Pear Crumble Filo Pie

I made a bacon and egg pie using bought filo pastry. Filo pastry is wonderful pastry to work with but you always, always end up having some leftover. I decided to make something sweet for afterwards and there were pears, wine, and crumble.
The pears were bought to go with cheese to go with wine. That never happened. The pears were forgotten until today. I peeled them and thought of poaching them in leftover wine. Nice. So the pears did match the wine eventually.

The pears were poached in red wine for about 10 minutes. I added cinnamon, cardamon and raw sugar. I had crumble leftover from making apple crumble and this was retrieved from the freezer.

Filo Pear Crumble Pie
Filo pastry
2 pears, peeled, cored, sliced
1/2 c red wine
1/2 t cinnamon
1/2 t cardamon
1/4 c raw sugar, more or less
vegetable oil
pastry brush or paper towel
crumble mix (see recipe below)
water, if needed

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).
Place the pears in a pot on the stove with the wine covering with raw sugar, cinnamon and cardamon. Add water if needed.
Poach for about 10 minutes.
Remove the pears to cool.
Return the liquid to the pot and reduce down for 5-10 minutes. (Continue boiling.)
Prepare brush, oil and filo pastry, baking paper and 20cm round tin.
(If you don’t have a pastry brush, don’t fret you can use a paper towel to dab the pastry instead. Prepare a bowl with a little vegetable oil for the dabbing/brushing.)
Don’t worry about the sheets overflowing. Let them.
Place one sheet of filo pastry in the lined tin. Brush/dab with vegetable oil. Repeat.
I used about 5-6 uncut sheets. Place the pears on the filo pastry. Cover with crumble mix. Add 4-6 T of reduced juice over the crumble.
Fold the filo pastry up into the centre. It does not have to be neat. It should resemble crumpled up paper.

Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until the filo pastry goes a nice golden brown.
The screwed up paper becomes a pie!

I did have photographs of a cut piece of pie with a dollop of ice cream but the results were blurry. Must have been the rush of not wanting to ruin the moment. You will just have to believe me that it was wonderful. Or do one better and try it for yourself.
I still have some filo pastry leftover. I think it will become a spinach pie but anything could happen.

Crumble Mix Recipe
3/4 c coconut
3/4 c rolled oats
3/4 c wholemeal flour
3/4 c raw sugar, more or less
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t cardamon
1 t ginger
1/2 t nutmeg
3/4 c melted butter
1 t vanilla essence

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Melt the butter in the microwave. Add the vanilla essence to the butter.
Mix all together. The mixture should be crumbly.
Set aside.
This makes a lot of mixture so freeze what you don’t use and bring it out when you want to make a quick dessert. Just place on top of fruit in an oven 180C (350F) for 25-30 minutes. Do not defrost the mixture. Just sprinkle on top.

Crumble recipe was adapted from all recipes au

Gingerbread screaming cake

I have cravings for ginger at the moment. I decided to make gingerbread. We don’t call it a cake traditionally so I added the word in case someone thought I might mean gingerbread men. I want to make them too and decorate them with buttons, eyes and mouths. Another day. So to ginger, I wanted to add more ginger to the original recipe and I thought raw ginger. I grated a tablespoonful. Not enough this time round. I added 2 teaspoonfuls of ground ginger.  I want to have a cake that screams ginger. This version didn’t scream ginger, it didn’t sing ginger, it just said ginger.  In future I would add probably THREE tablespoonfuls or more of the raw ginger. I may even make my own crystalised ginger and add that too. I told you I wasn’t kidding about wanting a ginger screaming cake.
Golden syrup is an ingredient in the recipe and its made from processed sugar cane or beet. It looks like thick rich honey and doesn’t have the bitter taste of molasses or dark  treacle.
I followed the recipe and baked mine for 45 minutes and did the skewer test and it was gooey at the end so I kept it in for another 10 minutes. Did the skewer test again, clear,  so I took it out. Left it for 10 minutes then cut into it. It was just a little gooey in the very centre. We ate it anyway! I put it back in the turned off oven to cook further. Tasted great but you know what was missing. More ginger!
What did I learn today?
Skewer test in several spots on the cake, and aim at the centre.
The more ginger the better.

Gingerbread
125g butter
1/2 c raw sugar
1c golden syrup (light treacle)
1 egg, free range
2 1/2 c wholemeal flour
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
2-3 t ground ginger
1 t cinnamon
1 -3 T ginger, raw grated
1 c water

Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) fan bake mode.
Prepare a 20 cm square or round baking tin. Line the bottom with baking paper and grease the rest of the tin.
Cream butter and sugar in a bowl.
Warm syrup slightly until runny.
Beat into creamed mixture.
Add egg and beat well.
Place the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Stir into the creamed mixture, add alternatively with the water.
Pour mixture into the greased tin.
Bake for 45- 60 minutes.
Test the cake to see if it is ready by poking a bamboo skewer into the cake. If it comes back cleanly it is done.
Remove from the oven when ready.
Let sit for 10 minutes before removing from the tin.
Enjoy!

Thanks to Edmond’s Cookery Book 34th Edition p50 for the base for this recipe.

Blueberry Bread and Butter Pudding

From the days of rationing to the dessert menus of upper end restaurants, what a journey for the stale crusts of bread. Some countries use raisins, some use maple syrup, others accompany the pudding with custard, some butter the slices first then arrange them, so many ways, as many as there are cooks, one is just as good as the next. Whichever way you make it, make sure you have enough to go around. Use nutmeg instead of cinnamon, try whisky to warm the milk, run, have fun with it.

Still more leftover bread then how about garlic soup perhaps?

Blueberry Bread and Butter Pudding
leftover bread, cut into slices, then cubed
4 T blueberries
1 egg, free range
2/3 c low-fat milk
1/2 t vanilla essence
3 T raw sugar*
1 t cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
1 T butter, melted

*(if you have a sweet tooth add more sugar and/or you can sprinkle a light covering over the pudding before you put it onto the oven)

Preheat the oven to 180C (360F).
Grease a casserole dish.
Place the cubes of bread and blueberries randomly into the casserole dish.

In a separate bowl beat together the milk and egg together.
Add the raw sugar, cinnamon and vanilla essence. Stir well.

Pour the mixture evenly over the bread and blueberries.
Drizzle the melted butter over the top.

Let sit for an hour. (Let the bread soak up the liquid but if you really are in a hurry you can skip this part but if you know what’s best for you, you won’t.)
Place the casserole dish into the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve immediately.