You Want Pies with That - April

The You Want Pies With That theme for April was Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. It took me a lot of thinking to come up with my pie for this theme, but I was really pleased with the results. Be warned, there is a big story that follows.

For those of my overseas readers who don’t know the history of my country, New Zealand was colonised by the English in the early nineteenth century and was part of the British empire (and now part of the Commonwealth). The Queen is still our reigning monarch and I think she is one of the world’s rich and famous. Now, back in 2004 my husband and I spent some time in Europe and part of that was about three weeks in total staying with friends in London. One particularly memorable, trip we took was to Windsor, a beautiful village just outside of London which is home to Windsor Castle. Going to Windsor Castle was just amazing. The history is incredible (incidentally I have a history degree as well as my law degree – history is my passion). But one of the other incredible things about Windsor was the fudge.

There is the most amazing fudge making shop in Windsor. Actually, I think that there are these fudge shops all over England – we spotted one in Bath as well. The varieties are delicious and you can actually see them making the fudge on a huge marble slab – there is an amazing technique which you have to see to believe. But the taste! Honestly, this is some of the best fudge I have ever tasted. So good that we spent 12 pounds on a box of fudge (roughly NZD $36). So, whenever I think of Windsor castle (where the Queen resides at Easter I think), I think of the fudge we ate in Windsor!

So, my pie for this month is Fudge cheesecake pie with a toffee sauce. I made 4 little individual pies but you could do 3 times the mixture to make a large 22 cm round pie. See how others interpreted the theme here.

Windsor Castle Fudge cheesecake pie

125g crushed wine biscuits (Graham crackers)
75g melted butter
80g cream cheese
80g natural yoghurt
120g white chocolate, melted
50g chopped Russian fudge (make your own or cheat and buy it like I did)
80g brown sugar
50 extra grams butter
80ml cream

· Heat cream, second measure of butter and brown sugar together, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, then simmer for 5 minutes until thick. Set aside to cool
· Combine crushed biscuits with melted butter, and press into the base of 4 muffin sized moulds. Chill
· Beat cream cheese and yoghurt, then beat in melted chocolate
· Stir in diced Russian fudge and swirl through caramel sauce, reserving some for the topping.
· Spoon cream cheese mixture over the biscuit bases and chill for at least 3 hours
Serve with extra caramel sauce over the top of each pie