Annick only gets to come home from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. I’m really looking forward to seeing her this weekend, especially. 

An easy breakfast to make is scones. They are quick (10 minutes from pantry to oven), flexible (add dried or fresh fruit, chocolate, nuts, cheese, or spices), and taste delicious as leftovers, too. 

The dough is also fairly easy for beginners; just remember not to knead it for too long, or the scones will be tough. 

The recipe I use is actually adapted from my go-to biscuit recipe from the Purity cookbook (Purity was an old brand of flour 50 years ago). If you want to make biscuits for dinner, omit the sugar and fruit. If you want to make shortcake, double the sugar and sprinkle more on top. You can roll the dough out and cut shapes using cutters or a knife, hand-shape them into flattish balls, or (my favourite), make two large disks and score them in sixths before baking (this gives them soft sides). 

They bake in less than 15 minutes; for ones that are thicker than 1 inch when rolled out, leave them in a little longer or the insides will be doughy. 

Delicious hot out of the oven with butter and jam! 

Rapid Scones (adapted from The All-New Purity Cookbook):
 

Ingredients: 

- 2 cups All-purpose flour 

- 4 teaspoons Baking powder 

- 1 teaspoon Salt 

- 1-2 tablespoons Sugar 

- pinch of Nutmeg 

- 1/3 cup Shortening 

- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons “milk” 

- 2 tablespoons Dried fruit or nuts (optional) 

Directions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
2. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and nutmeg.
3. Using a pastry cutter, cut in the shortening until the largest crumbs are about the size of dried peas. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, use two butter knives slicing in X’s.
4. Make a well in the mixture and add 3/4 cup of milk.
5. Stir with until moistened. If you want to add fruit or nuts, add them now.
6. If the dough is still crumbly, add the remaining milk. Don’t make the dough too sticky!
7. Stir until the dough is mixed. Don’t stir until it is an even paste (like bread dough). It should be soft and smooth, but a little bumpy.
8. Knead once or twice.
9. If cutting out shapes, roll to 1/2-inch thickness on a floured surface and cut out desired shapes.
10. If hand-moulding, pinch off bits of the desired size, and shape them before placing them directly on a non-stick baking sheet.
11. Alternately, divide into two 8-inch circles 1/2-inch thick on the baking sheet. Score each round into six.
12. Sprinkle with sugar if desired.
13. Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
14. Remove immediately to a cooling rack.
15. Allow to cool completely before wrapping or storing in a tin.

How better to commemorate my quarter-century on earth than by bringing in a cake to share with my friends at work?

I wanted to make something impressive and fancy, but also tasty. In other words, I wanted to show off! It’s my day, dammit, so I’m allowed!

I decided to go with the flavour combination of Chocolate Orange – two great tastes that taste great together! I used the Vegan Chocolate cake and Vegan Orange cake recipes from Joy of cooking, as they are both easy and tasty. I made a 10″ (I think) round cake, because I don’t have an appropriately-sized rectangle pan, and I find round cakes require less trimming and waste.

There were two chocolate layers and one orange one, and each layer was split in half and filled. I made a whipped chocolate ganache to fill the orange layer.

I made orange curd for the first time as a filling for the chocolate layers. While I liked the overall texture and flavour of the orange curd, I expected it to be zestier (this could be remedied by substituting more orange juice for the water, and adding some lemon juice). As well, I used a peeler-style zester, which resulted in very long strings of zest. I would recommend using a grater or microplane-style zester instead.

I froze the cakes after making, splitting, and cooling them, since I think vegan cakes tend to stale faster than traditional ones, and I had made them two days in advance.

Everything was assembled with chocolate buttercream, and topped with a dark chocolate glaze. Yummy!

I was also fortunate enough to spend my birthday with my family. Knowing my penchant for carbohydrates, they made me a dinner full of my childhood favourites: macaroni and cheese, greek salad, and garlic bread! For dessert we had an old family favourite, Mud Pie

I felt so loved that my family took the time to get together, and make me dinner, on a work night. You guys are the best!

I especially want to thank my mom and dad for all of the love and guidance they have given me. I know now how lucky I am to have had such a great family life.

Here’s to another year of growth, learning and happiness!

Recipe: Orange-Chocolate Birthday Cake

Chocolate Vegan Cake (from Joy of Cooking) – For the cake I made, I repeated this recipe twice:

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour

- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Sugar

- 6 tablespoons Cocoa powder

- 1 teaspoon Baking soda

- 1/8 teaspoon Salt

- 1/4 cup Vegetable oil

- 1 cup Cold water

- 1 tablespoon White vinegar

- 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Prepare a 9 or 10-inch spring form pan by lining with paper and spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Combine dry ingredients and mix on low speed until well “sifted.”
4. Combine the wet ingredients and add to the dry.
5. Stir on medium-low speed until smooth.
6. Scrape into your prepared pan. Drop on the counter a few times to remove air bubbles.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Cool for 5 minutes on the rack.
10. Slide a knife around the edges of the pan. Remove the sides of the pan.
11. Keeping the cake on the parchment paper, slide it off the bottom and on to a cooling rack.
12. Wait approximately 15 minutes before peeling off the parchment paper liner.
13. Cut the cake horizontally in half FIRST, then cut off the dome of the top. Doing it in this order gives you a stiffer top half when manipulating them.
14. Place plastic wrap between the layers (multiple spatulas may come in handy at this point!) to prevent them from sticking back together.
15. Wrap tightly and freeze, if desired.
16. When thawing frozen cake, allow to come to almost room temperature (no more condensation on the plastic wrap) before removing the wrappings.

Ultra Orange Cake (from Joy of Cooking):

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour

- 1 cup Sugar

- 1 teaspoon Baking soda

- 1/2 teaspoon Salt

- 1/3 cup Vegetable oil

- 1 cup Orange juice

- Zest from one large orange (about 2 tablespoons)

- 1 tablespoon Cider vinegar

- 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Prepare a 9 or 10-inch spring form pan by lining with paper and spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Combine dry ingredients and mix on low speed until well “sifted.”
4. Combine the wet ingredients and add to the dry.
5. Stir on medium-low speed until smooth.
6. Scrape into your prepared pan. Drop on the counter a few times to remove air bubbles.
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven when a toothpick comes out clean.
9. Cool, cut, wrap, and freeze as described above.

Whipped Chocolate Ganache Filling:

Ingredients:

- 3/4 cup High-quality coconut milk (gold can, but room-temperature and SHAKEN before opening)

- 160g Dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat the coconut milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, on medium heat.
2. Once the milk is simmering, remove from the heat.
3. Pour the hot milk over the chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl.
4. Stir with a spatula until the ganache is a shiny, dark brown.
5. Chill for an hour or more.
6. Whip the mixture with the whisk attachment of a stand mixture until the topping is the texture of soft whipped cream
7. Use to fill the orange cake layers.

Orange Curd Filling (original by Agent Minty):

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup Sugar

- 3 tablespoons Bird’s custard powder

- Zest of 1 large orange

- 1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup Orange juice

- 1 cup Water

- 2 teaspoons Arrowroot powder

- 1 tablespoon Coconut milk

Directions:

1. Combine sugar, custard powder, orange zest, and half of the orange juice in a saucepan.
2. Whisk over low heat until sugar and custard powder are dissolved.
3. Add the water and stir.
4. Bring heat to medium under saucepan.
5. Bring the mixture to a low simmer.
6. Dissolve the arrowroot powder in the remaining orange juice.
7. Add the arrowroot-orange juice mixture to the saucepan. Whisk well.
8. Add the coconut milk.
9. Whisk wile heating until the mixture boils gently. You may need to increase the heat slightly.
10. When the mixture is the consistency of yogurt (?), take it off the heat. It will continue to thicken as it cools!
11. Whisk occasionally until the curd is lukewarm.
12. Scrape into a container and store in the refrigerator until needed.
13. Use to fill the chocolate cake layers.

Chocolate Buttercream (adapted from the Purity Cookbook):

Ingredients:

- 10 tablespoons Softened margarine (use higher-quality stuff, like Earth Balance brand)

- 1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla

- Pinch of salt

- 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder

- 9 cups icing sugar

- 1/2 cup room-temperature coconut milk

Directions:

1. Beat the margarine, vanilla, and salt together until fluffy.
2. Mix together the cocoa powder and the icing sugar.
3. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the butter mixture.
4. Beat on medium until incorporated.
5. Add half of the coconut milk.
6. Beat on medium until incorporated.
7. Add another portion of the dry mixture.
8. Beat on medium until incorporated.
9. Add the remaining coconut milk.
10. Beat on medium until incorporated.
11. Add another portion of the dry mixture.
12. Beat on high until fluffy.
13. Adjust the consistency of the icing as desired by adding more “milk” or icing sugar.
14. Use to paste together the cake layers, and frost the outside of the cake. An offset spatula really helps!

Chocolate Glaze (from Dad):

Ingredients:

- 1 cup Chocolate chips

- 3 tablespoons Hot coffee

- 3 tablespoons Softened margarine (I used the high-quality kind)

- 1 tablespoon Orange liqueur, orange extract, or extra coffee.

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate chips on low heat, preferable in a double boiler.
2. Brew the coffee.
3. Add the hot coffee to the melted chocolate and stir. This will look terrible, but don’t despair!
4. Add the margarine and stir rapidly. Aha, you’re getting an emulsion!
5. Add the flavouring and stir some more.
6. If you want this runner, add more hot coffee.
7. Drizzle all over the cake or anything else that could use some pizzazz.

They are beautiful and talented in diverse ways, and I’m lucky to have them in my life. The nice thing is that they will introduce me to new friends, and so the circle grows even bigger over time.

Last night I went to a dinner party at Ali’s house. Between the six of us there, the meal needed to be gluten- and nut-free, and vegan. I volunteered to make dessert because I like a challenge! I learned a lot while making this pie, and because of it’s accommodating nature for the sensitivities of my friends, I’m calling it Friendship Pie.

While looking around for Nanaimo bar ideas a few weeks ago, I found the Daring Bakers challenge hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. I realized that the gluten-free graham crackers would make an excellent base for a crumb-crust pie.

The recipe called for rice, tapioca, and sorghum flours. The bulk store I shop at doesn’t carry sorghum flour, so I used coconut flour instead. Apparently it’s just powdered dried coconut meat! Consequently, while I was mixing up the dough, the kitchen had the wonderful aroma of coconut. I had to veganize it, and adapt it for what I had available in my kitchen.

This was my first time baking gluten-free, and I found the texture of the dough to be unusual – almost crunchy (I am an incorrigible cookie dough eater). They also took about half of the time Lauren recommended for baking.

The recipe made approximately 2 and a half dozen crackers; enough for Annick and I to snack on for two days, plus enough for a thick pie crust and some to give to my friend.

I used the recipe from Veganomicon for the pie crust, which uses yet more coconut! I didn’t bake it for as long as recommended, because I wanted a crust that wasn’t too crumbly. My graham crackers were also well-done, so I didn’t want the crust to taste burnt.

The ganache filling of the pie is a result of a happy accident. In December I tried to make ginger truffles, but the ganache never set firmly enough. As a result, I had a creamy ganache to use as a filling for my Christmas bûche, and I use the same chocolate-coconut milk proportions for an easy, rich filling.

For the final fancy garnish on the cake, I wanted to make white chocolate mousse.

My last attempt at making white chocolate was unsuccessful, but I had a PLAN this time! I made paste with a small volume of coconut milk and the soymilk powder, stirring and pressing with a spatula until all of the lumps were dissolved. To this I added the vanilla and powdered sugar, again making sure that the sugar was dissolved before proceeding.

I then added more coconut milk, because I wanted this to be a whippable custard (?), not a solid chocolate. Next I added the cocoa butter and stirred it until I got an emulsion, then added MORE coconut milk. I let this chill in the fridge so that it would be easier to whip, and meanwhile relaxed.

Once the mixture was the consistency of thin yogurt, I whipped it as much as I could. It didn’t whip as well as coconut cream, but it did get airier. I filled up a tube with it, and piped it onto the pie.

Result: One tasty pie, and several “oh my god this is so good!” comments.

Friendship Pie, dedicated to all my friends, old and new!

Recipe: Friendship Pie

Graham Crackers (Adapted from Celiac Teen):

Ingredients:

- 1 cup Sweet rice flour
- 3/4  cup Tapioca Starch/Flour
- 1/2 cup Coconut Flour
- 1 cup Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon Salt
- 7 tablespoons Margarine (I just used the normal soft kind)
- 1/3 cup Honey, or half honey and half corn syrup
- 5 tablespoons Soymilk
- 2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Cut the margarine into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles fine cumbs.
3. Combine all wet ingredients in a mixing cup and add to the dry ingredients.
4. Mix with a wooden spoon or electric mixer until well combined.
5. Gather all crumbs into a ball, divide into two halves.
6. Flatten each half into a patty the side of your hand and wrap in plastic.
7. Chill in the fridge overnight.
8. The next day, preheat the oven to 350F.
9. Dust the counter and rolling pin with rice flour, and roll out each half to approximately 1/8-inch thick.
10. Cut out crackers in your desired size and shape.
11. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
12. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, until they appear a toasty brown colour.

Graham Crumb Crust (from Veganomicon):

Ingredients:

- 1 3/4 cups Ground graham cracker crumbs

- 1/2 cup Unsweetened shredded coconut

- 2 tablespoons Sugar

- 3 tablespoons Margarine (again, the soft kind is OK)

- 3-5 tablespoons Soymilk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Pulse enough graham crackers in a food processor to make 1 3/4 cups.
3. Add the sugar and coconut to the crumbs in a microwaveable bowl.
4. Add the margarine on top of the dry ingredients.
5. Microwave until the margarine is almost completely melted.
6. Stir until all four ingredients are well combined.
7. Add enough soymilk that the crumbs are moist and hold together when squeezed.
8. Press the crumbs thickly into a 9″ pie plate.
9. Bake until the crust is slightly firm when touched, but the coconut is not too dark.
10. Cool on a rack while preparing the filling.

Chocolate ganache filling (Adapted from Josee di Stasio’s coconut ginger truffle recipe in Chatelaine):

Ingredients:

- 2/3 cup High-quality coconut milk (gold can, but room-temperature and SHAKEN before opening)

- 200g Dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Heat the coconut milk in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, on medium heat.
2. Once the milk is simmering, remove from the heat.
3. Pour the hot milk over the chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl.
4. Stir with a spatula until the ganache is a shiny, dark brown.
5. Pour into a prepared pie crust, or refrigerate for other uses (this is delicious for dipping fruit, or filling a cake).

White chocolate whipped topping (original by Agent Minty):

Ingredients:

- 1 teaspoon Soymilk powder

- 1/2 cup, divided, High-quality coconut milk (gold can, but room-temperature and SHAKEN before opening)

- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

- 1.5 tablespoons Icing (powdered) sugar

- 50g Solid food-grade cocoa butter

Directions:

1. Combine the soymilk powder with approximately 2 tablespoons of coconut milk in a saucepan, off the stove.
2. Do NOT proceed until all powder is incorporated! A spatula works well for this – I have to press the clumps against the side of the pot to break them up.
3. Add the vanilla and stir.
4. Turn the heat under the saucepan to medium-low.
5. Add the icing sugar and stir until well combined.
6. Heat the paste for a few minutes until you have a smooth mixture that is slightly warm.
7. Add half of the remaining coconut milk.
8. Once the mixture starts to simmer, remove the mixture from the heat and add the cocoa butter.
9. Allow the cocoa butter to melt and stir rapidly to disperse the fat into the mixture.
10. Add the remainder of the coconut milk and stir to get a creamy emulsion.
11. Pour into a mixing bowl and chill for at least an hour.
12. Whip the mixture with the whisk attachment of a stand mixture until the topping is the texture of soft whipped cream.
13. Pour gently into a piping bag fitted with a large decorative tip.
14. Pipe rosettes onto the pie or whatever else you wish to garnish. Idea: pipe into parfait glasses, chill, and serve with fruit as a light dessert.

Unfortunately, they didn’t turn out too pretty.

I made “reverse” Nanaimo bars, with a non-chocolate crust, chocolate filling, and white chocolate topping. In normal Nanaimo bars, there is melted chocolate in the crust, which lets me get away with not including a raw egg (gross). However, when I removed this ingredient for the reverse bars, the crust didn’t hold together after refrigeration. This may also be because I softened but didn’t melt the butter, so the crust moisture wasn’t as homogenous as it could have been. Therefore it was crumbly.

The white chocolate I used to top the reverse bars turned out kind of grainy, but once it hardened in the fridge I didn’t notice the texture too much, given the crumbly texture of the bars themselves. I might not have measured out the correct masses of ingredients, which is what happens when you have a dial-style balance that displays in 20g increments. So I also didn’t make enough for the other type of bars I made.

I made Grasshoppers as the other flavour: ultra-chocolate and mint crust, mint green filling, and (though not planned) chocolate topping. They were actually delicious, but I’m not posting a recipe or a photo because a) I didn’t write down ingredients as I went, and b) I made my mini-batches in loaf pans, which results in broken Nanaimo bars as I try to remove them from the pan.

In conclusion, they were yummy, but presentation left something to be desired. The reverse Nanaimo bar recipe needs tweaking, too.

Here is my normal Nanaimo bar recipe:

Mom’s Nanaimo Bars – veganized!

Ingredients:

Base

-          2 Tbsp chocolate chips

-          1/2 cup margarine

-          2 Tbsp sugar

-          1 tsp vanilla

-          2 cups graham cracker crumbs (oreo brand are vegan)

-          1 cup shredded coconut

-          1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds (optional)

Custard filling

-          2 Tbsp Bird’s custard powder

-          1/4 cup margarine

-          2 cups icing sugar

-          3 Tbsp “milk”

Topping

-          1/4 cup chocolate chips

-          1 Tbsp margarine

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave with half of the margarine until most of the chips are melted.
2. Add the remaining margarine, sugar, and vanilla. Stir.
3. Add the remaining ingredients for the base. Combine well.
4. Press into a 7×11 (or 8×8 for thicker bars) pan and chill.
5. Combine the custard powder and the margarine.
6. Alternately add the icing sugar and milk and stir to get an icing-like filling.
7. Distribute blobs of the filling all over the crust, then smooth out with a butter knife or offset spatula (if you start from only one location, you’re likely to tear up come of the crsut).
8. Return to the fridge.
9. Melt the chocolate and margarine together in a double boiler.
10. Pour over the chilled filling and smooth out as in step 7.
11. Chill for about 10 minutes, then score cutting lines in the chocolate.
12. Chill until firm, and cut into squares.

I think if I were only allowed to have one type of baked goods in my life, it would be bread. I am indifferent about store-bought bread; I can take two weeks or more to eat through a loaf of grocery store light rye (our ususal purchase). However, I will consume half a batch of homemade buns or focaccia or French bread in a sitting.

I want to be a good baker, especially a good bread maker. Back when all I could make were vegetarian cookies, muffins and quick breads, baking leavened bread and pastry seemed to be the ultimate skills to master. I think I am a good bread maker – I can whip up bread or buns on a whim, and take a few small liberties in choosing ingredients. However, I now want to master the art of break making.

I can make/ have made the following:

• Super-quick white and/or whole wheat bread
• Fast white bread
• Multigrain bread
• North American style (fast) rye bread
• Cinnamon buns
• Pizza dough
• Lavash
• Naan
• Focaccia
• Moravian Black Bread (from Sundays at the Moosewood Café)
• Yeast starter-based French bread (but it was too tough)
• Buns of various types of dough above

I want to make the following:

• Better French bread
• Sourdough
• Authentic rye
• Pumpernickel
• Gluten-free bread
• Bagels
• Crackers
• Pitas
• Swedish tea ring
• Raisin bread
• Boston steamed bread
• Fan Tams

The only items I’ve included in this list are leavened breads; I feel quite comfortable with my skills in making cornbread, pancakes, muffins, scones, etc., and honestly I don’t crave them nearly as often.

As an aside, the other skill, pastry, is about par with my level in bread making. Stay tuned for a post documenting my attempts at puff pastry!

For those of you who are looking to start making bread, it’s not nearly as hard as it sounds. I let my Kitchen Aid take care of all of the kneading, and follow the same recipe exactly as the book says a few times until I’ve got it down pat!

I’m using Microsoft Word.

I have been storing up pictures of light lunches and dinners that I have made myself over winter, so I figure that this would be a good time to share some of them with you.

Grilled avocado and soy-lami on rye, with veggies and dip.

Lettuce wraps with TVP, quinoa, and stir-fried veggies.

Chickpea salad on sprouted rye, veggies with dip, and fruit.

Briam (greek roasted vegetables) with garlic pita crisps.

Roasted polenta slices in a Portobello tomato sauce.

Bento#1. In the centre is bulgur, green bean, and cucumber salad.

Bento#2. A mountain sunset scene made of veggies and tofu.

What are your favourite meals-for-one?

Love and Pie

Heart-shaped apple galettes!

I followed This Recipe, but substituted homemade rhubarb jam for the apricot preserves. I didn’t really measure the brown sugar and spices, I just sprinkled them on top of each galette until they looked yummy.

The galettes brushed with jam and waiting for apples

Annick loved them, and love me even more when she found out I made six, not just two. We ate them warm out of the oven, which was delicious! In the picture above I have a fork with them, but we ended up using our hands and eating them like giant cookies.

A rousing success and a definite do-again!

• Two 8″ round vegan chocolate cake layers
• Canned sweet cherries, stewed with corn starch until thick and slightly jelly-like and then cooled.
• One batch of vegan whipped cream
• Chocolate curls (To make: Melt dark chocolate and margarine together. Pour it in a mould, and chill. Once the chocolate is cold and firm, and the rest of the cake has been assembled, use a vegetable peeler to peel curls off the block and place directly on the frosted cake.)

I used a little whipped cream to “butter” the layers before I filled the cake with the cherries.

I recommend keeping this cake cool until serving, as vegan whipped cream isn’t as heat-stable as the dairy stuff.

A whipped-cream, cherries-and-chocolate dream

Geeky and delicious

That is all.

Since I don’t have the cream “cheese” or tofu required for a peanut butter pie (I’ve always wanted to make one, but still haven’t), I made a canned and frozen fruit pie. It’s winter in Alberta, so the only pie-able, semi-local fresh fruits are firm apples, and I didn’t have more than one (soft) apple in my fridge.

Instead, I used what produce I froze and canned this summer. Below, is my peach-cherry-strawberry-cranberry pie:

If I were an American, I would make up some snappy patriotic name for this pie.

Ingredients:

1 single, unbaked 9″ pie crust, plus extra rolled out for the top – my recipe will be posted soon

2 cups of canned peaches (fruit only)

1.5 cups of pitted, canned sweet cherries

1 cup frozen strawberries

1/3 cup frozen cranberries (fresh work, as well)

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Approximately 2 teaspoons margarine or butter

1 teaspoon ground almonds (optional)

Instructions:

1.Set your over to 400 F

2. Line the pie pan with the bottom crust and place it in the fridge.

3. Roll out the top crust. Leave it in its waxed paper and place in the fridge.

4. Drain the canned fruit. Reserve at least 1/4 cup. I’d recommend draining the syrup into a glass, then you can drink it later with soda!

5. Combine the fruit, spices, and flour in a bowl and stir.

6. Pour the fruit into the lines pie pan.

7. distribute small (1/4 teaspoon) blobs of “butter” all over the fruit.

8. Sprinkle the nuts on top.

9. From your top crust, cut out stars or another shape with cookie cutters, and arrange the cutouts to cover most of the fruit on top of the pie.

10. Brush the crust and cutouts with the reserved juices. using your fingers or a pastry brush, spread a thin layer of “butter” over top – this doesn’t have to be perfect!

11. Bake at 400 F for about 20 minutes, until the crust is starting to get golden. If you use a clear glass pie plate, check sooner.

12. Turn the heat down to 350 F and bake 25-40 minutes longer. The pie will be done when the juices are boiling.

13. Allow the pie to cool and solidify for at least 20 minutes before slicing.

TIP FOR SUCCESS:

- If you bake the pie in a toaster oven, use strips of tinfoil to cover any areas of crust that are browning quickly. I have found that whiel toastert ovens are great for cooking pies, and doing so qucikly, I can easily burn my crust in them.