Twitter / pixie_me

Wednesday 28 July 2010

ApplePear Pie!


Okay so the photo isn't all that great. But I blame the lack of natural light and the fact that even though my mother and (I hope) other people who are related to me and see how much I like doing this... won't buy me a good digital cam. 

I've been thinking of making videos. 
But once again. I do not have the equipment... 
But well... I guess at least for now we'll have to settle with crappy photos and awesome recipes. 

( There is a giant ant walking around my battery cable) 

OK Like I've said the photos for this recipe aren't that good so... I will not post any photos for now. Hopefully though I will do this recipe again and then post the photos that (hopefully) will be better. 

(The giant ant has just pass by the top of the screen) 

Let me tell you one thing about this recipe. 

It's really good. I had never baked a pie, even though I had really wanted to. Mainly because of the oven issues but the other day I gathered some courage and decided to give it a go. 
Normally I would have followed one recipe through. But I had two really awesome recipes for making the dough that both shouted success. 
One, from Jamie at Home and the other one from The Hummingbird Bakery. 
None of this cookbooks has ever let me down. 
So, the natural thing for me to do (asides of maybe freaking out a bit?) was to combine the recipes. 
I didn't know if it was going to work out at first, but, as it turns out it did!
The pie was gone within an hour it came out of my "wannabeovenpan" devoured by my boyfriend (who took some back to my mother&father in law) my sister, my mother (who had the last piece) and my father. I would like to say I had a bit, but being honest I had half of a piece so it doesn't really count, does it? 
It was delicious nonetheless. 

OK so for the Dough this is what I used: 

260g Plain Flour. 
A pinch of Salt. 
1 stick of butter, cut in small pieces. 
Zest of one Lemon. 
A little bit of Ginger. 
I got excited with the Cinnamon. 
3 tablespoons of water. 
2 tablespoons of sugar. 
2 teaspoons of Vanilla. 

This is how I did it: 

1. First I mixed the Flour, Salt, and Sugar together. Then I added the butter and with a rubber spatula I mixed  until it resembled a coarse meal. 

2. Next, add the table spoons of water and add the Vanilla, Cinnamon, Ginger and Zest and begin to knead right until you get a nice smooth looking Dough. 

( The giant ant closes in...I'm going to continue writing this in my bedroom...)

3. Let it rest for about one hour. And during that hour we cook the filling. 

For the Filling: 

Three Apples, peeled and sliced. 
Two Pears, peeled and sliced.
Butter. 
Piloncillo. 
(In mexico, we have this small cone-figured thing called piloncillo which is basically used for sweating desserts, my mother uses it specifically for Ponche during Christmas time, I googled it and it translates as Brown sugar) 
Cinnamon.
1/4 of milk. 

I did it like this: 

1. Put the butter in a pan and wait for it to melt before adding the fruits. You want to coat them entirely in the butter. 

2. Next, add the cinnamon, milk and piloncillo ( If you are using brown sugar just wait for it to dissolve) If you are using Pilloncillo you'll notice that it takes an awful time to melt. So once I saw the mixture was watery enough and was sweet enough and yummy enough I took out the piloncillo and allowed it to cool. in a small tray. 

But it all together now! 

1. Alright, first you need your baking dish. Next you take your rested dough and cut it in half. 
Work the first half until it is as thick and long as you want it and place it on the dish. Press tightly for it to stick. 

2. Work the other half again that will work as the top part. Once your filling is cool enough , pour it nicely into your already doughed dish. And gently put the top part on. Be sure to press tightly on the sides so it sticks together. (Or you can use egg wash) 

3. Dust the pie with with some sugar and cinnamon from a high and drizzle some of the mixture the fruits swam in. 

40 minutes in your oven and you are done baby!