The Winning Pie!

Okay, getting back to the pie contest. Yes, I know it has been a while, but judging this one wasn't as simple as drawing paper slips. I actually had to cook and eat these pies, something that is usually best spread out over a few days.

So, earlier this month, after reading the comments regarding your selections for the pie contest, I chose a number of pies from them to test and taste. I baked those 'chosen-pies'--or in some cases didn't bake the pies--over the course of this week and finally, I have one pie that stood out as a winner.

It wasn't an easy choice, there were a lot of really great entries and they were notable for such a wide variety of reasons that judging them ended up being very tough. All the pies I made were great, but one stuck out. It was really easy to make (this wasn't a point I judged the pies on, though it is certainly a bonus), it is unique, the pie's background is interesting and of course, it is darn tasty.



I've never had anything like it. It struck me as a bit of a cross between pecan pie (minus the pecans), sticky toffee pudding and gingerbread. Gooey on the bottom, a moist cake-like layer and then a sprinkling of crumbles on top. I thought it was good plain... then I had some lightly sweetened whip cream with it. So good! I can only imagine what it would be like with a scoop of cinnamon ice cream... nom.

Anyway, if you haven't already guessed. It is Sallie's Shoo Fly Pie! Congratulations, Sallie!

I ate a quarter of the pie in one afternoon. Seriously.

That's one dangerous pie.

What surprised me about this pie was the sweetness, or rather, how not overwhelmingly sweet it was. With all the sugary syrups involved, Mr. Humble and I had both anticipated a really sweet dessert. However when we sat down with our slices of pie this week, we were pleasantly surprised by the pie's coy sweetness and how well balanced it is with the spices.

So making this pie...

Sadly, King Syrup or Golden Barrel Table Syrup isn't readily available in my area, so I followed Sallie's recommendation for a substitution. (I used roughly 1/3c Light Corn syrup, 1/3c Molasses and 2 Tablespoons Honey. Those outside of the U.S., one should be able to substitute golden or invert syrup for the corn syrup and dark treacle for the molasses.)


“Here's to you, Harold Jamieson" Shoo Fly Pie
by Sallie (Original post can be found Here)

Crust & Crumbs:
1 8"-9" pie crust

1 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons shortening (or butter, which I used)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves

Preheat oven to 400°. Line an 8” or 9” pie plate with pastry and flute edges. Whisk together all of the above dry ingredients then cut in shortening or butter with pastry blender until it has appearance of crumbs.

(Optional note from Ms. H: You might consider a partial blind baking of the crust before filling and baking. Not all pie pans are created equal and with a wet filling like this, some may have a little trouble.)

Filling:
3/4 cup King Syrup or Golden Barrel Table Syrup*
3/4 cup hot water
1 well beaten egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

(*substitutions listed above, in the main part of the post)

Combine the syrup and hot water then stir in the baking soda, vanilla and egg. Place a third of the crumbs in a layer on the bottom of the pie shell.



Pour about half the syrup over the crumbs.



Layer in another third of the crumbs followed by the remaining syrup. Scatter the remaining crumbs over the entire top. Bake at 400° for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350° and bake for 20-25 more minutes. Remove pie from oven and let cool on rack.

Marvel at how warm and cozy your kitchen smells for about 10 minutes before cutting a slice and burning your mouth.

I agree with Sallie that this pie is best served still slightly warm. Naked though? Certainly it is very good, but how can you resist an opportunity to use whipping cream?! LOTS and LOTS of whipping cream.



Mr. Humble helped himself to a huge slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Me, I'm partial to whipping cream with a sprinkle of cinnamon.

This is one recipe I'm happy to have added to my books. Now I'm off to have another slice...

Sallie (see, I'm spelling your name right this time around), I'll be in contact with you via email soon.

Yes, there really is a prize.

This marks the end of the NSHP-Contest!

Time to get to the loot...

When I landed in Morocco a few weeks ago I knew I needed to hunt down a prize. Only, I had no idea what I was looking for. I figured it should be food related, as this is a food blog frequented by food lovers, so that seemed like it would be a good choice. It also had to be durable, as few things are more depressing than receiving a box of pot shards as a prize.

Though, I did reconsider my ceramic options briefly while shopping in the souqs but sadly, I had to rule them out.


Even if I could get them home safely--and we already know from the crack-pot post how good I am at that--, I would risk serious disappointment if they broke in the mail.

They were so pretty though...

So back to the process for choosing the prize. After arriving in Marrakesh we made our way to the riad where we would be staying.



A riad is traditional style Moroccan home, with a breezy inner courtyard. Many of them have been turned into restaurants or places to stay. They're basically the Moroccan equivalent of a bed and breakfast.

Pretty right?

The little humble in the courtyard

Why would you ever stay at a hotel here when you can have this? You can't beat the charm of these beautiful old--and often far less expensive--houses.




So why am I talking about a riad and not the prize? Well I'm getting to that...

In Morocco, mint tea is the cultural beverage of hospitality, commonly served to guests. Once we finally navigated the mind boggling maze of alleyways and found our temporary home, we were invited to relax in the courtyard with cups of hot mint tea and cookies.




Trying to remember what these cookies were called. One was reminiscent of shortbread, another was filled with fig...


Anyway, so I am sitting there thinking: This is pretty darn great.

I'm in Morocco, enjoying mint tea and cookies in a lovely house. This is going to be a nice visit

I also thought, hey this is it. This would be an excellent prize, a Moroccan tea set!

After all, it is food related, Moroccan, durable enough to mail and would probably be a welcome prize for the contest. Or at least, I hope so.


Bought this cutie at Marrakesh's government-run handicrafts shop, just so I could be certain I wasn't going to foist a decorative-use-only tea pot off on anyone. I wanted to be certain I was getting something you can actually drink from safely. (I'd be mortified if I made anyone sick) Unfortunately you can't bargain in these shops, so you end up paying more than you would in the market. That's right folks, no dirham spared!





The glasses I bought in the souqs. I'll include two extras, for a total of four, with the teapot, just in case there is any breakage during shipment. This teapot generally serves two, but can easily fill the four cups.



The tea and the mint however, unfortunately you'll have to supply that yourself.

Carrying such things across boarders isn't always possible, but luckily, the ingredients are readily available in just about any country. So, the winner will have to be satisfied with instructions and recipes for making a good cup of mint tea.


So, how we will be handing out this prize?

I've come up with my pie contest grading criteria and it is, well... complicated. One of the things I will be considering--in addition to my highly scientific, top secret point system--is input from my readers.

If there is a pie post that you enjoyed reading, something you wish to make (or have already made and enjoyed) or a pie that appeals to you for being yummy/interesting/clever/unique/or even practical, please do comment below.

You are not limited to a single pie, you can note several that caught your attention.

Thanks,

Ms. H

(All the contest pies are listed here on multiple pages, so be sure to check out the older posts too)

Berries n' Cream & Gluten Free Strawberry Tarts

No post yesterday and I apologize for that. There were a couple of reasons for this:

1. I am a bit 'under the weather', the details of which I'll spare you.
2. I got wrapped up with candy making and researching Scottish Tablet recipes.
3. I ate too much Tablet, which added a whole new degree of unwell to item #1

I'll probably be making more Scottish tablet today...well, that or an English candy I'm interested in trying out. The tablet trials have been frustrating, the taste is correct but the texture is just a tad off. Tablet is one of those curious candies that is supposed to be grainy, but not as grainy as my last batch. So I need to figure out what I need to change to get the appropriate texture.

I'm so glad I tried some delicious Tablet from a candy shop while in Edinburgh, or I would never have known what I was aiming for.

Though, apparently commercially made tablet is less grainy than the homemade stuff. Still, I'm going to try to achieve the perfect crystalline texture at home. I just hope I don't burn through a 50lb bag of sugar trying...

Delicious Scottish Tablet
A solid lump of sugar, butter and cream
Not part of a calorie controlled diet!

My trails haven't been made easy, as finding good recipes for the stuff has been difficult. Some Tablets are clearly too pale, or too smooth. Some are written by folks who have admittedly never stepped foot in Scotland, which I admit is a bit of a concern. Other recipes are probably great but too imprecise, "a teacup of cream", "cook for 20 minutes", "until it hits a (insert arbitrary color description here) color".

I need to figure this out or the Scottish side of my family may disown me...

So back to the kitchen I go. If any one knows of a good tablet recipe and doesn't mind sharing, please send it my way. Also, I'm curious if tablets are ever flavored. I'm considering spiking a batch of tablet with whiskey, once I work out all the kinks. It seems like a natural paring with the butterscotch flavored confection.

So we have the last of the pie recipes for the contest today. Tomorrow I'll snap some photos of the things I've found in Morocco for the prize. Then we will talk about how the winner will be chosen. The details of which I haven't quite figured out. (If you have any favorites from the last few weeks, let me know in the comments tomorrow. I will definitely be taking those into consideration, so be sure to give the contest pies a once over.)

So our last two pies were submitted by two bloggers, Amanda of Cakes & Neckties and Zoe of Z's Cup of Tea. They're both fruit tarts, a delicious summertime classic around here, but they couldn't be more different in terms of ingredients. One tart uses all the traditional pie making ingredients: butter, sugar, flour. The other is gluten free, dairy free, and cane sugar free.

Clever, eh. Yes, I am having fun pairing opposites.

---

Fresh Berry Tarts
by Cakes & Neckties


This pie is deceptively simple (people will look and exclaim "Oh my! You shouldn't have gone to such trouble! Clearly you are a baking master!" and only you will know the truth about how quickly it came together). But, it is absolutely dependent upon the fruit. Your pastry can be perfectly turned and your filling smooth and rich, but if it's not time for local berries, then it's simply not the right moment for this pie. It pays to be patient, and to put the recipe in your calendar for when raspberries, blackberries and blueberries are in season.

In my case (Toronto, Ontario) berry season peaks late July and early August, which is also when my parents' birthdays both fall. During family get-togethers, dessert is my department (my brother is in charge of supplying the adorable grandson, and my kitten provides the chaos and furniture-destroying power), and with two birthdays so close together, it's tempting to make one dish cover both occasions. My own approach falls at the opposite end of that belief spectrum and instead, I figure it's the perfect excuse for not one dessert but two!

You can use a pâte sablée (sweet short pastry) or a rolled sweet dough. I've provided the pâte sablée here, but have also had excellent success with the rolled short pastry recipe in the Tartine Bakery cookbook

To assemble the pie, prepare the pastry long enough ahead that you can chill it at least 30 minutes--this is especially important if you're baking in summertime, since the temperature of the fat and water in the dough will affect how it behaves in the oven. You can bake the pastry up to one day ahead. The day of serving, fill the shell with fresh pastry cream, Bavarian cream (in my photographs), or mascarpone whipped with heavy cream and mild honey, then top with fruit immediately before serving. If you chill the assembled pie, it makes slicing easier, and the berries perspire as they return to room temperature, which from a purely aesthetic standpoint is really quite pretty.

Pâte sablée
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup to 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (you will need the larger quantity if baking in humid weather, and a lower quantity if the day is cool and dry)
1/4 tsp sea salt
3 1/2 ounces cold, unsalted butter
2 T cold milk or heavy cream

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, 1 cup of flour, and salt.

2. Cut the butter into one-inch cubes then toss to coat in the flour mixture before gently rubbing the butter into the flour with your fingers. You want the butter to remain as cold as possible, so work quickly and use a light touch. Another excellent method is to grate the butter through the coarse side of a cheese grater directly into the flour mixture, then gently work it in. The texture should resemble coarse meal, with some larger pea-sized lumps of butter.

3. Sprinkle one tablespoonful of milk or cream over the dough and begin gathering the dough into a shaggy ball using your hands. If it seems too moist, see step 4 below. If the mixture is too dry, add the second tablespoonful of milk/ cream and work it in, gathering the dry crumbs and loose flour into the dough.

(If 1 T of dairy seems enough, don't get excited and add the second one, otherwise you can launch a chain of pastry intervention, requiring more flour then more milk then more flour and so on, until your dough becomes overworked and tough. And no one likes a tough pie!)

4. If the mixture seems very greasy and buttery, sprinkle additional flour over the dough 2 tablespoons at a time, working quickly so that the dough doesn't get too warm.

5. Spread the dough into a lightly buttered tart pan with removable bottom and use your fingertips to press it firmly, reaching into the flutes of the pan and making sure there is no bump of thicker dough remaining in the center of the dish. Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

6. If using the pastry today, preheat the oven to 350F while the pastry chills. Fill the pastry shell with pie weights and blind bake (i.e.: without filling) for about 20 minutes, or until the surface appears dry and the pastry is golden you can smell browning butter. Cool completely on a rack before filling.

Fresh Berry Tarts

Ingredients (per pie):

1 pastry shell, baked and cooled
1 1/2 pints of fresh berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc)
1 batch of Bavarian cream, pastry cream, or 8 oz mascarpone whipped with 1/4 cup heavy cream and 2 T honey
Optional: fresh mint, fresh basil, grated lemon rind, honey

Carefully remove the exterior ring of the pan, leaving the baked and cooled shell on the little metal pie plate tray thingie (that's the official culinary term, in case you weren't yet familiar). Place the shell on a serving plate then fill with your choice of creamy filling (suggestions above). Heap with fresh berries and a sprinkle of finely chopped fresh mint, roughly torn basil leaves, or finely grated lemon rind. It's also quite nice with a drizzle of warm honey.

---

Best Ever Gluten Free Puff Pastry Strawberry Tart
by Z's Cup of Tea


Strawberry Jam
From Z's Cup of Tea
Makes about 1/2 cup.

Ingredients:

About 1 lb. fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
Water
Honey to taste

Method:

Place the strawberries in a small pot and add water, enough to cover the bottom to prevent scorching. Cook over medium heat. As it thickens, it will start bubbling but not enough to cook over. Stir occasionally, adding more water if necessary, and add honey to taste. Cook until it’s thickened to preferred or desired consistency. For mine, I cooked it for about 30 minutes. The longer it cooks, the thicker it becomes. When it’s thick enough for you, remove from heat and transfer to a container or jar. The jam will continue to thicken as it cools. Cover and refrigerate. It will keep for a week in the fridge and up to 1 month in the freezer. Enjoy!



Gluten-free puff pastry
From Tartelette

Ingredients:

Dough package

1/2 cup superfine sweet rice flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup cornstarch (or tapioca starch)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. xanthum gum
1/2 tsp. guar gum
3/4 cup cold water

Butter package

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, soft but not yet room temperature
1 tbsp. superfine sweet rice flour

Method:

Prepare dough package: Mix all the flours with the salt and both gums in a large mixing bowl. Form a well in the centre and pour the water into the well. Using your hands, gradually bring the flour blend over the water, gathering until it's well blended and is starting to come together. Gently knead just until it starts coming together to form a dough. Pat dough into a rough ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Prepare butter package: Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of superfine sweet rice flour on a piece of wax paper or parchment paper (I used parchment paper). Place sticks of butter on top, and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tablespoon of flour. Cover with another sheet of paper and use a rolling pin to pound the butter to soften and flatten to about 1/2 inch. Remove the top sheet of paper and fold the butter in half on to itself. Place a new sheet of paper on top and continue pounding until butter is about 1 inch thick. Repeat two or three times, until butter becomes pliable. Use your hands to shape butter into a 4-inch square. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in fridge until it is chilled but not hardened, for no more than 10 minutes.

Assembly: Take the dough out of the fridge and place on a lightly floured counter or work surface. (If you have a silicone mat, you may use that instead for easier clean-up.) Gently roll the dough into a 9-inch round with a rolling pin. Take the butter package out of the fridge, unwrap, and place in the centre of the dough round. Lightly score the dough with a paring knife to outline the butter square. Take the butter off and, starting from each side of the centre square, gently roll out the dough to form 4 flaps, each 4 to 5 inches long. Do not touch the raised square in the centre of the dough. Put the butter package back in the centre and fold the flaps of dough over it, so that it is completely enclosed, pressing to seal it with your hands.

Use the rolling pin to press down on the dough at regular intervals, repeating and covering the entire surface area, until it is about 1 inch thick. Gently roll the dough into a large rectangle, with one of the short sides nearest to you. Be careful not to press too hard around the edges and keep the corners even as you roll it out by squaring with the rolling pin or your hands. Starting at the near end, fold the rectangle of dough as you would a business letter, folding in thirds. This completes the first single turn. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Take the dough out of the fridge and repeat the process, giving it 5 more single turns. Always start with the flap opening on the right as if it were a book; you can mark the dough with your knuckles after each turn to help you keep track (I used a sticky note with numbers jotted down, indicating the number of turns, and crossed them off one by one after each turn). Chill 1 hour between each turn. After the sixth and final turn, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 to 2 hours or overnight before using.

Baking time depends on what the puff pastry is used for, although I emailed Helen and she recommends blind baking it (pre-baking just the pastry, without any filling) for 10 to 15 minutes. I did so at 350 degrees Fahrenheit before using it as a crust for my strawberry tart and baking it again for 15 to 20 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. There is no need to butter or flour the pan you use for the puff pastry as there is enough butter in the pastry already to prevent it from sticking.




Best Ever Gluten Free Puff Pastry Strawberry Tart
from Z's Cup of Tea

Assembly:

After being refrigerated overnight or at least one day, the crust is blind-baked first, weighted down with pie weights, such as dried beans or uncooked rice, for 10 to 15 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour in the strawberry jam filling and bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes (I don't know why I wrote 14 to 20 minutes in my post). Remove from the oven and cool, before chilling in the fridge until the filling is set or overnight.

Chocolate Cream Pie & Cinnamon Yum Yums

Happy Monday, folks!

Sadly, today and tomorrow will be the last of the pie contest post, then everyone will have to go back to enduring food posts by yours truly.

So yesterday I set about restocking my kitchen in preparation to start blogging again. It takes a surprising amount of errand running to adequately (and affordably) supply this hobby of mine. Before I started this blog, grocery shopping was relatively simple outing. Now it is a half day ordeal.

This is basically a must-do when your local grocer sells heads of broccoli for twice the price of a bag of potato chips (sigh). Shopping has become a bit of an adventure now but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. The best part is hunting down spices, which I obtain at a local Indian market for a fraction of those sold at your average grocery store. Good quality spices, better deals and I get to buy big bags of these delicious spiced gram flour puffs which I eat by the handful, giving me Indian version of Cheeto-finger.

I love those spicy little things so much.

So I'm going to hit the kitchen today--once I deal with the 'cheeto-fingers'--and start playing with some recipes. Hopefully by Wednesday I'll have something yummy to post.

Also, I will be toying with some of the recipes posted to the pie contest, so don't be surprised if you see a Not So Humble adaptation of your submission in the coming weeks!

Today's recipes come not from bloggers but full time students who love to cook. The first is one of my favorite pies (chocolate cream) made by Emily and bar cookie called "Cinnamon yum yums" that perked my interest as I am a devout fan of cream cheese laden baked goods, made by Diana.

---

Chocolate Cream Pie


My name is Emily and I just recently graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Education Studies. I have moved back home in LA and took a few months off. Part of my break consisted of reading food blogs (mostly baking ones) and experimenting in the kitchen. While submerged in school and juggling all the university's demands, I didn't have much time to bake; so this was a great way to get in touch with my baking world. I'll be attending UCLA in the fall for my teaching credential and Masters in Education, but hopefully I'll have time to bake a few goodies here and there.

The pie I chose to bake is a...

Chocolate Cream Pie in a Homemade Buttery Pie Shell [yum]

Ingredients for Pie Crust:
1 cup of flour
1/2 tsp of salt
1/3 cup butter [I won't lie, I LOVE butter]
splashes of cold water

Ingredients for Chocolate Cream Filling Goodness:
3/4 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of flour
2 cups of milk
2 squares (or one ounce) of unsweetened chocolate [delicious]
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp of butter
1 tsp of vanilla extract

For the crust, I used my mother's newest kitchen toy - the grand food processor. Not going to lie, college student's apartments don't usually come with these nifty kitchen wonders, so I was indeed quite excited. In the food processor, I pulsed the flour, salt, and cut up/cold butter into a nice crumbly mess. Then sprinkling just a tiny bit of cold water at a time, I pulsed the mixture until it became of nice doughy texture. I worked the dough into a ball and wrapped it up to be chilled in the fridge for about 2 hours. Afterwards, I rolled out the dough on a flour-ed surface with my flour-ed rolling pin to about 1/8 inch thickness. I rolled the dough carefully back onto the pin and released it into the white plate. After pushing down the dough and crimping the edges, I poked a few holes on the bottom of the pie crust. Popped it in my preheated oven (425 degrees) for about 16 minutes. After 16 minutes, I could see the dough browning nicely. I removed the crust from the oven and let it cool completely.

For the filling, I started this after I took the crust out from the oven. I combined the sugar, flour, milk, and chopped up chocolate in a saucepan. Over medium heat, I mixed it until it came to a slight boil and then continued mixing for 2 minutes (took about 6 minutes total). I added some of this warm chocolate mixture to the 3 egg yolks and mixed quickly as to not cook the egg. I then added the now-warmer egg yolk mixture to the rest of the chocolate mixture in the saucepan - continued cooking this for 90 seconds. The mixture became thicker and I removed it from the heat. I mixed in the butter and vanilla. The mixture was a smooth, creamy, thick filling. I poured this into my cooled pie shell and chilled it in the fridge over night.



It's amazing what just a bit of parchment paper, melted chocolate, and homemade piping bag (ziplock bag) can do for pie decor. I arranged it in a striped pattern which resembled what I call - Organized Chaos.

My family and I ate the pie as soon as I finished taking shots of it. The texture is creamy and less crumbly - my favorite. It was chilled so is refreshing on a hot afternoon in Southern California.

---

Diana’s Cinnamon Yum-Yums



Since my self-imposed transition to full-time student/part-time housewife a few months ago, I've been branching out from our usual spaghetti and meatballs and experimenting with my stove and oven a lot, and your recipes and easy to follow instructions have been so much fun to delve into. My husband and friends are mad about the homemade dulce de leche, so I didn't tell them how easy it was to make, haha!

When I read about the pie contest this month, I knew that I had to submit this recipe. This has been my go-to dessert recipe for years; in fact, I think it's the main reason we get invited to parties. It can be quick and easy if you cheat a little, or completely homemade and wholesome. For years it was a nameless recipe, listed as something boring like "Cream Cheese Squares" in my box, until in a fit of barbecue and rum induced excitement at our annual Jimmy Buffett extravaganza, my friend Jon christened them "Cinnamon Yum Yums" and thus they've remained as the staple of all of our get togethers. It's a family recipe that I generally do not give out, thus ensuring that we will continue to get invited to parties. :-)




Diana’s Cinnamon Yum-Yums

Pastry Crust:
14 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups unbleached flour
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup chilled water

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a pan. Sift together the flour and salt onto your work surface and create a well in the center (make sure it’s big enough!). Pour the butter and water into the well and work with your fingers until you have a crumbly mixture. Bring together to form a ball of dough. Cut the dough down the middle and reform into the ball. Dough should be white and sticky. Cover with plastic and chill for 20 minutes.

Shape remaining butter into a 4” square with your rolling pin. Cover with wax paper, chill for 15 minutes. Butter and dough should be similar in consistency to create the correct layers.

Flour your work surface. Roll the dough out to form a cross, leaving the center a little thicker than the arms. Place the butter square in the center and fold the dough over to make a little parcel. Turn the dough so that the top hinge is on your left, like a book. Tap and roll out the dough to a 6” x 18” rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, like a letter, and orient the top hinge to your left again. Roll out into the rectangle and fold into thirds. Make sure to square the corners as much as possible to keep the layers even. Wrap dough and chill for 15 minutes. Repeat this 2 more times, for a total of 6 fold/roll combinations. After the last fold/roll, chill the dough for 20 minutes. By this time, the dough should be an even yellow and much less sticky.

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Combine cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with hand mixer until smooth. The cream cheese should be almost room temperature to ensure that the mixture is as smooth as possible.

Grease a glass baking dish. Cut the dough in half and roll both halves out to match the size of the pan. Gently place the first layer of dough in the pan. Cover with the cream cheese mixture, leaving a quarter inch border of dough uncovered. Cover the filling with the top layer of pastry and press the edges together to seal. Pastry will not fill the pan – there should be at least a 1 inch space to the top of the pan.

Topping:
8 tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl until completely mixed. Melt butter over stove and pour over the pastry, covering the entire top. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over the butter, making sure that there are no dry spots.

Bake at 350 for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown on the bottom. Let cool completely and cut into bars or slices. Store chilled.

Variations:

• If you’re pressed for time, you can substitute the pastry for store bought crescent rolls! (Bake for 25-30 minutes) I do this all the time when I need a quick party dessert.
• For some holiday fun, I use food coloring to dye the cream cheese mixture. For our Halloween party we had orange yum-yums, for our Christmas party we had red and green yum-yums. Get creative!
• Sometimes, for a less guilty pastry, I use the low fat crescent rolls for the top layer , light butter for the top and low fat cream cheese. Do NOT use margarine or fat-free cream cheese; it will NOT look, bake or taste good. Plus, that’s sacrilegious as a dessert.
• I usually use a 9” x 13” glass baking dish, but you can easily make this is two 9” pie dishes or two 8” baking dishes. Just about anything works, but only use glass. You can cut them into bars or slices or bite sized pieces, it doesn’t matter. I cut them into hearts for Valentine’s Day or stars for the 4th of July. Get creative!

Spiced Quince-Apple Pie & Rákóczi

I keep tabs so many different food blogs these days. It is truly an eclectic mix. I follow blogs devoted to vegan cooking to those that focus on Southern-style barbecue. Both my local foodies and blogs from parts of the world thousands of miles away.

Thanks to Google-translate, I can learn from cooks and bakers that post in other languages. Technology is great, eh. I can cross continents with a few clicks and find myself introduced to so many new dishes and techniques that, ten years ago, would have been inaccessible to me

Saves a pie-hungry girl a lot in airfare.

So today's pies come from two bloggers, from two completely different hemispheres, nearly 12 thousand kilometers apart. Argentina and Hungary.

We have Rákóczi, the Hungarians' answer for cheesecake from Candy's konyha kilátással (Kitchen View) and a Spiced Quince-apple Pie with Sardo crust from Cocala. Nom!

---

Rákóczi
The Hungarians' Answer For The Cheesecake
from Candy's konyha kilátással



"Rákóczi" pie was named after a famous Hungarian pastry chef. The recipe was first published in a cookbook in 1937. Since then, the pie had the same role in the Hungarian kitchens like the Sacher torte had in Austrian households. In Hungary it is made in a 34x34 cm pan (double amounts) and served like squared little cakes, and you can also find it in every sweetshop too.

To tell the truth, it uses a quite "exotic" Eastern-European ingredient: "túró" - there is no western version of this dairy product. It's somewhere between the cottage cheese and the ricotta. It's made of cow's milk (full fat), (or sheep's milk, but it's not used for sweet), it's sour, crumbled, and of course, you can find more information the wiki:

http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Túró

or:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Túró

It is similar to the German quark, but it is drier a bit, not so creamy and homogeneous.

As I know, you can find it at a polish deli in the States. I'm sure it can be substituted with ricotta or cottage cheese.





The original ingredients gives a great balance of sweet and sour (the lemon helps the sour part) and the short and crisp pastry filled with the crumbled, creamy dairy product together with the silky egg foam and the jam gives a great experience.

Rákóczi
The Hungarians' Answer For The Cheesecake
Ingredients: (for a 26 cm round tart pan)
(To convert from dekagrams to grams here is a conversion calculator)

For the pie pastry:
15 dkg all-purpose flour
10 dkg cold butter
5 dkg powdered sugar
1 egg yolks
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
pinch of salt


1. Make a classic short pastry: Mix the flour, the butter, the sugar and the salt in the food processor to get little crumbles. Combine this mixture with the egg yolk, the lemon rind and the vanilla extract by hand quickly, but don't let the pastry warm up, because itt will burn in the oven. Leave it rest in the fridge for a half an hour.

Preheat the oven for 180 C.

2. Roll out the pastry on lightly floured surface into a 30 cm circle, put it in the tart pan - you"ll have a 2 cm edge around. Use a fork to make little holes in the pastry - you don't need beans to keep the edges around up. Bake it for 10 minutes.

For the filling:

0.5 kg cottage cheese/ricotta/túró
7 dkg powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp grated lemon zest

1.Mix the ingredients well, and fill the tart with it. Lower the heat of the oven to 140 C, and bake the pie for 20 minutes.

For the topping:

2 egg whites
2 drop lemon juice
10 dkg granulated sugar
30-40 dkg apricot jam (high fruit content)

1.Whip the egg whites and the lemon drops with a stand mixer and gradually add the sugar. Whip it until the sugar dissolves in the egg whites and you get a solid foam. (10-15 minutes)

2.Make a lattice on the top of the tart with the foam using a piping bag, and fill the gaps with the jam.

3. Lower the heat to 110 C. and dry the topping for 30 minutes.

Cool on a rack and enjoy!

---

Spiced Quince-apple Pie with Sardo Crust
from Cocala

(Mr. Humble loves this pie because it is made in a cast iron skillet. He is a cast iron skillet fanatic and believes just about everything should be cooked in them.)




This pie is a take on American apple-cheddar pie, using Argentine
ingredients.

Membrillo (quince paste) is often eaten with cheese as dessert, and although here it's normally with fresh cheese, in Spain it's commonly eaten with Manchego. Here I've used Sardo, a local
sharp dry cheese.

Spiced Quince-apple Pie with Sardo Crust
from Cocala
For crust:
200 g. cold butter
180 g. Sardo, grated
2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour (type 000)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. ice water

Mix flour, sugar, and salt together. Cut butter into flour until the
mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in Sardo, then sprinkle in ice
water. Working quickly, distribute the water throughout the dough and
gather it together into two balls, one slightly larger than the other.
Press each ball into a circular disk, wrap in plastic, and put in the
fridge to chill for an hour.

For filling:
2.5 lbs. ripe quinces
3/4 c. sugar
3 c. water
juice of 1/2 red grapefruit
cinnamon stick
1 lb. apples (I used Granny Smith)
juice from 1 lemon
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. tapioca starch
3 turns ground pepper
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
small pinch salt
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
sugar for sprinkling

Heat sugar, water, grapefruit juice, and cinnamon stick together in a
large pot while you peel, core, and section the quinces. Throw the
slices into the pot as you cut them, and bring the mixture to a
simmer. Simmer for 20 min, or until the fruit is tender.
Peel, core, and slice the apples, tossing them in a large bowl with
the lemon juice as you go. Add the sugar, tapioca, ginger, cinnamon,
cloves and salt, grind in pepper, and mix well. Lift the quince
sections out of their syrup and gently toss them with the apple
mixture. (The remaining poaching syrup is great on buckwheat
pancakes.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out the slightly larger disk of
dough to fit your pie pan (or use a cast iron skillet like me if you
don't have one). Lay it in the pan gently and pat it into the sides
and the lip of the pan. Fill with the fruit mixture. Roll out the
second disk and drape it over the fruit. Seal the edge with your
fingers, pressing the dough together. Brush the top with egg (don't
let the egg pool), and sprinkle with sugar. Poke the top crust with
the tines of a fork so the steam can escape.

Bake for 45 min.- 1 hour, until the crust is golden brown and juices
can be seen bubbling up from the vents in the crust. Let cool to room
temperature so the juice from the fruit thickens up.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie & Apple Pirate Ship Pie

Blogging from Scotland today. Mr. Humble and Co. are out braving the weather and hiking up Arthur's Seat. I'm back at the B&B with the little Humble, letting her get some desperately needed rest and travel detox.



Although in Scotland for less than a day I've already eaten Haggis (delicious when you don't bother to think about what is in it), black pudding (ditto) and cullen skink (nom-riffic).

Tomorrow afternoon I'm heading back to London and then home to Seattle the day after. Depending on how all that traveling works out, there may be a little lag in posting.

I can't wait to be back home and in my own kitchen again. I need to bake something!

A little Scottish food for any foodie-tourists:

Cullen Skink

Haggis with neaps and tatties and a… tarragon (?) cream sauce.

A full Scottish breakfast of bacon (cut from the back so it includes part of the loin), sausage, black pudding, eggs (poached rather than fried, a vain attempt to make this breakfast a bit healthier), toast, saute mushrooms and tomato.

I needed a three hour nap after this.

Today's pies:

---

Kaitlin of Whisk-Kid is one of the youngest and probably one of the better known bloggers to enter into the pie contest. Her popularity is easy to understand, she makes beautiful food, takes gorgeous photos and has a rather J.Peterman-esque flair to her food blogging.

Kaitlin sent me her strawberry rhubarb pie, inspired by her grandmother's cooking.



Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
This is more of a guide than anything. Keep in mind that it's not intended to be very sweet and that the sugar will need to be adjusted if you like your pie more sugary.
from Whisk-Kid
14 oz (400g)(total) of strawberries and rhubarb, chopped roughly into 1/4" to 1/2" pieces
1/8 c + 1 Tbls (25g) flour
1/4 c (50g) sugar
1/2 tsp salt
cream
sanding sugar

Combine the chopped fruit, flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Toss to combine and pour into a prepared shell. Refrigerate while you prepare lattice strips, then top with lattice and place in the fridge.

Preheat the oven to 450F (230C). When ready to bake, remove the pie from the fridge and brush the crust with cream. Sprinkle liberally with sanding sugar and cover loosely with aluminum foil. Place in the middle of the oven and place another pan, covered with aluminum foil, on the rack below to catch drips.

Bake 30 minutes, reduce the heat to 350F (175C) and bake until golden and bubbly, 40-50 minutes longer.

Cool completely on a rack before slicing.



Pie Crust
via my man, Alton Brown
I love, love, love this recipe! Make a bunch and freeze it. It'll make you happy in a few weeks when you really want some pie! Makes enough for a double-crust 9" pie.

12 tablespoons (170g) butter, chilled
4 tablespoons (55g) lard, chilled (can use shortening)
2 cups (340g) flour, plus extra for rolling dough
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup (120ml) ice water, in spritz bottle (I usually use only about 3/4s of the amount and, sorry Alton, I don't have a spritz bottle. I just pour it in!)

Place butter and lard in freezer for 15 minutes. When ready to use, remove and cut both into small pieces.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt by pulsing 3 to 4 times. Add butter and pulse 5 to 6 times until texture looks mealy. Add lard (or shortening) and pulse another 3 to 4 times. Remove lid of food processor and spritz surface of mixture thoroughly with water. Replace lid and pulse 5 times. Add more water and pulse again until mixture holds together when squeezed. Pour onto counter and press the dough together until it forms a ball. Separate into two pieces, then wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, place one half of the dough on the counter and roll into an 11" circle. Line pie tin and place in the refrigerator. Prepare filling.

To make lattice, roll out the dough to an 11" circle and cut thin strips with a pizza wheel. Weave over the filled pie and chill while the oven preheats.

---

Diamonds For Dessert is a blog with such charm and whimsy that I've been smitten with it from the moment I discovered it. Susan--another biologist blogger--makes some of the cutest, craftiest food-creations on the planet and it pains me deeply not to be on her list of recipients for Christmas cookies.

Really.

Cookies.

Please, Susan.

This pie submission is a ship--a pie-rate ship. Proving that when puns and pastry combine, awesome things happen.




APPLE PIE-rate ship
adapted from cookinglight.com
from Diamonds For Dessert
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup ice water
nonstick spray

4 apples (I used granny smith and braeburn)
6 T sugar
3/4 T flour
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
a pinch of nutmeg
1 egg

pie weights, dried beans, or dried rice
coffee filters or parchment paper
2 aluminum mini loaf pans (5x2.5 inches)
2 pairs of disposable chopsticks
3 bamboo skewers
foil
tape and a glue gun
black and red marker

In a bowl, combine the flour and salt, and mix. Cut the shortening into small pieces and add them into the bowl. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to incorporate the shortening until there are pea sized lumps. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time, gently mixing it in, letting it moisten the dough. Gather the dough into a ball and split it in two. Place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten each into a disc, fold over the plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

While waiting, prepare the apples. Peel and core the apples. Thinly slice them and then chop the slices into thirds. Place the apples pieces in a mixing bowl. Add the sugar, salt, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gently mix. Cover the mixture with plastic wrap until ready to use.

Preparing the Pans
For the two mini loaf pans, grab the center of one of the smaller sides and pull it out so it makes a point. so now instead of rectangles, the pans have 3 of the original sides and a little pointy side. Take a large piece of foil and wrap it around one of the pans, using it to extend the short pointy side to make a longer point. Fold the excess foil over the other pan edges. Spray both pans with nonstick spray.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. Take one disc of dough and place it between two large pieces of plastic wrap. Roll it out to a 12x10 inch rectangle. Peel off a piece of plastic wrap and cut it so the dough rectangle is split into two pieces, one that's 9x10 inches and another that's 3x10 inches (refrigerate the 3x10 inch pieces).




Shaping the Bottom Crust
Take the 9x10 inch rectangle and place it into the prepared mini loaf pan and stretch it to fit the mold. Trim the overhanging extra dough with kitchen shears. (If desired, in the center of the longer edges, a little notch of dough can be cut off for aesthetic purposes, to make the ship more "ship-like" in appearance). Repeat all of this with the other disc of dough and the other mini loaf pan. Take a fork and poke holes all over the doughs to prevent bumps forming in the crust when baking.

Spray two coffee filters with nonstick spray and place them on the dough in the pans (or two pieces of parchment paper can be used instead); this keeps the pie weights from touching the dough and will make it easier to take them out. Fill the pans with the pie weights or dried beans or dried rice. Place the two filled pans on a baking sheet and then place the sheet in the oven for 15 minutes. When done, take the sheet out of the oven and let the crusts cool.

Shaping the Top Crust
Once cool, take the apple filling and spoon it into the two crusts, filling to about 1/4 inch from the top of the crust. Take the 3x10 inch pieces of pie dough out from the fridge and place them onto the crusts. Seal the dough by pinching around the top 1/4 inch of the crust. Trim the excess overhanging dough. Then take a fork and press it around the crust edge to make sure that it's firmly sealed. Take a knife and cut slits in the dough for vent holes. Mix the egg with 1 teaspoon of water to create an egg wash and brush the tops of the pies. Then place them in the oven on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, lower the oven temperature to 350°F and continue baking for 35 minutes. If the pointy part of the "ship" or the edges start to brown too much, rip off small pieces of foil to cover them. Once done, take the pies out of the oven to let them cool. When completely cool, carefully remove the pies from the aluminum pans. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the pies on the sheet. Take the rest of the egg wash and brush the pie sides with it. Cover the top of the pies and the pointy part of the "ships" with foil. Bake the pies for 15 minutes. Check and see if the sides are dry and turning golden brown. If so, take the pies out of the oven and let cool. If not, continue letting them bake until the pie sides are dry and golden brown. Then remove from the oven and let cool.

Adding the Sails
Take a bamboo skewer and poke two holes in the pie: one hole 1/3 from the one end of the pie and the other hole from the other end of the pie. Enlarge the holes with the skewer so they're big enough to fit the chopsticks.

To make the masts, split the chopstick pairs. Carefully break two chopsticks so that they are 7 inches long and the other two so that they are 6 inches long, and cut off any loose splinters. Carefully cut the skewers so you have eight 3 inch pieces. Hot glue one bamboo skewer piece 1 inch from the top of the chopstick and glue the other piece 3 inches from the top of the chopstick, both skewer pieces should be perpendicular to the chopstick.

For the sails, cut out 3x3 inch squares from the piece of white paper. Fold a little bit at the top and the bottom of each square. Cut out a little notch in the center of the parts that were just folded. Now take the four sails and attach them to the bamboo skewers by wrapping the top and bottom folded parts around the skewers and taping them down, with the chopstick fitting into the notches that were cut.

For the flags, cut out four 3/4x1/2 inch rectangles from the piece of white paper. Fold a little tab on one of the shorter sides of each rectangle (this will make it easier to tape the flags on the chopstick later). On two of them, draw skull and crossbones and color them black. Color the other two red and cut out a triangle from one of the shorter sides. Tape the flags to the tops of the chopsticks by taping the folded tabs to chopstick. Now stick the finished masts into the pies.

Makes 2 pie ships

Banana Blender Pie & Beef n' Mushroom "Pudding" Pie

Sitting on a train making my way to Scotland this morning (and working on this post when the train's wifi allows it).

My outing yesterday didn't exactly go as planned. I managed to visit Burough market, though only after considerable walking. I, having no sense of direction or ability to read maps, got completely lost. My slight mix-up between London Bridge and Tower Bridge didn't help much either. So I ended up walking all over Southwark looking for the market and by the time that I realized where the market really was, I had burned out the little Humble's patience--which was about nil to begin with.

Live music in Burough Market

Mr. Humble and I managed to stop by Monmouth for a cup of coffee. A very bold and smooth brew. The exceptionally long lines outside the shop seemed justified. Though, filter coffee feels a wee bit pricey in this part of the world. Prices from £2 to £2.50 for a basic cup of joe seems like a lot (not just at Monmouth, train station coffee is just as much) and this is coming from a native of the overpriced coffee capital of the world.

If you squint you can see Monmouth in the background there...

Once we had coffee in hand, our ability to shop/eat basically ended. Little Humble decided our outing greatly offended her and she started to pitch a fit. So we quickly walked through, hungrily eying the food and all those free samples, unable to approach any vendors for fear of the little Humble's thrashing causing bodily injury to the patrons.



Ah yes, the joys of traveling with a toddler. I wonder if it gets easier or harder as she gets older...

Anyway, I did at least get some photos. There were so many yummy things: meats, cheeses (the Comte I could not find and I am miserable about it), breads, pastry, chocolates, and meat pies. I'll definitely try to make it back to this market when I visit Mother Humble again. As for the rest of my trip, I'll be in Scotland and not certain if I'll be able to make it back into the city again. Boo.




So today's pies! We're going with an English theme today. The first pie is made by a real actual Englishman (I've checked his papers, he's legit) and the second is a savory pie adapted from meat and kidney classic.

---

Our first pie is from Mr. P of Delicious Delicious Delicious the pie is made in his beloved blender and after taking a quick trip to Waitrose I understand the attachment. Kitchen appliances are absurdly expensive here! I now understand why stand mixers are less common in the U.K., they're twice as expensive as in the U.S.! We're talking £399 for a tiny Kitchenaid mixer ($600)! Food processors also cost an arm and a leg. Someone needs to smuggle inexpensive U.S. appliances across the Atlantic for all the home cooks and bakers over here.

Let's get to Mr. P's Bad Language-Free Baked Banana Blender Pie:

awww, the fork is happy

OK, who thought there wasn't going to be a pie for April?

(Well, my hand is raised.)

Obviously, I take these pies very seriously indeed, for as soon as the kitchen was deemed usable, this was the first thing I rustled up. I would like to add that cleaning the kitchen, all of the downstairs and garden of dust and rubble after the departure of the workmen took all of Saturday and most of Sunday last weekend, hence the slightly more calorific pie content this month; we deserved it. If you have not spent the weekend cleaning and lifting rubble, but still wish to enjoy my pie, I suggest you make your main course a salad.

No time to make pastry for this one (which I know was the whole point of the pie series anyway, but let's do a Gordon Brown and just skirt around the issue on this, shall we?), so it is a slight cop-out for April: a biscuit crumb base. However, you mustn't feel too disappointed, because the whole thing is made in the blender (even the whipped cream top), so replace your sadness with glee and appreciation of my proclivity for kitchen appliances and let's make a pie. No need to be a malcontent.



(If you had my blender, you'd feel the same by the way. It's a KitchenAid, and was a gift from my mum and sister years ago - basically the best thing I have ever been given.)

The filling is banana and chocolate, which when baked smells somehow of caramel. I have not figured out why or how that can be the case, but presume there is science involved. Which is strangely appropriate because as April's pie was cooling on the counter, I was catching up on some of my favourite food blogs and noticed that Not So Humble Pie is having a virtual pie contest. So over to you Ms. Humble! Why does my entry (which the pie now is) smell like caramel?



I am unsure as to what to call my mysteriously caramel fragranced creation mind you. Drawn though I am to the alliteration of Mr. P's Bitchin' Baked Banana Blender Pie, my grandma reads this blog from time to time and I wouldn't want her to see my bad language. I am full of admiration for those who brazenly cuss on their blogs (swear words are so expressive!), but I'm reticent to follow suit. So I think it will have to be Mr. P's Bad Language-Free Baked Banana Blender Pie for now. That's not what I'm calling it at home though!

Reasons my Pie of the Month should win the Not So Humble Pie Contest:

* It is particularly scrumptious, even without swear words;
* Anybody could make it, even without a blender (see alternate method);
* Chocolate and banana is always a winning combination;
* Mr. P likes the idea of winning a mystery prize from Morocco.

Wish me luck! (Unless you also enter the competition. In that case watch your back!*)

*I am joking. Let's all be unified in our appreciation of the pie!



Mr. P's Bad Language-Free Baked Banana Blender Pie

You will need:

250g digestive biscuits
100g butter, melted
2 tbsp cocoa powder

4 bananas
2 eggs
300ml single cream
150g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
handful of chocolate chips

300ml double cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. This is easy as pie. In a blender, crush the biscuits until they become crumbs; mix these with the butter and cocoa and press the mixture into a 26cm springform cake tin. Mound the mixture up at the sides, so it becomes more of a pie shell than a base. If you don't have a blender, just bash the biscuits up with something heavy. Or get a blender.
2. Chill the crumbed mixture base for half an hour or so.
3. Blend the bananas, eggs, sugar, single cream and vanilla until smooth. Pour this (very liquid) mixture on to the biscuit crumb base, and sprinkle with as many chocolate chips as you like. No blender method: mash the bananas with a fork; add the eggs, sugar, cream and vanilla and mix until smooth.
4. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 40 minutes, until the banana mixture has puffed up and set. (Your kitchen and home will smell unbelievable.)
5. Cool on a rack, and chill until needed.
6. Just before serving, whip the cream and vanilla extract (in the blender, or by hand) to soft peaks and use to top your pie.

---

Our next pie comes from Jacqueline of Food-ology, another scientist/baker who refers to her blog as her "kitchen lab notebook".

Jacqueline submitted the only savory pie to the contest, a variation on the classic steak and kidney pie. After touring the city and its markets and grocers I've realized Brits are quite fond of their meat pies. While in the Burough Market yesterday I saw dozens of beautifully made meat pies. Pies filled with a wide variety of critters, everything from boar to pheasant.

Mr. Humble is also a fan of the pies and is already pestering me to make one "for the blog" when we get home later this week.

Jacqueline's pie is really interesting, as it is steamed not baked. One might assume the crust would be overly moist but it looks so tender and delicious that I may experiment with this technique myself.

I'm ready to kick back and enjoy the rest of my train ride now, so lets get down to Jackie's beef and mushroom 'pudding' pie!

Last month when I was doing my Daring Baker's challenge we were given the option of making either a sweet British pudding (steamed cake) or savory pudding (a savory pie with crust). For the challenge I decided upon a steamed cake, but also wanted to try out the pie-crust method.

So I decided on trying a variation of a meat and kidney pie (sans kidneys...)

It's just like a regular pie, but instead of cooking it in a pie pan you steam it in a bowl. (Yea for having a slow cooker: 5 hours in a slow cooker uses a lot less energy than stovetop.)

I'm so glad I tried out this second version of British pudding- it came out delicious! (OK, it may not look super appealing, but certain foods taste a lot better than they look. This is one of them.)


This method (using suet pastry crust) can also be used for sweet pies as well. Sooo many possibilities, so little time.

To prepare the pie all you do is fill a pastry-lined bowl with a combination of flour-coated meat, onions and cooked mushrooms.

Then you pour in a combination of wine and oyster sauce, just enough to almost reach the top of the meat. (A little more than what I have.) Then cover the top with the remaining dough and seal it all up.

Cover the bowl in foil and seal the edges well. Place in a vessel and steam for 5 hours. (You can use a pot or a slow cooker.)

After it's done your crust will look lightly golden. I didn't really have a way of knowing if it was done or not, but all the recipes I read online said ~5 hours steaming so I figured it was good. Probably could have steamed it for longer and I'm sure it would have been fine.

Now- the moment of truth. Flipping it over and seeing if you can get it to not fall apart.

Step 1: Place large plate over bowl and carefully flip it over. SUCCESS!

Step 2: Cross your fingers in hope that step 3 works.

Step 3: Remove the bowl
SWEET!!! It totally worked!!!



Now go ahead and break open the crusty shell to reveal the deliciousness inside.

Mmmmmmm, delicious. All the flavors really just come together and the beef was the most tender I've ever prepared (for beef stew type of meat). It's just a great hearty, family style meal.

And the crust- can I take a moment to talk about the crust. (Well, it's my blog so I'll do whatever I like...) It was so good, like a cross between bread and a flaky pie crust. It was so tender and somewhat flaky as well. Surprising a texture like that could come out of a steam cooker.



Buen Provecho,
Jackie

Meat and mushroom "pudding"
adapted from recipes for meat and kidney pie
from Foodology

For the suet crust pastry
225 g/ 8 oz flour (1 ½ cups + ~ 1-2 TBSP)
2 tsp baking powder
115 g/ 4 oz rendered beef suet (or substitute like lard or Crisco)
salt and pepper
cold water, ~7-9 TBSP (more or less depending…)

For the filling
380g/13 ½ ozs chuck steak
1 lb mushrooms, quartered
1 small onion, sliced
3 TBPS of oyster sauce and enough red dry wine to make ~3/4 cup
Worcestershire sauce
3-4 TBSP flour, seasoned with salt and black pepper
1-2 fresh bay leafs

Directions

1. Butter your bowl (1 liter/1 quart capacity pudding basin or glass bowl). Also prepare the steamer (i.e. get the liquid heated and ready to steam either in your pot or your slow cooker set to high.)

2. Cook mushrooms ~5-10 minutes, until nicely browned. (I cooked the mushrooms so that they release their liquid now and the pie wouldn’t get too watery later.) Season lightly with salt and pepper.

3. Cut chuck into small (1 inch) cubes. Set aside.

4. For the pastry, sift flour, baking powder, salt and pepper into large mixing bowl. Then add the suet and mix it into the flour using a pastry cutter or the blade of a knife. Add water, 1 TBSP at a time, until the dough comes together. This will vary depending on many factors so once you’ve added 6 or so TBSP, start adding the liquid in smaller amounts.

5. Once the dough gets too sticky for the knife, use your hands and bring it all together until you have a nice smooth elastic dough, which leaves the bowl clean. It's worth noting that suet pastry always needs more water than other types, so if it is still a bit dry just go on adding a few drops at a time.

6. Reserve ¼ of the dough for the lid, then roll the rest out into a 9-10 inch circle (it will be fairly thick), or just enough to reach the top of your bowl. Line the greased bowl with the dough, pressing it all around.

7. You are now ready to start preparing the filling. Toss the steak in the seasoned flour and shake off the excess flour. Layer 1/3 of the meat, 1/3 of the sliced onions and 1/3 of the mushrooms in the pastry-lined bowl. Repeat until all the meat and veggies have been added.

8. In a measuring cup combine oyster sauce, red wine and a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce. Pour mixture over the steak. (The liquid should be semi-high but below the surface of the steak.)

9. Roll out the remaining ¼ pastry for the lid, dampen its edges and place over the steak. Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil.

10. Place in the steamer and steam for 5 hours, making sure to watch the level of the liquid in your steamer.