.

I'm gonna leave them on the sheet for 5 minutes before taking them off.

So now I'm just gonna take the second sheet to the oven, and, again, 15-17 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking.

Alright, so our first batch of cookies is all set for us on that platter.

This is our second batch of cookies.

It's been resting on the sheet for 5 minutes.

Now, see how different that looks.

-It's such a transformation that 5 minutes gives it when you cool them.

Alright, so I'm just gonna transfer the cookies to a wire rack and just let them cool completely.

-They're bigger than my palm.

-Alright, let's dig in.

-Ooh, I love that, when a cookie does that.

-Oh, yeah.

-Means it's chewy on the inside.

-Mmm-mmm.

Alright, let's see how tender we got it.

-Mmm.

-That's tender.

-Mm-hmm.

It has such flavor.

-Mm-hmm.

-It's the brown sugar.

It almost has this caramel-y notes in the background, and you get a little chocolate, a little coconut, a little of those nuts.

-Mm-hmm.

-This is good.

-Mmm.

-The edges are nice and crisp, so there's a real contrast between the center and the edge.

-Mm-hmm.

-I can see why these won the contest for sure.

Ashley, these are great.

Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-So you want to make these winning, presidential cookies, start by mixing all the dry ingredients together in one bowl and all of the wet ingredients, including melted butter, in a separate bowl.

Combine them together, then add oats, pecans, coconut, and chocolate chips.

Using a 1/4 cup measure, portion out the dough onto a rimless baking sheet, bake them one tray at a time for just 15 minutes.

From "Cook's Country," an award-winning recipe for Cowboy Cookies.

You can get this recipe and all the recipes from this season, along with our tastings, testings, and selected episodes, at our website, CooksCountry.com.

You know, I thought these cookies were big, but I'm almost ready for another.

-Let us help with dinner tonight.

Visit our website anytime for access to this season's recipes, taste tests, and equipment ratings.

Or to watch current-season episodes, log on to CooksCountry.com.