Cinnamon Pear & Amaretti Pie for Valentine's Day

This double crust pie tastes and looks sublime. Spiced cinnamon pears in sugar and crushed amaretti are encased in shortcrust pastry, and topped with a decadent slathering of sweet rose buttercream icing. Delicious glamour for those planning a romantic Valentine's Day meal for an immensely greedy couple!

Recipe
Barely adapted from the recipe by Tamasin Day Lewis's book Tarts with Their Tops On. Buy the book on Amazon here.
Serves 4-6

for the pastry:
340g flour
170g unsalted butter, cold and diced

for the filling:
8 pears, peeled, cored and sliced
light muscovado sugar
lemon juice
12 small amaretti
quarter teaspoon cinnamon



1. To make the pastry, sift the flour into a large bowl, adding the cold diced butter and work quickly to rub it into the flour using the tips of your fingers.

2. Add 4 or so tablespoons of cold water, stirring in just enough to bind the dough. Gather into 2 balls, one slightly larger than the other, and wrap in clingfilm. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

3. Meawhile turn the oven to 200C (180C fan ovens) and grease a deep 23cm pie tin.

4. When ready, scatter some flour on the work surface to prevent sticking, and roll out a little over half the pastry. With cold hands, start rolling the pastry with a rolling pin, rolling away from yourself and turning the pastry as you continue.

5. Line the greased pie dish with a little over half the pastry. Place in the fridge, along with the leftover pastry ball, until the filling is ready.

6. In a large bowl, toss the pear slices in lemon juice to stop them browning and lots of light muscovado sugar.

7. Next crush the amaretti by double bagging them in plastic bags and beating the bags with a rolling pin - most cathartic if you're having a stressful day! 

8. Add the crushed amaretti and cinnamon to the pears. Spoon the mixture into the lined pastry tin.

9. Roll out the rest of the pastry into a lid, and cover the pie. Using the leftover pastry pieces, cut out a large heart to decorate the top, making a small hole in the centre of the pie to let the steam out. Sprinkle with caster sugar the areas on the top that won't be covered with the buttercream.

10. Put in the oven for 15 mins, and next turn down the oven to 180C and bake for 30 minutes more until the pie and fruit are done.

for the icing:
2 tablespoons caster sugar
55g unsalted butter
3 tablespoons or 1 teaspoon rose flower water
110g icing sugar

11. To make the icing, throw all the ingredients except the icing sugar into a pan over a medium heat. Once at boiling point, take off the heat.

12. Pour the melted mixture over the sifted icing sugar in a bowl, and beat until smooth.

13. With a palette knife, slather the rich rose buttercream icing over the heart on the warm pie, or over the entire top if you've a very sweet tooth. Serve tepid, with whipped cream and a ball of any extra rose buttercream.

This pie was idly baked while listening to Jimi Hendrix's album Electric Ladyland

Orange & Marmalade Lattice Tart

This is the first time I've ever used shortcrust pastry, adapted for this tart from a lovely recipe by Tamasin Day-Lewis. I made several rookie errors in this bake, but the end result tasted divine, so I include it despite my knowledge that it has not been baked in the 'correct' way. My first error was that old chestnut of misreading the recipe: tired and idle, I added the orange juice to the zest before attempting to beat in the butter and sugar, causing the mixture to curdle and creating the treacle tartesque texture of the filling. My second was to use a silicone flan tin which I'd got free with a magazine. Silicone is great to use when baking muffins or cupcakes, but I realised when trying to release the warm tart from the tin that the silicone wasn't strong enough to support the bake and it started to crack at the edges as I moved it. Booo. So, note to self, next time use a proper loose based tart tin and read the recipe properly! And to you dear readers, learn from my mistakes and you will create a tart that looks and tastes truly gorgeous.

Recipe
Adapted from Tamasin Day-Lewis's recipe in her fabulous book The Art of the Tart. Buy the book on Amazon here
I added the pastry lattice to the tart.

Serves 8

375 ready made and rolled shortcrust pastry, chilled
2 egg whites, beaten
3 tablespoons marmalade
grated zest and juice of 4 oranges
225g vanilla or golden caster sugar
125g unsalted butter, room temperature
4 eggs

1. Roll out three quarters of the ready made shortcrust pastry into a circle that's big enough to line the 22cm tart tin with a little overhang. Place the pastry circle into the tin, pressing it down at the edges. Shape the leftover pastry into a ball, cover with clingfilm and put this and the pastry circle in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Turn the oven to 190C (170C fan ovens).

3. To prepare to blind bake the chilled pastry circle, cut a circle of greaseproof paper and place it over the circle base, before covering with ceramic baking beans (or kidney beans or any kind of uncooked bean). Blind bake for 15 minutes, then remove the baking beans and greaseproof paper.

4. While the pastry is still blind baking, in a small bowl beat 1 egg white. Once baked, prick the pastry circle base and brush it with the beaten egg white before putting it back into the oven for another 5 minutes.

5. Remove again from the oven and using a knife spread the marmalade over the base of the tart as it cools.

6. In a large bowl, mix the orange zest with the butter and sugar, creaming them together until well combined.

7. Beat the 4 eggs until fluffy and pale, then add them to the butter, sugar and zest mixture.

8. Next place the bowl over a bain mairie (a pan of just simmering water), and stir the mixture until the sugar has dissolved.

9. Take off the heat, and stir the orange juice into the mixture.

10. Pour the mixture over the marmalade spread pastry base.

11. Take the chilled ball of leftover pastry and roll it out. Cut strips of pastry into approx 1cm wide strips, and carefully place the strips over the orange and marmalade filling. I didn't bother, but if you want to make it look especially smart you could also place a few long strips around the edge of the tart to create a rim.

12. In another small bowl whisk the 2nd egg white until fluffy, before brushing the pastry lattice (and the rim, if made) with the beaten egg.

13. Bake in the oven for approx 25 minutes. Serve warm or cold, with cream or custard.

This tart was idly baked while listening to Sorry I Haven't A Clue on BBC Radio 4