From Serious Eats. I use this for cherry pie. Takes about 20-30 minutes, plus 2hr+ chill time.
225g plain flour 12g sugar 1/2 tsp salt (4g) 225g unsalted butter, cut into 1/2” cubes 120ml cold water Whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.
Stir in the butter, then flatten each cube between your fingers. Make sure it stays cold - < 20C.
Stir in the water gradually; it may not all be needed.
Morello Cherry Pie Adapted from Serious Eats.
See Flaky Pie Crust for the pastry.
800g pitted morello cherries (from approx 1 kg unpitted cherries). 30g lemon juice (1 small lemon) - optional, depending on your cherries 150g sugar 3g salt 40g corn flour / corn starch (original recipe asks for 40g tapioca starch) 1 egg for egg wash Set the oven to 200C. Prepare a pie crust, I prefer a double crust.
This is a more complex recipe for an apple pie, using pâté sablée for the base, and with a rough puff top.
Pâte Sablée 75 grams (⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon) sugar (I use golden caster sugar, but regular white granulated sugar is fine) 150 grams plain flour — if you use American all-purpose flour, use 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons 75 grams cold butter (I use salted, but you can use unsalted and add a pinch of salt) — if you use regular American butter (which has less butterfat than European butter), use 7 tablespoons Ice-cold water or milk.
Adapted from various Simon Hopkinson recipes for Creme Caramel.
Ingredients 450 ml (1pt) full fat milk pinch of salt 0.5 tsp vanilla extract 120g sugar 2 whole eggs (or 3, if available) 4 egg yolks 75g sugar (white, or golden caster) Directions Preheat the oven to 150C and boil a kettle.
Make caramel by putting the 120g sugar in a light bottomed pan with 3 - 4 tbs of water.
This is an American version of a Yorkshire pudding or clafoutis. The intention is to have the batter swell up into a globe shape in cooking.
Ingredients 4 eggs 1 cup (230 ml) milk 1 cup (130 g) plain flour 1 tsp sugar ¾ tsp salt ¼ cup (60 g) unsalted butter fruit preserves (jam) powdered sugar maple syrup Directions Preheat oven to 425F (220C).
Whisk eggs, milk, flour, sugar and salt in a blender.
Adapted from Delia Smith’s Cookery Course, the original version.
Ingredients 110g pudding rice 850ml milk 50g butter 75g caster sugar 3 eggs grated rind of half a lemon nutmeg Directions Preheat oven to 150C Butter a 1 litre baking dish
First put the rice in a saucepan, add the milk and bring it slowly almost to summering point, then let it cook very gently until the rice is practically tender, which should take about ten to fifteen minutes (or possibly longer).
This is taken from Simon Hopkinson’s book/TV series “Simon Hopkinson Cooks”. It’s a good example of my preferences in a trifle: a good sponge, no jelly, soft fruit (no tins of fruit cocktail), custard and cream. His finishing touch with crystallised violets is intriguing (if you can find them).
Sponge:
3 eggs SR flour (same weight as the eggs) caster sugar (same weight as the eggs) soft unsalted butter (same weight as the eggs) 1 tsp baking powder Butter and line a 20cm square baking tin.
This recipe has surprising symmetry, as it uses 1 egg per person and 28g of chocolate. And nothing else. I think it comes from Elizabeth David, reminded by Felicity Cloake and Simon Hopkinson.
Separate the eggs. Melt the chocolate over a bain marie. Whip the egg whites to a firmish soft peaks stage. Beat the yolks into the chocolate. Fold the beaten whites into the chocolate mix by first stirring in 1/3 of the whites, then gently folding in the remaining 2/3.
Ingredients 4 large eggs, separated 18 fl oz double cream (about 550ml) 65g sugar (1/4 cup) vanilla bean pinch of salt Equipment 3 clean bowls 1 2lb loaf tin (plus more for overflow) cling film electric beater freezer Method This is the base recipe, to which you can add many flavours. Praline is nice. I tried it with strawberries, but discovered that they need to be cut into smaller pieces to avoid the strawberry bullet effect.
This is very easy; just be careful to fully dissolve the gelatine and allow enough time to fully set.
1 pt (20 fl oz) single cream, or 1/2 and 1/2 whole milk and double cream 3 leaves gelatine (or 1 packet powder) 30g/1 oz sugar 1 vanilla pod, or 1 tsp vanilla extract First, soak the gelatine in a couple of tablespoons of cold water for a few minutes; always add the water to the gelatine, not the other way around.