#7 Make a strawberry pie with my own strawberries
SOOoooo this one had to be slightly modified due to the fact that I am incapable of growing goddam strawberries for some reason!!! I have planted like, 6 or 7 strong strawberry plants now. Looked after them (mostly, kept them watered and shaded and loved... and the dam things either die from insects or they just never actually flower. I think this year after planting so many I have eaten 2 strawberries. Not enough for a pie.
But I still really wanted to knock this off my list! Instead of a strawberry pie, I thought "fuck, why not step it up and make a Cherry Pie instead!?" .. Cherries being my most fav fruit in the world you see.
So I did! And heres how:
YOU WILL NEED:
Pastry 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature ½ cup sugar (I used brown sugar) 1 egg ¾ cup plain flour ¾ cup self-raising flour Filling 1kg fresh cherries, pitted 2 tablespoons sugar pinch of ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ¼ cup water 1 tablespoon cornflour
MAKE THE MAGIC HAPPEN
Wash your cherries and pit with your hands. Enjoy cause this takes fucking ages and shit goes everywhere.
Combine sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and two tablespoons of the water in a large pan. Cook stirring over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add cherries and stir gently to coat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Remove from heat.
Combine cornflour and remaining water in a small bowl and stir into the cherries. Return to heat and cook, stirring gently for 3 to 4 minutes or until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat, cover and cool completely.
Your Cherry Filling is COMPLETE! Yeahhhh eat some, it tastes so good!
STEP 2, THE PASTRY Alot of people might skip this step, choosing to use premade pastry slices. Trust me when I say, dont be a lazy jerk. The pastry soaks up all the juice from the cherry filling and tastes so good you want to American Pie that shit! Preheat oven 180°C/ 160°C and grease a 20cm pie dish. Didnt take a photo of this step because seriously...
Using electric beaters, a fork.. whatever you got to mix butter and sugar together until light and creamy. Beat in egg. Add sifted flour (both types) and stir until mixture just comes together. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth. Press enough of the dough over base and up sides of dish to form a 5mm thick pastry case. Trim excess. Personally, I had NO excess because i was using such a huge pan for my tin thingie, but if you have left overs keep it for the top of the pie.
Place dish onto an oven tray. Line pastry with baking paper and fill with dried beans or rice (this is to stop it from raising too much). Bake for 20 minutes. Remove rice and cook for a further 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool and then spoon in cooled cherry mixture. Awwww yeah look at that shit! Roll out remaining pastry between two sheets of baking paper until 5mm thick and large enough the cover pie. Trim edge with a knife and press the edge to seal. If you want to get fancy, brush the top with beaten egg and sprinkle the pie with sugar! Cut a circle in the centre of the pastry top and discard. (this is to let the steam out so the center cooks properly)
^ I couldn't do any of that cause I had no left overs, so instead I used some pre-made sheets and tried my first pie lattice! I sliced the pastry into 1.5cm lengths and just layered them ontop of eachother, leaving about 1cm between each slice.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool in pan then cut and serve warm or cold. Serve with custard or ice-cream. awwww yeah put that in your mouth!