621 shell recipes

Vegan chocolate pie with a cocoa-couscous crust, silky tofu chocolate cream filling, and roasted pecan topping. Dairy-free, egg-free, and naturally sweetened with sucanat and maple syrup.

These beefy biscuit cups pack savory ground beef and spaghetti sauce into buttery biscuit shells topped with melted cheddar. A fun, hands-on dinner kids and adults both love.

Chinese-style caramel fried apples or bananas battered and deep-fried, then coated in crackly spun sugar with sesame seeds. Dipped in ice water for a shatteringly crisp shell.

Lemon pie filling cooked over a double boiler with egg yolks, lemon juice, and zest into a glossy yellow curd, then poured into a baked pie shell to set.

San Joaquin Glamour Salad stuffs a hollowed cabbage shell with ground cabbage, stewed figs, carrot, pineapple, and whipped cream dressing. A retro Central Valley showstopper from California's fig country.

Rough puff pastry is the home cook's shortcut to puff pastry, made by folding walnut-sized chunks of cold fat through a soft dough four to five times. Flaky enough for tart shells, vol-au-vents, and turnovers.

Chocolate praline truffles with homemade caramelized almond praline powder, semi-sweet chocolate ganache, orange liqueur, and a hand-rolled cocoa-dusted shell. A three-stage holiday confection worth the effort.

Single-crust pastry pie shell with margarine, blind-baked at high heat until golden in 10 minutes. A basic flaky pastry that works as a base for cream pies, custards, and fruit fillings.

A crisp meringue shell bakes into a pie crust that gets layered with tangy lemon custard and whipped cream in this ethereal dessert where clouds of sweetness meet citrus brightness.

Make your own Boboli-style pizza crust at home with a breadmaker. Garlic, Parmesan, and Italian seasoning bake into a golden shell you can freeze for quick weeknight pizza nights.

A whole pumpkin filled with spiced apples, pineapple, and walnuts, then baked until the shell is tender and the filling bubbles with cinnamon and nutmeg. A show-stopping fall centerpiece.

Classic double-crust apple pie with cinnamon, nutmeg, and fresh lemon juice in a buttery pate brisee shell. Three pounds of Northern Spy or McIntosh apples baked golden and bubbling.

Pecan pie pastry with finely chopped pecans mixed right into the crust dough, blind-baked in the microwave with dried bean weights. A nutty, flaky shell for any pie filling.

Homemade vol au vent shells made from puff pastry shaped around a foil ball for a hollow center. Fill with chicken, seafood, or mushroom sauce for an elegant French appetizer.

Classic vanilla meringue kisses filled with silky chocolate ganache: crisp shells piped from star-tipped pastry bags, slow-baked low, then thumbed open and spooned full of melted bittersweet cream.

Creme de menthe truffle cups: bite-size chocolate candy shells piped full of minty chocolate ganache with ground almonds. A boozy, bakery-style Christmas confection made in a double boiler.