Cakes & Bakes: 7 best fruit pie recipes

There isn’t a much better way to round off an autumn or winter evening meal than a warming, filling, fruit pie. We love a slice with an afternoon coffee too.

Here are 7 of our favourite fruit pie recipes – they always go down a treat served with a dollop of cream, ice cream or custard.

Plum pie

I first made this pie prior to having a garden with a plum tree that produces abundantly. This recipe will therefore be revisited each year in September and October when our fruit is ripe and ready to be picked.

Vegan lemon meringue pie

This is a lovely pie… you’ll enjoy it whether you’re a vegan or not! The ‘meringue’ is made using aquafaba, the water left over after cooking chickpeas or other white beans. You whip it up and, as if by magic, you’ve got something that looks just like whisked egg whites.

Blueberry pie

I love blueberries! I buy them frozen in bags and pop them into porridge, smoothies, my home-made yoghurt… and pies. Blueberries are considered by some to be a super-food, they contain all manner of vitamins and other health-boosting chemical compounds.

Rhubarb & berry shortcake pie

This recipe is like a cross between a pie, a crumble and a biscuit. It’s lovely straight out of the oven with a dollop of clotted cream. It’s just as good cold and is very good as a picnic or al fresco dessert; it wraps up easily and travels well.

Cherry pie

This sweet yet tart fruit pie is encased in a delicious almond pastry – the two flavour compliment each other well.

Apple & blackberry pie

As well as a plum tree, we have a number of apple trees. There are lots of blackberry bushes growing wild in the area near where we live. Apples and blackberries ripen at the same time time of year; and the two flavours are a match made in heaven. So this is a two birds, one stone kind of pie!

Luxury mince pies

Last, but not least, is something for Christmas; mince pies. I must confess, I like mince pies so much that I don’t just eat them in December. I make mincemeat that keeps in (unopened, sterilised) jars for years. A batch of these little tasty morsels can be rustled up in a flash… any time of year!

Do you have any favourite fruit pie recipes that you enjoy cooking or eating?

Cakes & Bakes: Cherry pie

Justin’s favourite pie is bilberry, closely followed by strawberry. I on the other hand, like Twin Peaks’ Special Agent Dale Cooper, prefer a nice slice of cherry pie. Whatever the flavour, we agree on having it à la mode, with thick pouring cream… or better still, both!

A few weeks ago, I discovered bags of frozen cherries for sale at Lidl. I’ve often banged on about the nutritiousness, convenience and value for money of frozen blueberries… well, the same goes for cherries.

To give the pie a bit of a twist, I made a sweet almond pastry – a classic, complimentary flavour to cherries.

The vibrant red fruit makes for a very attractive dish.

The combination of buttery pastry, tangy fruit and cold cream – truly delicious! What’s your favourite fruit pie?

Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest.

Cherry pie

Rating: 51

Prep Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Number of servings: 6

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Cherry pie

Ingredients

For the filling

500g/17½oz frozen cherries (de-stoned)
150g/5¼oz caster sugar

For the pastry

150g/5¼oz plain flour
50g/1¾oz ground almonds
20g/¾oz caster sugar
pinch of salt
100g/3½oz cold butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
2-3tbsp ice-cold water

To finish

A little milk to brush the pastry top
1tbsp flaked almonds

Method

In a large saucepan over a low heat, add the frozen cherries and 125g caster sugar. Stir carefully, occasionally until the sugar has fully dissolved and the cherries have thawed. Set aside to cool completely
In a food processor bowl, add the flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt. Pulse a couple of times to combine.
Add the butter and yolk and pulse 6-12 times until it reaches a breadcrumb texture
Add the ice-cold water, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing a couple of times between each addition until the texture begins to turn a bit lumpier
Empty the contents of the food processor bowl on to the middle of a 'cross' of two sheets of cling film. Use the cling film to bring together the pastry into a flattened disc. Chill in the fridge for an hour
Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
After the hour, divide the pastry into two uneven pieces - ? and ?s. Put the smaller piece back into the fridge
Grease a 25cm/10" pie dish. Set aside
Roll out the larger piece on a floured work surface into a circular shape and carefully push in down into the bottom and sides of the greased pie dish. Trim around the edge so that there's a ½cm overhang as there will be a little shrinkage
Cover the pie crust with a piece of parchment, cover with baking beans and blind bake in the centre of the oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely
Remove the smaller piece of pastry from the fridge and roll out into a round, slightly larger than the top of the pie dish
Fill the pie crust with the cooked cherry filling and some of the syrup
Brush the top edge of the baked & cooled pie crust with a little water and cover with the pastry top. Trim and softly press the pastry lid into the pie crust
Brush the top with a little milk and sprinkle the flaked almonds over the top
Cook for 30-40 minutes or until the top of the pie is golden brown
Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving with cream or ice cream

Luxury home-made mincemeat

Many people don’t like thinking about Christmas until the beginning of December – I know I don’t! However, there are a few things that need to be prepared well in advance for them to be at their peak for the big day. Christmas cake, sloe gin, piccalilli and home-made mincemeat are just a few.

I’m very fussy about my mincemeat; I don’t like it to be overly citrusy – so, very little orange or lemon zest & juice and no mixed candied peel. In addition, it needs to be veggie – so can only contain vegetarian suet. The only way to ensure it tastes the way I like it is to make it myself. A very easy job and well worthwhile. It works out much cheaper than the cost of ‘luxury’ jars of the stuff in supermarkets. Once made, potted up and put away correctly, it stores unopened for years!

Save my luxury home-made mincemeat recipe to Pinterest!

Luxury home-made mincemeat

2017-11-14 14:52:41

Ingredients

200g/7oz currants
200g/7oz raisins
200g/7oz sultanas
100g/3½oz dried cranberries
100g/3½oz figs, roughly chopped
100g/3½oz prunes, roughly chopped
30g/1oz blanched almonds*, roughly chopped
1 medium cooking apple, peeled, cored & finely diced
300g/10½oz muscovado sugar
200g/7oz vegetable suet
zest & juice of 1 lemon
3tsp mixed spice
½tsp cinnamon
¼tsp nutmeg
6tbsp rum or brandy
100g/3½oz butter, cubed

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Instructions

Put all the ingredients except the alcohol into a large saucepan over a low heat
Stir to ensure the contents are well combined and the suet and butter have melted (about 10 minutes)
Allow to cool completely before stirring in the alcohol
Decant into sterilised jam jars - gently bang the bottom of each jar to fit as much of the mincemeat in as possible.
Seal the jars immediately and store for at least a month before use

Notes

*To blanch almonds, put them in a heat-proof bowl and cover with boiling water. Allow to stand for 1-2 minutes before draining through a sieve. Pat them dry on some kitchen paper or clean tea towel. You can quickly get the skin off one by one by pinching the broader, rounded end of the nut

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Pear Galette

This week, we’ve watched the first in Rick Stein’s new series, Rick Stein’s Road To Mexico. His first port of call was California where he met up with Alice Waters, owner of Chez Panisse. While there, one of her chefs was filmed making a rhubarb galette – it looked amazing. It’s no longer rhubarb season, so I’ve made a pear galette instead.

I much prefer rustic, unfussy food like this to haute cusine with all its foams, purées and the like. A galette is just the kind of rustic dessert I crave on a cold autumn evening. A circle of sweet pastry covered with in-season fruit and roughly folded in on itself, free-form.

Instead of a pear galette (or rhubarb), you could make one with stone fruits such as peaches, plums, nectarines or apricots. How about apple & pecan, fig, blueberry or cherry?

A savoury galette with autumn & winter vegetables is also a great idea; carrots, beetroot, caramelised onion… with cheeses and/or herbs – the variations are endless!

It’s such an easy, versatile dish to prepare and cook – pastry with whatever meat, veg or fruit that you have to hand.

Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest!

Pear Galette

2017-11-09 08:05:55

Serves 8

For the pastry

320g/11oz plain flour
2tbsp caster sugar
¼tsp salt
115ml/4fl oz cold butter, cubed
4tbsp cold water

For the filling

2 dessert pears
3tbsp Demerara sugar
2tbsp fine semolina
25g/1oz flaked almonds
2tbsp melted butter

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If you don’t have Buy Me a Pie! app installed you’ll see the list with ingredients right after downloading it

For the pastry

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, caster sugar and salt
Using a food processor (on pulse) or hand pastry blender, cut in the cold butter until the butter is evenly distributed but still in large, visible pieces
Add the cold water all at once
Pulse until it begins to come together
Empty the pastry on to 2 lengths of cling film layered one over the other at right angles
Form the dough into a ball by lifting & bringing together the 4 ends of the cling film
Flatten the dough into a disk inside the cling film and chill in the fridge for at ½ to 1 hour
Once chilled, preheat the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6

For the filling

Core & evenly slice the pears and put them into a medium-sized mixing bowl
Sprinkle over 2tbsp of the Demerara sugar and toss to cover the pear slices evenly

To finish

Tear off 2 sheets of parchment paper of at least 35½² (14"²)
Roll the dough out between the two sheets into a 30cm (12") circle
Slide the dough on to a baking tray
Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle the semolina evenly over the top of the dough
Lay the slices of pear on to the top of the dough in a circle - leaving a 2cm/¾" gap from the edge. Make the slices slightly overlap and ensure you cover the entire surface
Sprinkle over the remaining tablespoon of the Demerara sugar and the flaked almonds
Fold the edge of the pastry over, making sure you overlap it on to itself as you go around
Brush the melted butter over the crust edge
Bake in the centre of the oven for 30-35 minutes until the top is golden brown
Slide the parchment with the galette on to a wire rack to cool for 10-15 minutes before consuming

Notes

Serve warm with cream or ice cream

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/