Here is a recipe that was never supposed to be a recipe.
Whilst putting together our Valentine’s Day Lookbook, I (Rebecca from the UK office) was assigned to take some photography of a pie as a simple, homemade dessert option. Confidently, I told the team that, although I am a terrible baker, I would happily buy a store-bought crust and a can of filling, put it in a tin and take a picture.
Then, the snow came.
In mid-January, when we started working on this guide, the UK was under a National Lockdown when we got about 5 inches of snow (a lot for us) — all meaning I couldn’t travel to get ready-roll and cheats filling.
So, I had to bake.
Using frozen plums from Mum’s garden and only four additional ingredients (from the most basic of pantries), I produced this super simple pie. Feel free to sub in any fruit you have and remember: if I can do it, anyone can.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ⅔ stick of butter (cold)
- ⅓ cup confectioners sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1lb fruit. Any red fruit: fresh, frozen – your choice!
- ¼ cup of granulated sugar
Tools
Directions
- To do things the old fashioned way: rub together your flour and cold butter in a bowl using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- To do things the lazy way: place flour and cold butter in a food processor and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs.
- Then (for both methods) add in the confectioners sugar and a pinch of salt followed by 1 egg yolk. If the dough feels too dry to form a crust, add 1 tbsp water.
- Shape the dough into a ball, flatten it out into a disc, wrap it in cling film, then chill for at least 30 mins whilst you make the filling.
- Take your fruit and make sure it is washed and cut into around ¾ inch cubes (or if using berries, just leave them whole). Add to a pan with your sugar (or sweetener of choice) and bring to a boil on hob.
- Watch it until it reduces to a thick, sweet filling – do not let it burn.
- Finally, place your fruit in the bottom of an dish – we used an Enamelware pan here for a small serving, but you could use our NEW pie pans.
- Then roll out your crust on a floured surface, and place over the top of the pie. We added a little decoration by cutting out a heart and crimping the edges with a fork, but you could go as basic or as fancy as you like.
- Bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes until the crust is golden brown on top.
- Serve immediately with cream, ice cream or crème anglaise.
