L'Amour de Tarte

Gone but not forgotten

2010-11-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that I've had a lovely break from blogging, but am planning on blogging again before Christmas. Lots of new recipes on the way!

How to Turn Failed Tart into Cookies

2010-04-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

I heard once that you can't consider yourself a proper baker until you've failed. As so much of my baking is experimental, failures happen more often then I would like. Most of the time everything is ok, still edible - just needed a dash more of this and a bit less of that - I'll know for next time, and always tweak recipes before I post them.

However, sometime things go bad, they just fail - no way to recover and they are not enjoyable to eat. This was the case when I found myself with a large chocolate mousse tart (that I had made so many times before without fail!) The eggs weren't large enough and the chocolate had a different composition to what I usually use. The result was a very dense (solid) chocolate tart. A tiny slice was eaten, and was far too heavy. I have had failures before, and discreetly crushed the pie up in a bowl added a bit of this and that and voila - cookies!

I thought as I may not be the only one with failed pies, and other baking; It might be nice to show how to turn failed, or mediocre baking into fabulous cookies!

Now as the size and texture of the failed baking will vary you will need to use a bit of interpretation with the quantities below

Ingredients

1 x Failed Baking, crushed/broken up/blended

~100g Butter, melted (depends on how much butter is in the failed baking)

~1C Raw Sugar (depending how sweet failed baking is)
~2x Eggs (more of less depending on quantity of failed baking)

~3C Oats (more of less depending on quantity and consistency of failed baking)

~1C Flour (essential for failed baking without much flour, chocolate tart etc)

Optional

Dried fruit

Nuts

Seeds

Coconut

Chocolate

Citrus Zest

Cinnamon - other spices

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs - add to failed baking. Then add the oats and flour, one at a time, you want to keep an eye on the consistency and texture of the mix; You want to end up with a texture that will clump together.

Once mix forms clumps add optional ingredients.

Shape into balls and place on a tray.

Bake for ~20min at 180C

Enjoy with a glint in your eye in the knowledge that you have made something lovely out of something not so lovely!

Easter Bunny Pie

2010-04-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

It was a very lovely weekend, doing just what was needed and nothing more. The weather was quite mild for Australia, beautifully Autumn with browned leaves being blown about; waking up to rain pouring outside the bedroom window. I look forward to Easter for many reasons, but one of the most delicious is Easter Bunny pie...

Happy Easter 2010

2010-04-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

Some of our delicious homemade hot cross buns...

Baked Banana Tart

2010-03-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

The freezer seems to always have ripe banana's in these days. Just between you and I - I'm beginning to think someone in the house buys them just so they'll get too ripe to eat and I'll bake them into something! I usually make a loaf of healthy banana bread, no sugar, eggs, white flour or butter. When I pulled out all of the banana's from the freezer on Sunday, it was clear there were simply too many for banana bread.

I remembered a recipe I'd seen for baked banana pie, so went through my recipe collection and found it. This pie was a very nice way to use up bananas, the original recipe calls for you to slice banana's and lay them on the pie base before pouring the mix over, as frozen ripe bananas don't slice well I mashed them and added them to the mix.

Ingredients

1 x Pie Shell, pre-baked

Dark Chocolate

100g Coconut, shredded and toasted

60g Raw Sugar

50g Butter, melted

40g Flour

4 x Eggs

200ml Milk

3 x Bananas, mashed

Melt enough chocolate to brush over pie base.

Mix coconut, sugar, butter, flour, eggs, milk and bananas.

Pour banana filling in pie shell.

Bake at 160C for 55min.

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2010-03-09T20:03:00.000-08:00

I love Carrot Cake, When you take a piece and hold it up to your nose, you close your eyes and smell sweet, cinnamon, creamy and comforting. You take a small bite, your mouth is filled with moist dense cake crumbs, you taste carrot and cinnamon, and the fluffy, creamy icing thats slightly tangy on your tongue. You open your eyes and see the next wonderful bite ready to be taken...

I really enjoyed this Sweet Melissa Sunday recipe, so much so that I made this at the start of the week, rather then waiting for the weekend. I made a couple of changes with the recipe, I halved the sugar in the cake, and used raw sugar. I also substituted half the flour with wholemeal. I found the cake delicious and the wholemeal flour gave the cake a lovely moist wholesome flavour.

Thank you to Julie at 'A Little Bit of Everything' for hosting this week, please visit Julie for the recipe and also the other SMS bakers to see how they got on.

Chocolate Pastry - Tart of Currants and Quatre epices Mousse - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2010-01-10T12:49:00.000-08:00

A lovely chocolate piecrust to start the new year with. I thought a white chocolate mousse filling with quatre epices would go nicely with the chocolate pie crust.

SMS Chocolate Pastry

1 cup plus 2 tsp Flour
1/3 cup unsweetened Cocoa Powder
2 tb Sugar
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tb cold Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
1/4 cup Cold Solid Vegetable Shortening
3-4 tb Ice water

In a large bowl whisk together flour, cocoa sugar & salt. Toss the butter into the flour mixture. using a pastry blend, cut the butter into the flour until it is the size of large peas.

Pinch off small pices of the shortening into the flour mixture and toss to coat. Using the pastry blender, continue cutting the butter and the shortening into the flour mixutre, until they are the size of small peas.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixutre. Pour about half of the water into the well, and, with a fork, pull the flour into the well. Continue mixing until the dough just comes together. Add more water if needed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Gather the dough into a ball. Flatten it into a round disk, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hr before rolling it out.

Roll out the dough to fit into the 9-inch or 10inch pie plate. Pop into the freezer for at least an hour, or or until frozen.

Preheat oven to 180C, pop the pie straight into the oven from the freezer - this stops the pastry from shrinking. Bake for 15-20min.

Quatre Epices White chocolate mousse

1/2 Cup Currants, soaked in rum overnight.

Dash of Allspice, ground
Smidgen of Cinnamon, ground
Smidgen of Nutmeg, ground
Smidgen of Cloves, ground

100ml Milk
1tsp Gelatine
4tsp Water
220ml Single Cream
200g White chocolate

Mix gelatine with water and leave to dissolve. Heat milk gently, add the four spices, then stir in gelatine mix.

Break chocolate into small pieces in a heat proof bowl. Pour over hot milk mix, stir until blended. Cool to room temperature.

Whip cream until stiff peaks form. Fold into chocolate mix.

Spread currants into baked pie shell and pour mousse over the top. Chill to set.

Enjoy!

Sad Red Strawberry Pie Re-visited

2009-11-04T00:47:00.000-08:00

Firstly, apologies for the complete lack of blogging last month, it was a very hectic month to say the least.

The Sad Red Strawberry Pie got created when I got back from a visit to Sydney at the beginning of the year after spending some time with a wonderful and very lovely man who lives there. Life being what it is I have spent this year in New Zealand and he has spent this year in Sydney.

Visiting Sydney last week I ended up going for an unexpected job interview, and then being offered the job in Sydney, so I have decided to take it! Which means a lot of things to sort out before moving overseas in less then a month.

Last Sunday we had a wonderful lunch at the new house with a lovely bunch of folks, to finish I couldn't think of a more appropriate dessert then to make the Sad Red Strawberry Pie - to celebrate the end of sad strawberry farewells :)

A Feast for the Eyes

2009-10-05T21:40:00.000-07:00

Since starting this blog earlier in the year I have had a growing interest in food photography.

Recently I had a wonderful opportunity to be involved in shooting the dishes for the online menu at Mon Ami Cafe, this was a great chance to learn a lot about food styling, food photography and a lot about lighting and its effect on dishes and moods.

Here is a selection of shots of the lovely food made by Francois...

Crumble Photo's - Not quite Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-10-04T19:11:00.001-07:00

I didn't get to the Sweet Melissa Sunday's Apple Orchard Pecan Crumble this weekend,
but here are a couple of photos of a delicious Chocolate Banana Crumble from the photo shoot I was on this weekend at Mon Ami Cafe.

(Yes, we do get to taste these afterwards, and this was simply delicious!)

Caramalised Onion and Chedder Savoury Muffins - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-09-26T19:55:00.000-07:00

I love savoury muffins, one of my favourite weekend cafe breakfasts is nothing more then a flat white coffee and a freshly baked savoury muffin! This weeks Sweet Melissa recipe was simply delicious, what a better pairing for savoury muffins then a gourmet twist on the old favourite combination of cheese and onion.

The caramalised onions are naturally sweet, but I added a spoonful of treacle to enhance the sweetness and also add a nice earthy flavour. Luckily I had some lovely purple sage growing in the garden I was able to add to the muffins.

I took these tasty treats with me to a friends birthday BBQ and they seemed to go down quickly.

Thanks to Hanaa from Hanaa's Kitchen for picking this weeks recipe, you can find the rest of the bakers at Sweet Melissa Sundays.

Orange Scented Scones - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-09-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

Gosh I've been so busy with Pies lately that I've neglected my lovely Sweet Melissa Baking group!

Orange Scented Scones sounded like a lovely easy recipe that couldn't go terribly wrong. Now I did want little scones but the mix was a bit wet and these came out looking a bit more like cookies. I should have added more flour, but was sticking to the recipe (for once!)

If you would like the recipe please visit Robin of Lady Craddock's Bakery

These tasted ok with some lovely Seville Orange Marmalade and whipped chocolate cream, but when it comes to scones, I'll be sticking to Lemonade Scones - can't be beaten for simple, delicious, light, flaky scones.

Mighty Mighty Market Pies

2009-09-11T19:22:00.000-07:00

The Market was wonderful, I managed to sell all the slices of pie and got to go home early! It was a really fun afternoon. My little cards I got printed with a link to L'Amour de Tarte blog came in the post the day before - which was very lucky! Quite a few of them got taken, so welcome to anyone who is visiting after the Market!

Here are some pictures of the lovely pies and the stall.

Crepe Tart - Market

2009-09-10T21:44:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of the lovely crepes that went into the Crepe Pie - Enjoy.

Bacon, Egg and a few secret ingredients Pie

2009-09-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

Growing up watching my Dad make rows and rows of pies in the Bakery, I never really thought about making them that much, it seemed like such a natural thing, I never really put too much stock in recipes. Dad used to make amazing Bacon and Egg pies, which I loved to eat some mornings with a good squirt of Tomato Sauce on top!

I have made my own changes to the basic recipe, I have put the tomato sauce in the form of tomato chutney and used fennel seeds to give it a pleasant hint of aniseed.

1x 25x25cm Square Tin
400g Short Pastry
1x Sheet Puff Pastry (enough to cover top of pie)
1x Onion, diced
1 Cup Tasty Cheese, grated
1/2 Cup Vinegary home-made Tomato Relish (if using store brought, tip into a bowl and mix with malt vinegar until nice and tangy)
9x Eggs
500g Smoky Bacon, large dice (Kelburn Butcher do the best bacon I've ever tasted)
1/2 Cup Cream
Fennel Seeds
Salt
Pepper

Roll short pastry out to cover the bottom of the greased pie tin.
Sprinkle with fennel seeds.
Spread onion and cheese over pie base, top with tomato relish.
Break six of the eggs over the base of the pie, leave whole, salt and pepper to taste.
Spread bacon over the eggs.
Mix remaining eggs with cream, salt and pepper and pour over bacon.
Add puff pastry to top of pie and seal edges.
Make cuts in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape.
Brush pie shell with milk and sprinkle fennel seeds over the top.
Bake at 190C for 30-40min until golden and knife comes out clean.

Market Update - Menu

2009-08-31T21:20:00.000-07:00

After much debate, I have finalised the pies for the market stand next weekend;

Chocolate Mousse & Orange Blossom Tart
Chocolate Hazelnut Pavlova Tart
Lemon and Sugar Crepe Pie
White Chocolate, Frangipane and Berry Tart
and a classic Kiwi Bacon and Egg Pie...

I have decided to go with tried and true, I figure there will be lots of time for the others later on (such as the mango caramel tart! - shh)

Simple Chocolate Fruit Tart

2009-08-29T21:48:00.000-07:00

A tart that the children would like... I have so many idea's when it comes to tarts and pies for adult taste buds, it is so easy to forget the simple taste buds children have. It was nice to think in plain uncomplicated flavours again, and what is more simple and delicious then a simple chocolate and fruit tart.

1x Pie Shell, parbaked.
200g Chocolate
200ml Cream
Fruit/berries to decorate.

Melt the chocolate and cream for the ganache in a saucepan, chill.
When ganache is firm beat until fluffy.
Spread into cold pie shell.
Decorate with fruit/berries, chill until ready to eat.

Chocolate, Praline and Hazelnut Tart

2009-08-27T02:51:00.000-07:00

A chocolate themed cooking competition at Mon Ami, a tart of course, but which one?! After reading some wonderful things about a dark chocolate tart with praline I thought this one might be a lovely idea for the competition.

Alas it only came second, but was a delicious tart nevertheless.

Ingredients
1x Pie Shell, parbaked

160ml Cream
40ml Milk
200gm Chocolate (61% cocoa solids), finely chopped

Milk chocolate praline filling
150gm Hazelnuts, roasted and skins removed
175gm Caster sugar
300ml Cream
400gm Dark chocolate with whole roast hazelnuts, finely chopped

Milk chocolate praline filling

Combine sugar and 60ml water in a small saucepan,
stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.
Bring to the boil, cook until dark caramel in colour (4-5 minutes), pour over nuts.
Stand until cool and set (8-10 minutes), process in a food processor until finely ground.
Bring cream to the simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat,
add chocolate, stir until smooth, remove from heat,
stir in two-thirds of praline mixture (reserve remaining to serve).
Spoon into pastry case, smooth top, refrigerate until just set (1½-2 hours).

Combine cream and milk in a small saucepan, bring to the simmer over medium-high heat.
Add dark chocolate, remove from heat, stir until smooth.
Spread over tart, refrigerate until just set (45 minutes-1 hour).

Cut into wedges with a hot knife and serve immediately scattered with reserved praline.

First ever market stand!

2009-08-24T19:44:00.000-07:00

Cuba St in Wellington, NZ is quite well known as one of the funkiest and quirkiest streets in the city. One of the biggest and most fun days in the Capital is the Cuba St Carnival which gets bigger every year! One of the stars of Cuba st is Mighty Mighty, which is one of those places that sums up Cuba st and NZ without even trying.

Once a month Mighty Mighty dedicate half of the floor space to have a market, which I have picked up some very nice little treasures! After having a lovely chat with the organisers last time I was there, I thought it would be fun to have stall and sell slices of pie :) This means I will get to make a few new pie ideas from my notebook (which has now surpassed the 40 ideas mark) but also to remake a few favourites! So on the 5th of September I will be at the Mighty Mighty Market seeing if anyone wants to buy a slice or two of pie...

Chocolate, Butterscotch and Rosewater Birthday Cake

2009-08-19T15:50:00.001-07:00

A while ago one of my friends from work asked me if I would like to make a cake for her partners 30th Birthday, for about 60 people!! So of course I said I would love to! It took a few weeks to decide which flavours would work.

After a couple of trial runs we eventually decided on a layered chocolate sponge cake. The layers were drizzled with a butterscotch rosewater syrup and filled with a butterscotch mousse filling. The cake was then topped with a generous layer of whipped dark chocolate ganache.

White Chocolate and Berry Tart.

2009-07-28T18:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to take a couple of tarts with me to the snow this weekend, so I thought a nice frangipane tart is always a crowd pleaser. White chocolate and red berries is a natural match and would also go superbly with the frangipane mix.

1x Pie shell (21cmx2.5), par-baked

2Cups Berries (I used Raspberries and Boysenberries)
60g White chocolate
2Tbs Cream
1tsp Rosewater
150g Butter, unsalted
150g Caster Sugar
175g Blanched Almonds, ground
2x Eggs, lightly beaten

Melt chocolate and cream in a bain-marie until combined, remove from heat and add rosewater.
Brush over tart shell. Chill until set.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in almonds and eggs.
Spread frangipane mix over the chocolate in tart shell.
Place berries on frangipane mix.
Bake at 180C for 60min.

Cosy Winter Pie

2009-07-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

I thought of this combination after stumbling across a recipe for Gajar Halwa and thought the flavours sounded delicious. A sweet wholemeal pie shell with this wonderful carrot mix and topped with a creamy rice pudding. What a delicious comforting winter pie. As I was heading to the mountain and snow this weekend I thought this would be the perfect pie to take along. Now some might argue that Gajar Halwa is not the correct name for this dish, but that is what the internet said and who am I to argue with the internet ;)

1x Pie shell (Sweet wholemeal pastry with cinnamon)

Gajar Halwa
20g Butter
4x Cardamom Pods, lightly crushed
3 Cups Carrot, grated and packed
1x Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1tsp Rosewater
4Tbs Hazelnuts, ground
1/2 tsp Nutmeg, grated

Rice Filling
400ml Milk
65g Arborio Rice
Zest of one Lemon
1x Vanilla Pod
115g Unsalted Butter, softened
50g Sugar
2x Eggs, separated.

Gajar Halwa
Melt butter and add cardamom pods, fry for a few minutes before adding the carrot.
Fry until dry and then add the milk.
Cook for 10min or until really thick and mix begins to come off the sides of the pan.
Add the hazelnuts and cook for a couple more minutes.
Remove from the heat and add the rosewater and nutmeg.

Rice Filling
The day before...
Pour the milk into a saucepan, add rice, lemon zest and vanilla pod.
Bring to the boil, stirring.
Lower the heat and cook gently, uncovered for about 45minuites or until the rice has absorbed the milk.
Remove from heat, remove vanilla pod.
Cover the pan and leave in a cool place overnight.
The next day
Beat butter and 25g sugar together until light and fluffy, add yolks.
Mash the rice with a fork and beat into the creamed mixture.
Whisk egg whites until stiff, beat in remaining sugar and fold into the rice mix.

Assembling the pie.
Spread the Gajar Halwa over the base of the tart shell.
Pour over the rice mix and level the surface.
Bake at 180C for 30-35min until filling is set and puffed.

Cinnamon Cherry and Ginger Mousse Tart

2009-07-17T22:12:00.000-07:00

Another delightfully winter pie, delicious dark chocolate pie case with tangy spiced cinnamon cherries topped with an intense ginger infused mousse. Perfect for a cosy night in with a chilled glass of mead.

There may look to be quite a few ingredients but it creates a earthy, tangy slightly sweet cherry mix which compliments the lightly sweet, creamy ginger mousse beautifully.

1x Chocolate pie shell, 20x5cm, baked and brushed with melted dark chocolate.

3 Cups Cherries (Sweet)
3Tbs Port
3Tbs Water
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Star Anise
2 Cloves
Pinch Salt
6 Twists Pepper (from grinder)
1Tbs Treacle
1tsp Red wine Vinegar
1tsp Rosewater
1tsp gelatin/agar

4cm piece Ginger root, peeled and grated.
300ml Cream
1tsp Ginger powder
1Cinnamon Stick
2Tbs Sugar
2 Eggs, separated

Day One
Combine cherries, port, water, cinnamon, star anise and cloves in a saucepan, simmer gently for 10min.
Add salt, pepper, treacle and vinegar, simmer for a further 5min.
Whisk in rosewater and chill over night.

Combine cream, ginger root and ginger powder in a saucepan and heat very gently for 20min.
Pour into a glass jar with a cinnamon stick and chill overnight to infuse.

Day Two
Drain the liquid from the cherries into a saucepan and heat gently, dissolve gelatin and then add cherries. Leave to cool.
When cool pour into pie shell and chill for an hour.

Pour the ginger infused cream through a sieve, add egg yolks and beat until light and fluffy.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add one tablespoon of sugar at a time and beat until smooth and glossy.
Fold egg whites through ginger cream 1/3 at a time.
Pour onto chilled cherry mix and chill for a further few hours or overnight.

Classic Bakewell tart with Cherries - Daring Bakers

2009-06-29T14:01:00.000-07:00

"The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England."

After much experimenting lately I wanted to do a fairly classic tart. Sometimes we spend so much time looking for new and exciting things, it becomes comforting to have something familiar and traditional. We crave something reliable, something habitual. I made a Bakewell Tart with Black Doris Plum Jam and Sweet Red Cherries pushed into the frangipane filling.

1x Pie Shell (21cm x 2.5cm)
1 Cup Black Doris Plum jam
150g Butter, unsalted
150g Caster Sugar
175g Blanched Almonds, ground
2x Eggs, lightly beaten
12 Cherries

Par-bake pie shell for 12min.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in almonds and eggs.
Heat jam slightly and spread over the base of the pie shell.
Top with frangipane mix.
Push cherries lightly into frangipane mix.
Bake for 60min at 180C.

Enjoy with a nice cup of tea, while thinking about your next adventure.

Butterscotch Souffle Tart with Caramalised Cashews - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-06-20T21:56:00.000-07:00

This weeks Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was Butterscotch Cashew Bars. I thought this would translate well into a delicious light butterscotch tart with caramelised cashews.

1x Pie Shell (21cmx5cm), parbaked
1/2 Butterscotch Sauce Recipe Below (1Cup+extra for pie shell)
2Tbs Flour
3x Eggs, separated
pinch of tartar
120g Cashew Pieces
1Tbs Demarera Sugar

Pour enough butterscotch sauce to cover the base of the pie shell.
Add egg yolks and flour to the remaining butterscotch sauce, mix.
Whisk egg whites and tartar to stiff peaks.
Fold the egg whites into the butterscotch mix 1/3 at a time.
Tip butterscotch mix into the pie shell, bake at 180C for 35-40min, until centre is set.
Put cashew pieces into a dry non-stick pan and lightly toast.
When toasted sprinkle with demarera sugar and cook until sugar has melted and coated the cashews.
Spread onto a tray lined with baking paper, and separate into small pieces, cool.
When tart is removed from the oven, sprinkle over the caramelised cashews so they sink into the tart.

Butterscotch Sauce

450g Sugar
50g Liquid Glucose
150ml Water
100g Butter, cubed and chilled.
3x Eggs, lightly beaten with a splash of milk

Combine sugar, glucose and water in a small non-stick saucepan. Heat gently until everything has dissolved.
Increase the heat and bring to the boil.
Cook until the syrup turns a rich brown colour.
Whisk in the chilled butter, leave to cool for 5-10min.
Whisk in eggs, may need to gently heat the pan.
Pour into a sterilised jar to keep.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Almonds - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-06-14T00:30:00.000-07:00

As I have been away for the last two Sundays I have missed out on participating in Sweet Melissa Sunday's. These cookies sounded delicious, and although they are clearly not a pie they were cute enough to make it here. If you are after the recipe be sure to check out http://sweetmelissasundays.wordpress.com/ you can also find the other wonderful bakers there.

Blackcurrant and Tamarillo Frangipane Tart

2009-06-11T01:38:00.000-07:00

Such a mixed week has gone by, just when you think your starting to untangle the giant ball of wool that is life, you look around and realise you have simply gotten tangled in the mess...

Tomorrow is another wonderful 'Whisky, Wine, Sugar and Spice and all things Delicious' evening at work, where the idea is to bring along a bottle of your favourite drink and food to accompany. I decided on wine and of course pie, now what pie to bring.... As my heart is a bit heavy this week I have a winter version of the Sad Red Strawberry Pie. Blood red blackcurrants and blood red tamarillo mixed with a comforting frangipane filling. The base is lined with chocolate to protect the delicate pastry and contain all the wonderful red juice...

1x Pie Shell, par-cooked, 21cm
60g Chocolate, melted
1 Cup Blackcurrants
2Tbs Corn Flour
2Tbs Sugar
150g Butter, unsalted
150g Caster Sugar
175g Blanched Almonds, ground
2x Eggs
Ix Tamarillo, peeled and segmented

Brush the melted chocolate into the pie shell.
In a bowl mix the blackcurrants, cornflour and first measure of sugar, tip into pie shell.
Whisk butter and second measure of sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in almonds and eggs until smooth.
Lightly press frangipane mix over blackcurrants until the berries are covered.
Decorate with tamarillo segments.
Bake for 45min at 180C or until golden on top.

Enjoy with a cold, sweet glass of wine while listening to the winter rain falling on the roof and thinking of those that you cherish but can't be with.

New Camera and Chocolate ;)

2009-06-08T00:41:00.000-07:00

Feijoa and Rosewater Custard Pie

2009-05-31T23:43:00.000-07:00

This delicious little pie has been in the pie book waiting for two things, firstly for Feijoa's to be in season, and secondly for me to overcome my fear of making custard from scratch! The last few times I attempted custard, I seemed to somehow end up with sweet scrambled eggs, not ideal.

While spending a wonderful long Queens Birthday weekend in Martinborough, I discovered a Feijoa tree hiding in the back garden. This brought back delightful memories of my grandparents Feijoa tree by the vegetable garden and eating feijoas until I felt ill. I made sure to pop enough fruit for a pie in a bag and took them home with me.

What could be a more wonderful comforting pie for the first day of winter then Feijoa and Rosewater Custard Pie.

1x Pie Shell, par-cooked, 21cm
1/4 Lemon, juiced
1 Cup Feijoa pulp, diced
1Tbs Honey
1Tbs Rosewater
2Tbs Cornflour

300ml Cream
150ml Milk
2 Eggs
2 Egg Yolks
100g Sugar
55g Flour
1tsp Vanilla Extract
3Tbs Rosewater

Squeeze lemon into a bowl to toss the feijoa pulp in as you are scooping it out to stop it going brown.
Mix in honey, rosewater and cornflour.
Spread mix onto pie shell.
Heat cream and milk in a saucepan, do not allow to boil. Beat eggs, yolks and sugar until sugar has dissolved and mix is light and lemon coloured. Mix in flour, then whisk in the hot cream. Tip mix back into saucepan. Heat gently, still stirring.
Heat for 2-3min until mix begins to thicken, stirring all the time.
Remove from heat and add vanilla and rosewater.
Tip custard onto feijoa mix and spread evenly.
Bake at 180C for 45min.

If you can not get hold of Feijoa's I suppose this would work with apples, but the fragrant feijoa and aromatic rosewater compliment each other beautifully, this is one of my most delicious pies of the year, I will be making it again very soon...

Sour Cherry Pie with Pistachio Crumb - Sweet Melissa Sundays

2009-05-24T22:36:00.000-07:00

How wonderful that my first week taking part in Sweet Melissa Sundays was a pie recipe! Sour cherries are not very easy to get hold of in NZ at the best of times (unless you are lucky enough to have a tree) so I used some lovely Morello cherries for this pie, I also added some sliced fresh rhubarb as I thought it would be lovely with the other flavours in this pie, I only used half oat flour and half whole oats, as I prefer the texture of whole oats in crumble. Since I was taking it into work with me for Quiz and Pie Mondays I also pre-baked the pie shell and brushed it with melted dark chocolate to prevent the pastry getting soggy from the fruit filling.

I can't post the recipe for this one, but if you want to bake along then keep an eye out for 'The Sweet Melissa Baking Book - by Melissa Murphy'

This pie was lovely, and got some very nice comments from those who got a piece at quiz - there were an unusual number of work folks at the quiz so I may need to start baking larger pies...

The tartness of the Rhubarb went wonderfully with the sour cherries and the chocolate lining the shell complimented the fruit filling nicely. The whole oats I left in the crumble added a lovely crunchy texture to the soft filling, this is one I'll be making again.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pavlova Pie

2009-05-16T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Pavlova pie has been in the pie notebook for a little while, and was yet to inspire me to do anything further then a quick idea on a page. However this week when I got sent some secret family recipes by my mother, one of which was for pavlova I was suddenly fill of new idea's around the Pavlova pie. I have come up with two versions, a luxurious chocolate hazelnut pavlova pie and also a traditional kiwi inspired pie, the latter will need to wait until kiwifruit and strawberries are back in season!

1x Pie Shell, par-baked (28 x 5cm - I used chocolate sweet short pastry)

Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache
160ml Cream
200gm Dark Chocolate, in small pieces

Cherry Filling
1/2 C Dried Cherries, soaked overnight in 1/4C Kirsch Liqueur
1/2 C Morello Cherries
1tsp Gelatin/Agar
1tsp Vanilla Essence

Pavlova
8 Egg Whites
12Tbs Castor Sugar
2tsp Vinegar
2Dsp Warm Water
140g Hazelnuts, roasted and crushed in mortar and pestle

Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache

Heat cream gently until small bubbles appear on the outside of the pan, do not boil. Pour over chocolate pieces and Frangelico and whisk until melted. Chill.

When cool whip ganache for three minutes, until light and fluffy. Chill.

Cherry Filling
Put dried cherries and Kirsch into a small saucepan with morello cherries and 1/4C water, heat until liquid looks syrupy. Put gelatin/agar into a small bowl and tip out some cherry juice from the pan to dissolve gelatin/agar, tip back into pan with vanilla. Chill.

Pavlova
Beat egg whites till stiff (90sec) add vinegar and water, beat till mixed in. Add sugar 1Tbs at a time, beat for 2min. Fold in hazelnuts.

Tip Pavlova mix into par-baked pie shell, spread evenly leaving a hollow for the filling when cooked. Bake at 150C for 10min, then turn stove off completely for 1hr.
When cool spread Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache around the inside of the pavlova, leaving a pavlova border and a hollow for the Cherry Filling. Chill for 2hrs. Pour Cherry Filling into the centre of the pie. Chill.

The pie didn't have enough pavlova for my liking , as I wanted a layer on the sides and base, so I have doubled the quantity of pavlova. I made a rather large pie, so feel free to adjust the quantity for smaller pies!

Dark Chocolate, Coffee Bean and Caramelised Walnut Tart

2009-05-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

1x 21cm Pie Shell, parbaked

200ml Cream

220g Dark Chocolate, in small pieces

2Tbs Liqueur (I used Irish Cream, Whisky or Frangelico would also work well in this one)
1x Shot Espresso
4Tbs Coffee Beans, roasted
1 Egg

2 Tbs Flour
30g Walnut pieces, finely chopped
30g Butter, melted
30g Sugar, brown

1/3C Walnut halves

1Dsp Sugar

Heat cream gently until small bubbles appear on the outside of the pan, do not boil. Pour over chocolate pieces and whisk until melted, add liqueur and espresso. Chill.

When cool whip ganache for two minutes, add egg and whip for two more minutes.

Grind coffee beans and add to ganache with the flour. Fold through.

Mix the walnut pieces, butter and brown sugar to a paste and brush in pie shell, bake at 180C for 10min.

Pour chocolate mix into pie shell and bake at 130C for 20min.

While pie is in the oven put walnuts in a non-stick pan and sprinkle with the sugar, cook until glossy and golden, 4 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan continuously. Set aside.

After 20min carefully pull pie out and arrange walnuts decoratively over the pie.

Cook for a further 15min or until set.

I decorated my tart with a sesame glaze, pure indulgence!

Delicious Citron Tart

2009-05-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

I love citron tart, so tangy and fresh and simply delicious. I have been trying to find a recipe for the perfect mix of sweet, and tangy and amazing citrus flavour. Last time I attempted a citron tart, the filling did not set and I was left with a delicious but sloppy tart, after this I have been put off trying a citron tart again! However, I was given a most wonderful recipe book this week - French Lessons by Justin North. It has inspired me to try another citron tart, and as you can see the filling set beautifully!

5 Whole Eggs
1 Egg Yolk
100g Sugar
200ml Cream
130ml Citrus Juice
2Tbs Zest

Combine eggs, yolk and sugar in a bowl until well combined.
Stir in the cream, citrus juice and zest.
Cover and refridgerate overnight.
Pour filling into a par-baked pie shell and bake for 35min at 180C.

Rest for at least 30min before serving

Apple, Walnut & Frangipane Tart

2009-04-12T22:36:00.000-07:00

What is more Autumn then juicy apples and fresh walnuts. Every day when I walk outside there are walnuts everywhere to be collected from my wonderful walnut tree, what a better use for walnuts then adding them to a lovely frangipane mix and topping with tasty apples.

1x Pie Shell, biscuit shell below or sweet short.
1/2 cup dates, chopped
1tsp baking soda
350g Blanched Almonds, ground
300g Butter, Unsalted
300g Caster Sugar
3x Eggs
1/2 Cup Walnuts, chopped
1x Apple, sliced thinly

Soak dates in baking soda and 1 cup boiling water for 30min.
Whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in almonds and eggs until smooth, stir in the walnuts.
Freeze half of the frangipane mix for another pie.
Spread drained dates over pie base.
Fill pie shell with frangipane mix and decorate with apple slices.
Bake for 1hr at 180C, or until golden.
Remove from oven and brush apple slices with apricot jam or honey.
(If using biscuit pie shell, bake with a tray underneath as you will get butter leaking out of the pie)

Biscuit Pie Shell
220g plain biscuits, crushed (I used girl guide)
75g Butter, softened
1x Egg
1 tsp Cinnamon
Zest 1 Lemon

Mix biscuits, butter, egg, cinnamon and zest together.
Press evenly into 21cm pie dish, bake at 180C for 6min.

Chocolate Mousse & Orange Blossom Tart

2009-04-07T19:50:00.000-07:00

What could be a more appropriate pie for an easter baking competition at work then chocolate. I thought a dense dark chocolate mousse would go deliciously with tangy marmalade and fragrant orange blossom water. The judges must have agreed as they gave it first place!

Ingredients

1x Pie Shell, I used 21cm

2-3 Tbs Orange Marmalade

300g Dark Chocolate

3 Eggs, separated

pinch Salt
1/2 tsp Orange Blossom Water

100g Dark Chocolate, coarsely grated

Bake pie shell for 15min at 180C until golden, while warm spread marmalade over pie base.
Melt 300g chocolate over bain marie until 80% melted, remove from heat and stir until all melted.
Whip egg whites until soft peaks form, add salt and whip until smooth and glossy with stiff peaks.
Add a scoop of egg whites to the melted chocolate and fold in.
Add the egg yolks to the melted chocolate.
Continue folding the egg whites into the melted chocolate until all gone.
Add the orange blossom water to the mix.Cool, then add the grated chocolate.
Pour into pie shell and refrigerate overnight to set.

Easter Bunny Pie with Walnut Pastry

2009-04-07T02:40:00.000-07:00

My other entry into the work Easter Cooking competition, I thought cooking the easter bunny would be very tasty, if not a bit sad that there would be less chocolate going around.

1x Wild Rabbit, chopped into four pieces
2x med Onions, diced
220g smokey Bacon, diced into 2.5cm pieces
2x Apples, peeled and sliced
275ml Cider
425ml Chicken Stock

1 Bay Leaf

40g Flour
40g Butter
Salt and Pepper
1/2 whole Nutmeg, grated

110g Prunes, pitted and chopped
Caraway seeds to sprinkle on top

Place the rabbit pieces, onions, bacon, apples, cider, chicken stock, salt and pepper and bay leaf into the crockpot, cook on low for 8 hours or overnight.
When cool remove bones from rabbit.
Drain liquid from crockpot into a pot and heat gently on stovetop.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and cook for a minute.

Add the liquid and bring to the boil to thicken.
When thick turn off heat; add nutmeg, prunes and rabbit mix. Season to taste.
Pour mix into lined pie shell, top with walnut pastry and caraway seeds.
Bake for 30min at 220C

Pastry
300g Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
200g cold Butter, cubed
1/2 cup Walnuts, finely chopped
4-6 Tbs cold Water

Sift flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the cold butter until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the chopped walnuts.
Make a well in the centre, add the cold water and mix to form a dough.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30min.
Take 2/3 of dough and roll out to line 25cm diameter, 5cm deep pie dish.

Chocolate, Banana Meringue Pie

2009-03-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

A twist on the traditional banoffee pie, my love of chocolate combined with banana's, strawberries and topped with luscious meringue.

1x Pie Shell
100g Cream
200g dark Chocolate, broken into pieces.
2x Bananas, sliced
1 handful of Strawberries, sliced
Cinnamon
Brown Sugar
4x Egg whites
4 Tbs Sugar

Heat cream and pour over chocolate in a bowl, stir until chocolate is melted, cool.
Whip chocolate ganache until light, spread in pie shell.
Place sliced banana and strawberries on chocolate ganache, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
Whip egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks, spread over pie.
Bake for 10min at 220C or until meringue is golden.

Lemon and Sugar Crepe Pie

2009-03-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

Page 3 in the pie idea notebook. I love crepes with lemon and sugar, so the challenge of making a pie version of that was a pleasure! This may seem like a lot of effort, but it did not take long at all, I made it during one of my weeks where I am out every night, one step at a time. The crepes can be made a day or so ahead, the pie dish can be lined with pastry and frozen a week before hand. Then all that remains is making the filling and assembling the pie.

Crepe Pie

1x Pie shell, in cake tin or deep pie dish
9x Crepes
4 Tbs Caster Sugar
3 Eggs, Seperated
3 Tbs Lemon Curd
zest 1 Lemon, keep lemon for juice
250g Mascarpone

Bake pie shell for 15min at 180C, let cool.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add sugar and beat until stiff.
In a separate bowl beat mascarpone until light and creamy, beat in egg yolks, lemon curd and zest.
Fold egg whites into mascarpone mix 1/3 at a time. Chill for 30min before using.
Spread a layer of mousse into base of pie shell, top with a crepe and a squeeze of lemon.
Repeat layers of mousse, crepes and lemon juice until all used up, or top of pie shell is reached.
Finish with a crepe (I leave the best looking one for the top) and sprinkle with demarera sugar, caramelize sugar with a blow torch or with a spoon (heat a large metal spoon over a gas flame and run the back of the spoon over the sugar. Be careful, the spoon can get very hot)
Leave in the fridge to set, at least a few hours, overnight works well.

I made this without the squeeze of lemon between the layers and felt that it needed a little more tart lemon flavour.

Crepes

2 C Standard Flour
2 Eggs
2 C Milk
1 tsp Cinnamon (Feel free to adjust to taste, ditto with vanilla)
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 Tbs Sugar
Extra milk

If making these for crepe pie aim to use a pan that will give you crepes to snugly fit the diameter of the pie shell, excess pieces can be trimmed.

Mix all ingredients together, it will need extra milk to make a thin batter (appx 1/4-1/2 cup)
Heat a pan and melt a small slice of butter before adding crepe batter and swirling around to fill pan.
Should make about 12 crepes, these can be kept for a few days or frozen.

Tropical Pie

2009-03-15T01:21:00.000-07:00

A fruity little number that is refreshing on a light summers evening.

1x Pie Shell
3Tbs Passionfruit Curd
2 cups Fruit, chopped (Plums, Nectarines, Berries, Peaches, Bananas, Melon)
4x Egg Whites
2 Tbs Sugar
1/2 cup coconut, thread

Mix fruit with passionfruit curd, spread in pre-baked pie shell.
Whip egg whites with sugar until stiff peaks form, fold in coconut thread.
Spread onto pie and bake for 10min at 200C or until golden.

Plum & Chocolate Mousse Pie

2009-03-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

The weather has chilled this week, Autumn is well on the way. Plums are ample and I thought 5-spice would work wonderfully with plums and apples paired with dark chocolate mousse.

1 x Pie Shell
8 x Plums (I used Omega), chopped
1 x Apple, chopped
1 tsp 5-spice powder
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Sugar (any type)
1 x Vanilla Pod, seeds
200g 70%+ Chocolate, broken into pieces
2 x Egg Yolks
Pinch Salt
4 x Egg Whites
2 tsp Castor Sugar

Mix plums, apples, 5-spice, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla in an oven dish. Bake at 180C until soft (20min)
Melt chocolate in a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, remove when 80% melted and stir till all chocolate is melted.
Whisk egg whites, when stiff add sugar and whisk until smooth.
Whisk in egg yolks and salt to melted chocolate. Add 1/3 egg whites and mix well.
Carefully fold in remaining egg whites.
Spread cooled plum mix into base of pie. Top with chocolate mousse and grate lemon zest/chocolate over pie! Chill for an hour or overnight to set mousse.

Feel free to vary the amount of fruit and mousse depending on the size of your pie, I used a 21cm pie shell.

Sad Red Strawberry Tart

2009-03-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

After spending a weekend with a lovely man in Sydney I was returning home to Wellington, feeling rather bewildered and sad. I started thinking of strawberries, so fresh and romantic - crushed with the sadness of being apart....

1 x Pie Shell
150g Dark Chocolate
100g Cream
2 Cups Fresh Strawberries, chopped
1 Tbs Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tbs Fresh Mint, chopped
1 Tbs Icing Sugar
2 Tbs Kirsch Liquor

Bake the pie shell for 15min at 180 C
Crush strawberries, balsamic, mint, icing sugar, and kirsch together.
Leave to mingle for 30min.
Melt chocolate and cream together. Smooth into pie shell to cover base and sides, refrigerate until set.
Drain strawberry mix in a sieve, retain liquid.
Spread strawberries over the pie base.
Reduce liquid to a syrup. Drizzle over tart.
Grate dark chocolate and sprinkle fresh mint over top of tart.

Enjoy with friends and a nice glass of wine!