… it took me four years to reach gold with my scones at The Aby Village Show… with much in-fighting and back-stabbing and many a jovial dig at the wonderful Elaine… who didn’t even hit the scone medals board this year, I may add… I finally did it…
… my cherry pie however is a different story… I placed third… out of three entries… and whilst I feel a little like Tom Daley who was rightly ecstatic with his bronze medal, I also feel that those delightful ladies from the WI really need to fucking lighten up a bit… I mean come ON… look at the beauty… look at the perfect lattice work… the divine chocolate pastry… the deep, deep filling of cherries, sultanas and candied fruit… the way I look at it is that it must have stumped them a little… they have their rules… pies should be less deeply filled… a fruit pie is a fruit pie, whereas a lattice pie is something else… and chocolate pastry… well…
… to be fair I actually like the rules… we all need boundaries and regulations and if we can’t excel in these simple things then how can we move on to be more creative… much like Picasso who excelled at fine art before he turned to cubism, I guess I need to go back to the drawing board… we have asked the powers that be to give us creative types our own ‘anything goes’ category for next year… I guess it all depends on who the judges are…
deep-filled cherry pie with a chocolate shortcrust lattice top
of course the real person I have to blame for my third place ranking is Janice from Farmersgirl Kitchen who chose cherries as this months we should cocoa theme as she is guest hosting for Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog who owns the concept that tortures us every 30 odd days… yes, blame Janice as it was for her that I decided to go so avant guard for this fruit pie entry…
for the filling
500g of fresh, frozen or tinned cherries – de-seeded
a large handful of sultanas and candied fruit (this was left-over from Christmas)
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
for the chocolate shortcrust
250g plain flour
100g butter
1 heaped tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 egg
a little milk to bind
– stone the cherries and then with what look like blood-stained hands, place all the filling ingredients into a bowl and stir – set aside whilst you make the pastry
– combine all the pastry ingredients to form a dough and then refrigerate for at least an hour
– halve the pastry and place one half back in the fridge – on a floured surface roll out one half of the pastry and line your pie dish then fill the pie with the cherry mix
– now roll out the pastry for the lattice top and cut into strips – I watched this excellent, if cheesy, video but it really is very easy to do…
– brush with a milk and egg wash and sprinkle with sugar – bake for 30 mins of 160C
eat and of course, enjoy!
Many congratulations on the scone title, you deserved to win.
Your pie was easily the most tempting dish, we all thought it was bound to be a winner and were shocked when we found it hadn't.
(We must get a copy of those WI rules sometime, so we know what we are supposed to do! I'll let you know if I ever manage to find any.)
Congratulations for being top scone! Sorry about your pie but I guess rules are rules. Maybe you should apply to be a judge and then things could move outside the square!
Looks absolutely fantastic! I would so love to try some. I love a good pie and this recipe looks amazing.
Rules are meant to be broken is what I always say! Those ladies DO need to lighten up.. that pie looks absolutely amazing!! Definitely worthy of a gold!!!
Looks like a first place pie to me!! Judges don't always know what's best. Those who can't do judge, right?? Your crust looks awesome and I'm sure the chocolate element was perfect with the cherries 🙂
I noticed straight away that you had woven your strips properly, not the quick way (which is what I usually do). I also noticed that you cut them using a pastry crimping wheel. How dedicated is that !!
Even more of a shame your pie didn't win !!
Lovely pie and lovely Elaine (gracious even in defeat), well done! x
Definately a winning pie – cherries & chocolate are so good together. And what about your bread?
xx
LOL Dom sticking to rules and regulations? Well I never 😉 I think it's a winning pie and I would have awarded you first place. I love the chocolate pastry!
Looks like a great recipe. I would love to try some. I reckon they would taste so good.
pet shops
Great sounding pie Dom. What came first and second?! Did you use fresh cherries for the show? One more question, was it an 8 inch pie dish you used? The video is hilarious! 🙂
I pegged this as a winner from first glance, so I'm really excited to have the recipe. I love the chocolate crust, that's going to be fun to play with this fall and winter.
You've been cheated, robbed!!! I think you stumped them! I like the idea of an “anything goes” category! I know you'll win that one!
I think this pie looks amazing! I happen to like deep dish fruit pie and I love the chocolate crust ~ pure genius!
Well pish posh to the WI, this pie looks fantastic and I'd happily gobble it up. I mean, uhm, eat it daintily and in small quantities… I love the idea of adding the chocolate into the pastry – fabulous!
You were ROBBED Dom! I would have voted for your pie STRAIGHT away, I mean look at it's LUSH beauty! ROBBED, you were!
Oh Lord! Sometimes the innovator is put off for a bit while folks catch up with their thinking … this is a pie for the ages, dearie … chocolate and cherries, have the taste thing and the lattice design is just gorgeous!Take heart … at least you are the new king of scones! XO!
Mmm, lattice work! Glad to know I'm not the only one with bits and pieces still left from Christmas!
This is wonderful!
I've been meaning to come back to this post after seeing your tweet. Love how the pie looks, next cherrie season I will try this recipe. Looks gorgeous!