Velvet Pie

I asked my husband to pick a recipe out of The Pie Cookbook and get the ingredients from the store so I could make it for dessert. He picked two… Luckily, we wound up going to a party at a friends’ house, so I was able to bring along the pies to share with everyone. This is the first recipe of the two that I made.

Water-Beat Pastry

I had never heard of such a thing, so I decided to try it. I can’t say that I loved the process or the final product, but it wasn’t a terrible crust – I just don’t think I’d do it again.

¾ C shortening (NOT butter, margarine, or oil)

¼ C boiling water

1 tbsp milk

2 C flour

1 tsp salt

Those are the ingredient amounts if you’re making a two-crust pie. Since I was only making one: ½ C minus 1 tbsp shortening, 3 tbsp boiling water, 1 tsp milk, 1 ¼ C flour, ½ tsp salt

Put shortening in a bowl and add water and milk. Tilt bowl and beat ingredients rapidly with a fork until mixture is smooth and thick, like whipped cream, and holds soft peaks.

Mix flour and salt into shortening with fork until dough holds together and pulls away from sides of bowl. Roll out on board and use to assemble pie.

I also baked my pie shell for 10 minutes at 350^oF because my recipe called for the pie shell to already be baked when I assembled the pie.

Velvet Pie

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

¼ C cold water

1 ½ C milk

3 eggs, separated

¼ C sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cardamom

¼ C sugar

¼ tsp nutmeg

½ C heavy cream, whipped

Chocolate shavings (optional)

Add gelatin to water and set aside. Scald milk in a saucepan. Temper egg yolks and carefully add to milk. Mix in sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until custard becomes thick. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and gelatin. I added in some cardamom because it’s my new favorite spice – it gave the pie a very interesting spicy background flavor. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until mixture is very thick.

Remove custard from refrigerator and beat until smooth. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks. Carefully beat in sugar until stiff. Fold into custard and turn into baked pie shell.

Sprinkle top with nutmeg and refrigerate until set. Top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings if desired.

There are a lot of variations to this pie, but this is the standard recipe. The cookbook suggests these variations:

Eggnog Pie: Omit chocolate; substitute rum for vanilla; use 1 tsp nutmeg

Candy Velvet Pie: Omit chocolate and nutmeg; mix crushed peppermint candies into custard

Chocolate Flake Pie: Fold shaved unsweetened chocolate into custard

Coconut Bavarian Pie: Omit nutmeg and chocolate; Add ¼ tsp almond extract with vanilla; Fold ½ C shredded coconut into whipped cream

Coffee Velvet Pie: Add 2 tbsp instant coffee to egg whites before beating

Strawberry Velvet Pie: Fold 1 C sliced strawberries into cooled custard

Like I said, I just made the standard recipe, and it was a real crowd pleaser. I didn’t especially love the crust, but it wasn’t a big deal. The custard was smooth, creamy, and with just the right sweetness. I really liked adding the cardamom, but as you can see, this is such a simple pie recipe that you should feel free to experiment however you want. The velvet pie looked very pretty, too, with the creamy custard and the whipped cream on top. Overall, a very pleasant dessert.

Have a question or a request? Put it in the comments below and I’ll be sure to respond. Fröhe essen!