Pie oh pie...

Keep scrolling for your weekly recipe (& for my new-found pie obsession)

Hi all, welcome!

During this time of year, when its starting to get colder (but not unbearably cold), I feel we all find comfort in cosy meals, seasonal coffees and early nights.

Yes, Its my favorite season.

I don't celebrate Halloween but best believe our little family goes wild on Pumpkin Spice everything! So far this month we’ve made; Cinnamon Pie, Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Spiced cookies, Apple Pie and Gingerbread waffles.

I’m from the UK, and its safe to say that sweet pies are not really a British thing, unless you’re talking about good ol’ Mr Kipling.

But, I’ve been wondering if anyone else has vivid memories of old style American cartoons in which the grandma places a fresh, steaming pie on the window sill only for someone like Tom (& Jerry) to be lured in by the scent and steal it?

I can’t seem to find an exact scene on YouTube but I'm sure it exists somewhere...

Anyway, to fuel my sudden craving for pies, I headed to TKMaxx for a fancy-looking 22cm pie dish and gathered the ingredients over a series of supermarket trips.

For all of my pies, I’ve been using Natashas Kitchen easy pie crust recipe, super easy, no egg, just keep. it. cold. The one thing that has been drilled into my mind since leaving college is to keep the pastry cold. If you have hot hands, or are baking on a particularly hot day, it means that you’ll have plenty of trips from fridge to worktop to keep it cool. Other than that, you’ll be fine!

For my pumpkin pie filling, I used the recipe from Cupcake Jemma, a foolproof recipe, and for us brits they’re using homemade pumpkin puree (its really easy to make, I promise!).

I’d chose to cook this pie for our guests, and they all went for seconds, which was definitely a win since they’d never heard of using the humble pumpkin this way!

But the winner of my pie making compilation this month was a cinnamon pie.

Please, if you enjoy even an ounce of baking, you need to try this recipe. Now, I’d never heard of cinnamon pie before my husband had mentioned it.

“An apple and cinnamon pie?” I asked.

“No, just cinnamon”

Oh.

A quick google search led me to THIS. A cinnamon pie does in fact exist. A cheesecake-like filling, with an intense cinnamon flavour and a perfectly baked pie crust. Lush. Allow it to cool before slicing and serving.

Here is a candid photo of what it looked like, fresh out of the oven. (Excuse the crack).

I’d forgotten to egg wash the exposed pastry which would have given it a beautiful shine, and the crack probably could have been avoided if I'd let it cool in the oven after turning it off... but as rustic as it was, it was delicious!

Here's a fun pie-related fact:

In the early days of pie making, the pastry crust was not always intended to be eaten. It served as a container or a vessel to hold the filling, which was often rich and flavorful. The crust was sometimes referred to as a "coffin" or "coffyn," reflecting its role as a protective casing for the filling. Over time, the pastry crust became an important part of the pie and is now enjoyed as a delicious component of the whole dish.

Now, I'm not sure about you, but I LOVE the crust on a pie, flakey, buttery pastry... drool...

A recipe to add to your meal plan this week:

This weeks chosen meal has to be the aforementioned gingerbread waffles. Enjoy as breakfast or dessert.

I’m not going to pretend I made all the batter myself, after a trip to Costco I got ahold of Krustaez Pancake Mix and used this as a base for the rest of the ingredients:

For around 8 waffles:

• 300g Krusteaz Pancake Mix (or a standard American pancake mix)

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• ¾ tsp ground cinnamon

• ¼ tsp ground cloves

• 33g brown sugar

• 3 large eggs

• 360ml cold water

• 30g honey or maple syrup

• 30g grams vegetable oil

Preheat your waffle iron.

Simply combine the dry ingredients together in one bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and add the water, honey, and vegetable oil, whisk well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry bowl and mix until just combined (a few lumps are okay), do not over mix.

Lightly grease your waffle iron, then pour enough batter to fill the iron. Cook for approximately 4 minutes or until the steam stops. Gently remove and set aside on a wired rack to prevent sogginess.

Serve with fruit, whipped cream, nuts or powdered sugar. The perfect seasonal breakfast!

Do let me know if you’ve tried this recipe!

Right, so, that’s it for this week. I hope you try your hand at making a pie, or perhaps treating yourself to a fancy breakfast.

If you’ve made it this far, I appreciate you!

If you have any feedback or questions, please get in contact.

Speak next Sunday 👋...