Wednesday, October 8, 2008

You Want Pies With That?


You Want Pies With That (click on the link to see what the other challengers made) is a new blog challenge run by some other TWDers – each month there will be a theme and you have to make a pie or tart inspired by the theme. This month the theme is “I love that Movie!”. I took a while batting ideas about with some friends and thinking of movies I really love. My favourite movies include Shawshank Redemption (I couldn’t imagine prison food made into a pie!) and The Sound of Music (I did consider apple pie – apple streudel is one of the favourite things, but thought it was a bit boring).

However, another idea popped into my head – the line “Life is Like a Box of Chocolates” from Forrest Gump popped into my head. My friend suggested making a pie with different flavoured slices, like different flavoured chocolates! I wasn’t quite that ambitious, but made these mini pies instead – chocolate pies with a hokey pokey topping. Hokey Pokey or “crunchie” chocolates feature in Cadbury milk trays and my pie reflects that.

The pastry is a flaky pastry – you could easily buy ready made, but I made a rough flaky pastry using equal amounts of butter and flour and a little milk and vinegar to bind. I folded the pastry like a letter for an envelope four times to get the flaky texture. I then chilled the dough before slicing off sections and rolling them out to line the inside of muffin tins (in much the same way as you would when making Portugese tarts). I didn’t bake the pastry blind for my small pies, but I would if making a large tart.

The filling is a chocolate filling made by making a basic chocolate custard and then baking in the pastry shells. Using some cream in the custard filling gave the tarts a great mouth feel – creamy but with a bit of body. Once the tarts were cold I topped them with hokey pokey.

Hokey pokey is a fun thing to make with kids – in fact I remember making it as a science experiment at school. You gently melt 50g sugar and 2 tbsp golden syrup together, let it boil for a minute or so, then add ¾ tsp baking soda. The baking soda makes the sugar mixture puff up, it then sets to a crisp but chewy lolly. Yum!
We had the pies with whipped cream.



“Life is Like a Box of Chocolate Pies”
flaky pastry (make your own or bought would be fine)
35g sugar
1 tbsp plus 1 tsp cornflour
50ml milk
100ml cream
50g dark chocolate
2 egg yolks
hokey pokey to top

· Line muffin tins with pastry
· Combine sugar, cornflour, milk and cream in a small pot and stir over medium heat until thickened. Boil, stirring constantly for a minute
· Beat in egg yolks one at a time and then stir in chocolate until melted’
· Spoon into pastry cases and bake at 200c for 10-12 minutes or until custard is firm
When cold, top with hokey pokey

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, great idea! Looking at all of these is going to be so fun today/tomorrow. I'm really excited about this group.

Engineer Baker said...

Very nice. Gotta love pies, and definitely have to love mini pies. I'm intrigued by your pastry recipe though - sounds neat and different, but more work than the basic crust I make (and I'm lazy :P).

lauren said...

Tammy these look delicious just like everything else you make! I look at your blog every lunchtime at work and always get inspired to make lots of yummy treats!

Mary Ann said...

What a fun pie! I love the movie and the fact that you made minis! I will have to try making hokey with my kids, especially if it is like a science experiment!

Cakelaw said...

Yum - this is one chocolate from the box that I would love to bite into.

April said...

Your mini's look so good! I have never made hokey pokey, I need to add that to my list!

Anonymous said...

Mini pies- great idea, and something I have to remember for the future!

Elizabeth said...

How fun!

Anonymous said...

That's brilliant and looks absolutely fabulous!

Anonymous said...

Great job - gotta love the mini-pie.

NKP said...

I love the idea of mini pies. The hokey pokey sounds like fun and the movie choice is wonderful.

Megan said...

I haven't seen hokey pokey since, well, forever!! And thanks for the recipe!! I am going to teach the kids to make this - like today!!
Great pie!!

Anonymous said...

These are so pretty, and now I know what hokey pokeys are! Thank you for the lesson, and what perfect little pies.

Jacque said...

Cute pie! I think I made hokey pokey one time, trying to make some sort of candy. I remember it stuck to my teeth pretty good, lol. I'll bet it tastes fantstic with chocolate pie.

Tami said...

What a great idea! I can't wait to try making this pie - it sounds yummy and fun too! And great movie selection too :)