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: Cheesy baked bean tartlets

I recently saw a picture somewhere (I can’t remember where) of little cheesy baked bean tartlets and thought they looked delicious.

I started by making a basic, savoury shortcrust pastry. After that, all that’s needed is a small can of baked beans and a little bit of grated cheddar. Only 4 ingredients – not counting the pinch of salt and tablespoon of water.

Just before I put them into the oven, Justin said something like, “Aren’t they getting any pie lids?”. As they’re cheesy baked bean tartlets, I wasn’t planning on topping them. However, I has some leftover pastry so re-rolled some and cut out four extra rounds.

The tartlets (and the mini-pies for, that matter) were lovely with a little smear of tewkesbury mustard that we got from Tracklements.

These tartlets are really easy to make – you can even buy ready-made pastry if preferred. They’d be perfect for a picnic or served at a buffet or children’s party.

Save my recipe to Pinterest by clicking here

Cheesy baked bean tartlets

2019-05-15 13:50:15

Yields 12

Cook Time

12 min

Cook Time

12 min

Ingredients

200g plain flour
pinch of fine salt
100g cold butter, cubed
1-2 tbsp cold water
(small) 220g tin baked beans
50g mature cheddar cheese, grated

Add ingredients to shopping list

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

Instructions

Put the flour, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse about a dozen times until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
Add a tablespoon of water and pulse again until small lumps begin to form. Add another tablespoon if necessary
Tip the mixture out on to a cross made from two lengths of cling film. Bring the four ends of cling film together and squeeze and pat down the mixture to form a dough. Chill in the fridge for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease a bun tin
Remove the chilled pastry from the fridge and roll out on a lightly floured work surface
Using a round pastry cutter slightly larger than the holes in the bun tin, cut out circles of pastry and carefully and evenly place them over the holes (If you'll be adding lids, brush around the edge with a little milk
Spoon about a teaspoonful of baked beans into each followed by a generous pinch of grated cheddar (brush the edge of the underside of each lid before carefully pressing it down on to the edge of the lower pastry round. Brush the top of the lid with a little milk or egg wash)
Cook for 12-15 minutes in the middle of the oven until the pastry has browned slightly
Remove from the oven and allow the tartlets to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before removing

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

Cakes & Bakes: Luxury mince pies

My home-made luxury mincemeat has been ‘resting’ nicely for a month. It’s now just about ready for me to make my first batch of mince pies.

We’ve got the luxury mincemeat, so how about a bit of luxury pastry too?!

I’ve gone for a buttery shortcrust pastry flavoured with almond. The flavours work so well together – and make for the perfect Christmas treat.

Compliment them with a cup of tea or glass of mulled wine, comfy chair and real fire (sleeping dog optional). It’s what Christmas (in fact, winter in general) is all about for us.

Click here to save my recipe to Pinterest for later!

Luxury mince pies

2017-11-23 11:42:40

Yields 12

For the mincemeat

For the pastry

180g/6⅓oz plain flour
70g/2½oz 'tant pour tant' (35g/1¼oz icing sugar + 35g/1¼oz ground almonds)
pinch of salt
125g/4½oz very cold butter, cubed
1½-2tbs cold water
A little beaten egg

Add ingredients to shopping list

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

Instructions

Put the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds and salt in a food processor. Pulse a couple of times to combine
Add the butter and pulse again until you get to the fine breadcrumb stage
Whilst still pulsing, add the ice cold water until the mixture begins to get lumpy - like dry scrambled eggs
Empty ⅔ of 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. Repeat with the remaining ⅓ of the pastry
Chill in the fridge for ½ to 1 hour
Once chilled, preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease a 12-hole or two, 6-hole muffin tins
Lightly flour your work surface, remove your larger ball of dough from the fridge, unwrap and divide it into 12 equal pieces (about 20-22g each)
One by one, roll each piece of dough into a ½cm thick round shape. Cut into perfect circles with a cookie cutter (or upturned drinking glass if you don't have one) that's slightly wider than the hole of your muffin tin. **Rolling each pie case individually means that you don't overwork the pastry by re-rolling over & over again**
Gently press the pastry rounds into the muffin tin holes (handy hint: use a small lump of pastry to do this if you have long fingernails!)
Spoon mincemeat into each pastry case and press down gently to level. Don't overfill
Get the smaller batch of dough out of the fridge and again divide into 12 equal pieces (about 11g each)
One by one, roll each piece of dough into a ½cm thick round shape. Cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. I used a star-shaped cutter but you can make other Christmas-y shapes like holly leaves, snowflakes, fir trees and the like!
Top each pie with the shaped pastry before brushing the tops with a little beaten egg
Bake for 12-15 minutes
Allow to cool in the tin completely before removing
Put on a cooling rack or serving plate and sprinkle/dredge with icing sugar

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

Cakes & Bakes: Cumin-spiced pumpkin chickpea pies

There were a couple of culinary firsts for me this week.

Firstly, I made a vegetarian hot water pastry, based on one I found in my Pie cookbook.

Instead of using lard, I used a bit of vegetarian suet.

I’ve never, ever eaten a pork pie (I’ve been vegetarian since the eighties). I had to ask Justin if my pastry was anything like it is meant to be… seeing as he eats this kind of raised pie on a regular basis. In fact, he buys & eats a pork pie every Thursday without fail – sharing it with Fudge on their walks after an early flea market foray.

My other first was cumin-spiced pumpkin chickpea pies.

We bought a pumpkin at Halloween so I was looking for a new way of using it.

I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin pie. Granted, I’ve only had it the once, but it didn’t leave fond memories.

I much prefer these squash type vegetables savoury rather than sweet.

It certainly makes a good substantial filling for this type of pie – great flavour too with the addition of the very complimentary curry spices.

This recipe makes quite a few, small pies. If like us you’re only likely to eat a few at a time, they can be frozen both before and once cooked.

They’re the perfect little autumn pies!

Cumin-spiced pumpkin chickpea pies

Print recipe Pin recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine British

Ingredients

For the pastry

275 g/10oz plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg
60 g/2oz butter
60 g/2oz vegetable suet
110 ml/4 fl oz cold water

For the filling

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbs curry powder
1 tsp chilli flakes optional
1 tin chickpeas 180g/6oz net
750 g/1lb 10½oz pumpkin cut into ½cm cubes
2 tsp salt
cracked black pepper to taste
1 bay leaf

Instructions

For the pastry

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl
Make a well in the centre and crack in the egg, then use the empty shell to flick a little of the flour over the surface of the egg so it's hidden
Put the water, butter and suet into a small saucepan and set over a medium heat, stirring until everything dissolves and the water is just coming to a boil
Remove from the heat and pour the hot mixture over the flour and egg
Mix continuously with a metal spoon (I used the dough hook and my electric mixer) until the mixture comes together into a ball
Tip on to a lightly floured work surface, knead briefly for about a minute before wrapping it in cling film, forming it into a fat sausage shape as you wrap
Chill in the fridge for 30-45 minutes to firm up before using

For the filling

In a large saucepan over a low heat, soften the chopped onion in the olive oil
Add the cumin seeds and then curry powder and chilli flakes and stir
Drain and rinse the chickpeas under the tap using a strainer before adding to the saucepan
Add the pumpkin, bay leaf, salt and black pepper, combining everything well before putting a lid on the pan and allowing it to cook for about 10 minutes
Once cooked, set aside and allow to cool completely
Cut a number of 1cm strips (2 per pie) of baking parchment to line the pie tin (I used a silicon muffin tray, see my image above). This is to help remove the pies easily once cooked
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas mark 4
Remove the pastry dough from the fridge, remove the cling film before slicing into 1cm rounds
Roll out or flatten the rounds and put half of them into the lined pie tins so that there is an overhang
Fill each pastry case with filling right to the top, before using the other pastry rounds to top the pies
Fold the overhanging pastry over the pie lid, crimping the edges to seal
Pierce the centre of each lid to allow steam to escape when cooking
Brush a little beaten egg over each lid
Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes
Allow to cool on a wire rack

Keyword chickpeas, hot water pastry, pastry, pie, pumpkin, vegetarian