Super Easy Mini Chocolate Pies

What’s a girl to do when it’s Friday night, she’s had a hectic week at work and her man won’t tear his eyes away from the TV screen for two seconds? Make these Super Easy Mini Chocolate Pies and scoff as many as you can before he notices ‘PIE!’

I’m quite lucky in that My Official Treat Taster isn’t too bothered about soccer/football, except when something big is going on. Right now Euro 2012 is taking place which means I get dragged to a lot of bars full of rowdy men yelling at TVs. I’ve tried several times to get into the swing of the matches, but I always end up curled up in a corner with my Kindle.

I’ve decided that a much better use of my time is to stay home and make tiny bite-sized portions of chocolate-cream heaven. It dawned on me earlier this month that I’m 21 and my favorite way to spend my Friday nights is in the kitchen, baking. When did I turn into a 1950’s housewife? At least I’m a badass 1950’s housewife – whenever I bake alone, it always seems to involve strawberry coconut mojitos.

Super Easy Mini Chocolate Pies

Ingredients

Pastry

1 cup flour

4 tablespoons sugar

3 ½ tablespoons butter

3 ½ tablespoons lard

water

Filling

½ cup chocolate chips

¼ cup butter

½ cup whipping cream

Recipe

1. Stir together the flour and sugar. Rub in the butter and lard with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

2. Add small amounts of cold water – you should need between 2 and 3 tablespoons in total – and knead until the mixture forms a stiff dough. Place in the fridge for around 30 minutes to chill.

3. Preheat the oven to 360°F/180°C and remove the dough from the fridge. Roll out onto a lightly floured surface until it’s about ¼”/1/2cm thick. Using a round cutter or glass, cut out 12 circles slightly larger than the dips in your shallow muffin tin.

4. Place the dough circles in a greased muffin tin and prick evenly with a fork. Bake for around 10-15 minutes or until the pastry is lightly golden.

5. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

6. Melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave or in a double boiler and divide evenly amongst the pie crusts.

7. Whip the cream until it holds stiff peaks and pipe it on top of each pie. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes for the chocolate filling to set. Grate some chocolate on top of the cream for extra decoration.

Devour as many as you can before half time.

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Lemon Meringue Pie

Lemon, meringue and short-crust pastry are the three favourite dessert ingredients at our house right now. My Official Treat Taster’s mother is staying with us for a while, so I’m whirling myself into a frenzy trying to whip up as many desserts as possible which incorporate the ‘magic three’. Unfortunately, I’m lucking out a bit because I don’t like meringue, I just can’t get excited about short-crust pastry, and I can take or leave lemons.

So although I personally didn’t think much of this Lemon Meringue Pie, I have been assured that it’s fantastic. If you’re into the ‘magic three’ then this dessert is definitely for you. It’s  a wonderful spring dessert, combining a buttery, crumbly crust with a soft light meringue and swirling with citrus flavours.

When my pie came out of the oven it was a little soggy, so I have changed the recipe accordingly so it shouldn’t be as soggy for you. Also, make sure your filling is really thick so you can spread it onto your pastry base instead of pouring it on.  

Lemon Meringue Pie
Adapted from Delia Smith's recipe

Ingredients

Pastry:

110g plain flour

Pinch salt

35g sugar

25g butter

25g lard

Filling:

275ml water

Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

4 tablespoons cornflour

50g sugar

3 egg yolks

40g butter

Meringue:

3 egg whites

175g sugar

Recipe

Pastry:

Sieve the flour into a bowl and stir in the salt and sugar. Chop the butter and lard into small cubes and add to the flour. Rub in with your hands until you have coarse breadcrumbs. Add a tablespoon of cold water at a time (you should only need 1 or 2) until your pastry comes together. Pop into a plastic bag and store in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.

When fully chilled, roll the pastry out ½ inch (1cm) larger than the rim of you tin. Cut an additional ½ inch (1cm) strip from the edge of the pastry. Dampen the rim of your tin with water and fix the strip around it, pressing down well. Place the pastry circle in the bottom of the tin and press it against the pastry rim to secure it. Prick the base all over with a fork and bake on a high self for 20-25 minutes. Remove the pastry case when fully cooked and lower the temperature to 300F/150C.

Filling:

Measure 275ml cold water into a jug. Spoon the cornflour and sugar into a bowl and add enough of the cold water to mix it into a smooth paste. Pour the rest of the water into a saucepan with the lemon zest. Bring this to the boil over a medium heat then pour it onto the cornflour, mixing constantly until it is smooth.

Return the mixture to the saucepan and bring back to the boil, still mixing constantly. Lower the heat and simmer gently for about 2 minutes, stirring all the time. Remove the pan from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, lemon juice and butter. Pour the filling into the pastry shell and spread it out evenly.

Meringue:

Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Whisk in ¼ of the sugar sugar at a time until it is all incorporated. Spread the meringue on top of the filling, making sure to cover the edges of the pastry and bake in the centre of the oven for 45 minutes.



Here are the link parties I take part in.
Come and join the fun!

Deep-Dish Cookie Pie

Most of my recipes are full of the good stuff – eggs, butter, chocolate, sugar and cream – but this recipe really grabbed my attention. A healthy deep-dish cookie pie made with garbanzos and oats? I really like garbanzos anyway, so I was more than happy to attempt this butter, egg and cream-free recipe.

I read the reviews by people who had made the pie and had convinced their friends that it was an ordinary fat-filled cookie pie. I decided I would try it out for myself. Ian really hates garbanzos so I thought this was going to be a tough challenge, but I could do it!

I blended everything together out of his view and banged it in the oven. As soon as I opened the door, the kitchen was filled with the smell of baked garbanzos and his taste buds were immediately on alert. After the healthy deep-dish cookie pie had cooled, I tried it for myself and could easily taste the garbanzos.

Ian tried it, but from the face he pulled, it was evident he wasn’t going to have another bite. I really enjoyed it, but that’s probably because I really like garbanzos anyway. I recommend this recipe for anyone looking for a healthy alternative to a calorie-packed dessert, but definitely not if you’re going to try and fool anyone into thinking it’s an ordinary deep-dish cookie pie.

Deep-Dish Cookie Pie 

Recipe adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie

Ingredients

500g garbanzos

1 cup oats

3tbsp oil

2tsp vanilla extract

1/2tsp baking soda

2tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

1 cup sugar

1 cup chocolate chips

Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 170C and blend all the ingredients – except the chocolate chips – really well together in a food processor.

2. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour into a greased 20cm baking dish. Place in the oven and bake for around 40 minutes.

Apple Pie with Crumble Topping

It's autumn and in most countries throughout Europe, the sun has been replaced with thin, greying clouds, the air is full of cool breezes and the sky is alive with masses of colourful leaves. Tenerife doesn't seem to have noticed that summer is over - every morning I still wake up to the perfect weather for a long, lazy day at the beach. 

Even though the weather here still strongly resembles summer, I saw so many autumn recipes circulating throughout the rest of the online baking community and couldn’t resist trying some of my own, and what better way to welcome autumn than with a fresh-out-the-oven, warm apple pie?

Rather than making one huge apple pie, I made small individual ones. That way, I can convince myself that it's perfectly okay to have two because they’re only miniature! These pies would be perfect to share whilst cuddling under a blanket in front of a fire on a dark, chilly autumn evening.

This recipe does take quite a while to follow, but it is definitely worth the effort. The crumbly pastry and sweet topping give way to the gooey, fragrant apple centre when you bite into this sumptuous treat. If you're looking to make a dessert out of this, try adding caramelised apple chunks and cream - gorgeous!

This recipe yields 12 mini apple pies.

Ingredients

Pastry

200g flour

Pinch of salt

70g lard

50g butter

50g sugar

2 tbsp cold water

Filling

2 medium apples

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp nutmeg

Topping

100g flour

25g white sugar

25g brown sugar

2 tbsp butter

Recipe

Pastry

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a bowl. Chop the butter and lard into small cubes and add into the bowl with the flour. Rub together with your hands until you have a mixture which resembles fine breadcrumbs.

2. Add drops of water until the mixture is thick enough to roll into a dough. This should be somewhere between 1 tbsp and 2 tbsp. Knead the dough for around five minutes.

3. Grease a 12-muffin muffin pan. Roll out the dough so it's about 1cm thick and using a cutter, cut out circles big enough to fit into the muffin moulds about 3/4 way up. Place dough circles in the muffin pan so they form cups.

4. Place in the oven for around 10 minutes to ensure the pastry cups cook well. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. 

Filling

1. Peel both apples and chop them into small cubes. Place in a pan over a medium heat with the butter, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook just until the apples are soft, then remove from the heat.

2. After the mixture is cooled, spoon it evenly into the pastry cups in the muffin pans

Topping

1. Combine the flour and sugars together in a bowl.

2. Rub in the butter with your hands until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Sprinkle the topping over the apple pies so all chunks of apple are covered. Place in the oven for around 20 minutes until golden brown.

Banoffee Pie

I don't think I've ever tried a banoffee pie and been disappointed. They're just so basic and easy to make that it's really difficult to make one and have it turn out to be a disaster. Digestive base, bananas, toffee and cream - that really is all there is to it!

This was the first time I'd attempted to make a banoffee pie and I was really pleased with the way it turned out. When my dad came to visit, I offered him some and afterwards he said "I didn't think I would like this but I suppose it was okay" which is about as much of a positive reaction as I can get out of him!

This recipe is really quick and easy to follow. The only parts which require a lot of time is the making of the toffee and the final chilling time - both of which require practically no effort. 

Ingredients

200g digestive biscuits

75g melted butter

400g condensed milk

2 bananas, peeled and sliced

250ml double cream

4 tbsp grated dark chocolate

Recipe

1. Crush the digestives in a food processor for in a plastic bag with a rolling pin. Tip into a bowl and stir in the melted butter until combined.

2. Press the crumbs into the bottom of a lightly greased cake tin (mine was around 20cm) and chill in the fridge until the toffee is ready.

3. Place a bowl over a pan of simmering water and into it pour the condensed milk. Leave on the hob for around 2 hours, stirring now and again, or until the mixture is thick and toffee-coloured. Check the pan for water regularly and add more when necessary.

(I know many people boil the whole can of condensed milk, but I find that much more dangerous. If all the water evaporates with my method, you have a burnt pan. If all the water evaporates with the other method, you have a burn pan and your kitchen is covered in molten sticky toffee.)

4. When the toffee is ready, remove the bowl and pan from the hob and leave to cool to room temperature. Take the cake tin out of the fridge and place to one side. Place the chopped bananas so that they line the crumbs.

5. Spoon the toffee mixture into the cake tin and spread evenly. Whip the double cream and spread it on top of the toffee mixture. Sprinkle the grated chocolate on top.  

It can easily be portioned up, wrapped in cling film and stored in the freezer for months.