A couple of months ago I came across a picture of a plum pie. I’ve no idea where I saw the picture nor did it have a recipe (probably the reason why I didn’t save it to my favourites). All I remember was that it looked delicious and that I wanted to make a plum pie myself! I remembered that in the Dutch Caribbean cuisine there also is a plum pie, so I asked my mom if she might have a recipe somewhere. She found a printed piece of paper that had a recipe on how to make the plum mixture which I decided to use as a base for my pie (ofcourse slightly adjusted to my taste ). I figured almonds and plums would make a nice combination so I decided to create a shortbread using part almond flour to accompany my plum mixture.

Instead of making one big pie I decided to create a bunch of mini pies. After even just one try, the pies tasted a-ma-zing! One of my grandmothers (yes, I’m lucky enough to still have two grannies!) liked the pies so much she wanted me to make some for her birthday!

I love being inspired by others and then create a recipe of my own, that’s one of the reasons I started Cakies! To document all my ideas or share other amazing recipes.

I know what you’re thinking… So how do you make these cute little pies? Well, here’s how you do it:

First grab al your essentials for making the shortbread: almond flour, plain flower, sugar, butter, egg and lemon rind.

 

 

 

 

 

Add flour and almond flour to a bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

Cut butter into cubes.

 

 

 

 

 

Add butter to the flour and using two knives start cutting the flour into the butter.

 

 

 

 

 

Add sugar and using the tips of your fingers quickly rub in the sugar and butter into the flour until it starts to look a bit crumbly.

 

 

 

 

 

This is the crumbly look you’re aiming for.

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re like me and you’ve forgotten to add the lemon rind earlier…, this is the part where you can still add it to your dough. It’s easier to add it at the same time as the sugar though… I’ve made sure that in the printed recipe the order is correct so you (hopefully) won’t make the same mistake… Anyway, let’s move on to the next step…

 

 

 

 

 

In a separate bowl (as you can see I just reused the one that had my flour in, saves on the washing up) add a pinch of salt to the egg.

 

 

 

 

 

Lightly whisk the egg.

 

 

 

 

 

And add egg to the crumbly dough.

 

 

 

 

 

Quickly kneed the dough into a ball. Don’t overwork the mixture, it can still be a little crumbly. Put the dough in the fridge and leave to rest for at least half an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

While the dough is resting, let’s get started with the plum filling. For the filling you’ll need som cherry brandy, plums, water and the peel of a lemon.

 

 

 

 

 

In a saucepan, add plums, lemon peels, water,

 

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget the cherry brandy.

 

 

 

 

 

Put on a low heat and let it simmer very slowly. This can take about 20-30 minutes. Make sure to check every now and than to make sure the water hasn’t evaporated too quickly in which case you will need to add a little more water to make sure the mixture doesn’t dry out.

 

 

 

 

 

When the mixture has been simmering for a while you can see the plums breaking up more and more. Make sure the water hasn’t evaporated yet.

 

 

 

 

 

Now it’s time to mix the cornstarch with some water.

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure the cornstarch is mixed thoroughly with the water.

 

 

 

 

 

Add cornstarch mixture to the plums.

 

 

 

 

 

Leave to simmer for a couple more minutes and mix well to combine. Take the pan off the heat and leave to cool before use. The mixture should be nice and slushy by now. If the mixture doesn’t look slushy enough just add some more water and leave a bit longer to simmer.

 

 

 

 

 

Once you’re happy with your plum mixture, make sure you take out the lemon peels.

 

 

 

 

 

While the plum mixture is cooling it’s time to prepare your muffin tin. You don’t actually have to do this, but I can assure you, it makes the taking out of the tin much easier.

Cut some strips of baking paper of 0.4inch by 1.6inch.

 

 

 

 

 

Place them in a cross in a lightly buttered muffin tin.

 

 

 

 

 

Do this for the entire muffin tin.

 

 

 

 

 

Now it’s time to flour your worksurface ’cause we’re going to make the actual pies!

 

 

 

 

 

Divide your dough into two pieces of 1/3 and 2/3.

 

 

 

 

 

Roll out 2/3 of the dough about 0.16inch thick and cut out circles slightly bigger than the circles of your muffin tin. You can use a small bowl or a baking ring it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s roughly the size you nee.

 

 

 

 

 

Using a palette knife, lift off the circle from your worksurface. Don’t panic if the shape starts to shift or if the circle starts to break a little, you can fix that in the muffin tin.

Place the dough in the muffin tin on top of the crossed strips of baking paper. Make sure the top of the strips stick out on top. Press the dough into shape in the tin and fix any errors.

 

 

 

 

 

Add a little bit of custard to the bottom of each pie. This will help absorb any moisture from the plum mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

Add about a tablespoon of the plum mixture to the dough.

 

 

 

 

 

Repeat this till you’ve filled all of the pies.

 

 

 

 

 

Now roll out the rest of the dough till about 0.16inch thick and cut into strips. Place strips onto each of the pies. Brush the pies with a little bit of a lightly beaten egg and place into a preheated oven.

 

 

 

 

 

Bake the pies until golden brown.

 

 

 

 

 

Now here’s where the strips come in. Using the strips, take out the pies.

 

 

 

 

 

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

 

 

 

 

 

Once cooled, remove the strips and get ready to eat the pies. Aren’t they just the cutest little pies? And they taste delicious as well! I suggest you go out to get the ingredients and start baking!

 

2011-12-11

 

Just one more night and for many many people in the Netherlands it’ll be time to celebrate Saint Nicholas! Some may have even celebrated it already. Sinterklaas or Saint Nicholas Day is a festival for children usually celebrated on either 5th or 6th of December. It celebrates the legend of Saint Nicholas, bringer of gifts. “Santa Claus” is actually derived from the Dutch Sinterklaas. If you’d like to know more about Sinterklaas I suggest you check out Wikipedia, I’m here for the recipes, not for the history lessons

I’m always happy when this time of year comes around, mainly because it means it time for some tasty spice nuts! A typical Dutch cookie only available in shops at the end of the year. Once I start eating them I just can’t stop. Spice Nuts are also very fun and easy to make, you can involve kids if you want as well. I couldn’t let Sinterklaas pass without a recipe for spice nuts!

I’d say, let’s get all the ingredients and start making this homemade spice nuts for Saint Nicholas day!

Grab your essentials, brown sugar, self-rising flour, butter, milk and Dutch Cookie Spice mix. The Dutch Cookies Spice mix, is a typical mix you can find in most of Dutch supermarkets. You can make your own Dutch cookie spice mix by combining 2 tbsp ground cinnamon, 2 tsp ground nutmeg, 2 tsp ground clove, 3/4 tsp ground white pepper, 1 tsp ground aniseed, 1 tsp ground ginger and 1 tsp ground coriander. Store the mix in an air-tight container. Pumpkin Pie spice mix can also be used instead of Dutch cookie spice mix.

 

 

 

 

Prepare a baking tray with baking paper and set aside.

 

 

 

 

 

Add flour to a bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

Make a hole in the middle of the flour.

 

 

 

 

 

Add sugar.

 

 

 

 

Cookie Spice mix.

 

 

 

 

 

Butter.

 

 

 

 

 

Pinch of salt.

 

 

 

 

 

And milk.

 

 

 

 

 

Now, using your fingers, make a crumbly dough. These aren’t my fingers by the way, my mom was my baking helper for the day, so I could take pictures, thanks mom!

 

 

 

 

 

You should make the dough crumbly like this. This is the point where I’d like to ‘taste’ the dough, which sometimes results in less spice nuts in the end, I don’t understand why… .

 

 

 

 

 

Quickly kneed the crumble into a supple dough and form into a ball, or in our case, a long shape which kind of reminds me of something else… So I suggest you make a ball, it’s better on the eyes…

 

 

 

 

 

Now, take a little bit of the dough and form into little balls, the size of a peanut, or, if you’d like a bigger cookie, the size of a hazelnut. Place the balls on your prepared baking tray.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Place the Spice Nuts in the oven and bake till they are done. The Spice Nuts will harden as they cool down.

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it, extremely tasty Spice Nuts! The Spice Nuts in this picture were gone in about 5 minutes… I didn’t even manage to dip them into chocolate which makes them even more delicious!

2011-12-04

 

You know the Delicious Pumpkin and Pecan Cupcakes I made recently, this is the amazing buttercream that goes with it. I thought I’d share the recipe for this buttercream with you as well, just because I feel like it! The buttercream doesn’t only go well with a pumpkin cupcake, but it’s also a great filling for cakes. It’s hard to explain exactly what it tastes like, just that it tastes like cinnamon and ginger with a hint of lemon. You really have to try it to understand how good it really is.

Let’s start making it!

You’ll need, butter, confectioners’ sugar, milk, vanilla extract, cinnamon, grated ginger, lemon rind and a pinch of salt.

 

 

 

 

 

Put your butter into a bowl.

 

 

 

 

 

Next, with an electric mixer beat till the butter is creamy.

 

 

 

 

 

Slow down the speed of your mixer and gradually add half of the confectioners’ sugar to the butter. Mix until the sugar is fully incorporated.

 

 

 

 

 

Add milk.

 

 

 

 

Vanilla extract.

 

 

 

 

 

Salt.

 

 

 

 

 

Lemon rind.

 

 

 

 

 

Ginger.

 

 

 

 

 

And cinnamon.

 

 

 

 

 

Mix till it’s all fully incorporated.

 

 

 

 

 

Now add the rest of the confectioners’ sugar.

 

 

 

 

 

And mix till it’s creamy and fluffy.

 

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t that just look delish?!

Like I said earlier, you can use it as a topping for cupcakes (goes really well with my Pumpkin Pecan Cupcakes) or as a filling for a cake. Just try it and let me know if you like it!

 

2011-12-03