First Hand Pies

[GinnyPNW]

I'm enjoying this thread. Lately, I've enjoyed some more rustic treatments of fruit for dessert. One of my very favorite cakes is Black Pepper-Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk Cake. Now, before you dismiss this or think I'm joking...or just nuts...check out the link to the recipe below. I have the actual cookbook, but find posting the link easiest.

https://www.little-birdie.com/jenlittlebirdie/2015/7/16/roasted-strawberry-and-black-pepper-buttermilk-cake

There's a fair amount of sugar in the cake batter, but the treatment of the berries requires very little. And it is YUMMY! Don't trust me, try it?

 

[skilletlicker]

I have learned to never add sugar to any fruit dessert recipe until I've tasted the fruit. That means when making apple pie I sample a slice of apple from each one I use. Many fruits are naturally sweet (I'm looking at you guys, cherries) and need just enough sugar to pull juice from them. While some apple pies will call for as much as 1 3/4 cups of sugar for five apples, I've added as little as a couple of tablespoons only, plus a squeeze of lemon. I don't think you can skip sugar completely, though. It's needed to make sure the fruit doesn't dry out when baking.

Thanks for the reply CG. I've seen that advice and trust the wisdom but here is my question. Assuming you are tasting the fruit raw, doesn't the perception of sweetness change a lot after cooking? Don't mean after baking a pie; I mean after cooking a pie filling on the stove for instance. Seems like it takes a very experienced cook with a refined palate to know how the cooked filling is going to taste in the end. Am I right and does it just take a long time to refine the judgment and palate to make that decision? Can you start pre-cooking the filling with a modest amount of sugar and add it to taste at the end? Wouldn't expect that to work very well but I've never been to proud to ask a stupid question.

 

[taxlady]

Skilletlicker, I have never cooked a fruit pie filling. I mix it up, usually some sugar, corn starch, and maybe some spices. That's put into the pie shell raw. All the cooking gets done in the pie crust. I think pumpkin gets cooked before it goes in the pie crust. I don't like pumpkin pie, so I have never made it.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

taxy, you're right that pumpkin is pre-cooked before being used for pie. I made a pie from a raw sugar pumpkin - once. So much easier to let Libby do the cooking part.

...Assuming you are tasting the fruit raw, doesn't the perception of sweetness change a lot after cooking? Don't mean after baking a pie; I mean after cooking a pie filling on the stove for instance. Seems like it takes a very experienced cook with a refined palate to know how the cooked filling is going to taste in the end...

No problem for giving my opinion, LK. Happy to share my knowledge whether it's accurate or not.

Like taxy, I've never pre-cooked filling (except for pumpkin) before adding it to a raw crust to bake in the oven. I do know that, to me, fruits seem sweeter when cooked rather than raw; that probably informs my reluctance to sugar a recipe with as much as listed. I also don't know if I could call my palate "refined", but I usually can suss out what a dish might end up tasting like just by reading the ingredients. Everyone has a creative talent somewhere. I guess mine is being to "taste" flavor before it hits my taste buds.

 

[skilletlicker]

Hmmm...
Another branch in the tree, I think.

 

[skilletlicker]

I began this little project by looking at recipes for apple empanadas. I think all the recipes I looked at precooked the apple filling. To do otherwise never occurred to me. Never been a pie maker; any kind of dessert maker really.

Could it be that precooking is needed when the volume is very small like in an empanada or any small hand pie?

My filling is based on APPLE EMPANADAS! ❤ (APPLE HAND PIES)step by step! from Rachel cooks with love ❤:

• 5 small gala apples; peeled, cored, and diced
• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• 1/4 C. white sugar
• 1/4 C. brown sugar
• pinch nutmeg (about 1/8 tsp)
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. cinnamon

1. lightly brown butter on medium heat
2. add apples and sugar
3. stir; add nutmeg
4. stir and cook for 9 minutes 'til apples are soft
5. add cinnamon and vanilla
6. stir and cook for 2 or 3 minutes 'til apples are "nice and sticky"
7. add cornstarch, lower heat to low; stir for 2 minutes
8. cool before assembling empanadas

 

[Janet H]

I love hand pies and make the apple variety often. They freeze well prior to cooking!

I always partially precook the filling as the total bake time for small pies is not enough to soften apples.

I make this is a skillet but you could bake fruit on a sheet pan is desired.

Peel and cut apples (smaller pieces are better for handpies) into a skillet.
Add a small quantity of butter if desired.
Cook on slow-ish heat until apples give up some of their moisture and are partially cooked. Do not cook until soft.
During cooking, add sugar and seasoning to taste.
If apples are very wet, sprinkle in a little flour while cooking to thicken.

Be sure to entirely cool filling before assembling pies - warm filling will ruin pie crust.

 

[skilletlicker]

Thanks Janet. I'm thinkin' my apples could have cooked a bit less but not nearly enough in the oven.

 

[Cooking Goddess]

...Could it be that precooking is needed when the volume is very small like in an empanada or any small hand pie?..

That makes perfect sense, SL. I've only made pies that spend around an hour or so in the oven. You might have saved me some problems, though, if I ever have to turn part of a sheet of puff pastry into turnovers if I use the pastry to top a pot pie. I figured I would just toss uncooked fruit into the pastry...

 

[skilletlicker]

By the way, I don't even have an oven. Cooked mine in a little old Black & Decker two-slice toaster oven on a 7x9 baking sheet.

 

[GinnyPNW]

You know, SL, I'm thinking that you are on the right track: "Could it be that precooking is needed when the volume is very small like in an empanada or any small hand pie?" I think it isn't so much the volume as the amount of time it will spend in the oven that dictates the need for pre-cooked filling. But, that oven may be an issue too???