Tag: dessert

Poached Pear Mummy Pies

Poached Pear Mummy Pies

Published on by Krys6 Comments

Awhile ago I was watching The Great British Bake Off and Paul Hollywood challenged the contestants to recreate his mini pear pies, which are poached pears wrapped in pastry. My husband and I immediately commented on how we wanted to make them, but then as I watched the bakers wrap the pears in strips of dough like little pear mummies a light bulb went off in my head…PEAR MUMMIES!

poached-pear-mummy-pies-5This adorable dessert will take your Halloween shindig to the next level. Here’s how you make them.

Adapted from Paul Hollywood’s Mini Pear Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

Store bought puff pastry
6 large, firm pears (preferably ones that are straight and tall)
10½ oz caster sugar
18 oz white wine
14 oz water
2 cinnamon sticks
1 orange, zest only
12 whole cloves

Directions

Peel the pears, keeping the stems intact. In a large saucepan combine the water, white wine, cinnamon and orange zest and slowly bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Boil for three minutes.

Poached Pear Mummy Pies Add the pears to the pan. Bring back to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Reserving the syrup, remove the pears from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool on kitchen paper. Use a melon baller or small teaspoon remove the core from the pears.

Return the syrup to the heat and boil rapidly for 10-15 minutes until the volume of the liquid is reduced by half and the syrup is thick. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

When the fruit and syrup are cool, roll out the chilled puff pastry to a thickness of no more than 1/4 inch. Then use a knife to cut into thin, long strips, about 1/3 inch wide.

Poached Pear Mummy PiesBrush the pears with the cooled sugar syrup and starting from the bottom, wrap the pastry strips around the pears. When you come to the end of the pastry strip, brush the end lightly with syrup and press to adhere to the next pastry strip. Leave an opening near the center of the pear for the eyes. Continue wrapping until you reach the top of the pear. Place two cloves into the pear where you want the eyes to be.

poached-pear-mummy-pies-3Preheat the oven to 400F. Place the pastry covered pears on a baking tray. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and sprinkle with granulated sugar. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes then serve with a drizzle of the reduced sugar syrup.

poached-pear-mummy-pies-4

Potluck Mini Pie Cupcakes

Published on by Krys14 Comments

Mini Pie Cupcakes? Mini PieCakes? CupPieCakes?

Call them whatever you want but these are my new favorite things. Remember the pie-cake I made? It’s almost like that, but in cupcake form. Sure, the cake was good, but most of the time I’ll pick cupcakes over cake. This version is more simple and mild, but still very delicious and interesting. These cupcakes were a lot easier to manage and took a lot less time than the monster pie-cake. So if you’re feeling intimidated by pie-cakes because of flavor and effort, try this instead.

This time I made the cake and frosting from scratch, which I very much prefer and will do next time I attempt a pie-cake. What I didn’t make from scratch were the mini pies. It would be simple enough to do that using a mini cupcake tin, but it wasn’t necessary because Trader Joe’s has the best mini pies ever. Are you familiar with this medley of fruit pies? Well, you should be.

Trader Joes Mini Pies

All you need to do is whip up some cake batter and frosting (your own recipe or boxed is fine) and buy (or make) some mini pies. If you’re using frozen pies, let them thaw out for a bit.

Pie inside of a cupcake!

I made my favorite yellow cake recipe. It has a classic flavor and is the perfect density to hold the pie.

Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Cream room temperature butter until light and fluffy. Add sugar and continue to beat. Gradually add the vanilla and eggs (one at a time) and mix well. Sift together the dry ingredients. Add them to the butter mixture alternating with the milk.

Line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners. Pour a small amount of batter into the liner and push it up the sides a little. Place the mini pie in and top with more cake batter. Bang the pan on the counter to make sure everything is settled in there. Then bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

Mini Pie Cupcakes. Pie inside of the cupcake!

The frosting I used is a simple buttercream.

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk

Cream together the butter and vanilla. Sift the powdered sugar and add it to the butter mixture. Scrape down the bowl often to make sure all everything is mixed in. Add milk one tablespoon at a time until it’s your desired consistency. Beat until smooth for about 2-4 minutes.

Pie filled cupcakes!What you get is PIE INSIDE OF CAKE IN CUPCAKE FORM. You get the best of both worlds. The pie center is so good. And the piecrust goes super well with the fluffy cake. It’s basically a dream hybrid dessert.