151: Blackberry and apple pie, p343

Rats. I can't make pastry. This is a well documented fact. Here. And here. And here. And many other places, no doubt. But I keep trying. This time it was all going well, until I retrieved the pastry from the fridge and found it had turned into a rock solid, dry lump. It was not going to become malleable in time to be able to bake the pie and leave to get to my parents' in time for lunch, so I cheated and used the emergency jus rol. The shame. No, I don't care. Pastry and me are not meant to be. It's a good thing really, if I could make the stuff, I'd eat it all the time...

Good pie though! Unusually for a Nigel pud, I didn't find this overly sweet, which was nice, even though some of the apples I used were quite sweet already. Of course my sister thought it wasn't quite sweet enough - but ho hum, I liked it. Not rocket science, no real deviations from the basics of such a pie, so an easy one to tick off, pastry-making excluded...

117: Bramley apple shortcake, p124

Yummy! I made pastry!! Hot paws are not conducive to pastry making, which is a terrible shame as I love love love pastry. Actually it's probably a good thing I can't make it very well... or I'd eat it all the time...

This was a very short shortcrust pastry, and I tried really hard... but it still ended up being placed in the bottom of the pie tin and over the top of the filling in multiple pieces. Added a very homemade 'rustic' look, I like to think... Only a pic (to follow) of the outside for this one as I took it to a family party and we had to leave early as hubby had an opera to get to, at Glyndebourne, so had to leave it there and in the rush, although I tried a bit of it quickly, completely forgot to take a picture of it cut. Ho hum. But I can report that it was really rather good - not too sweet, not too sour, not too sloppy. Hate it when the filling makes the pastry too soggy and thought that might happen with this as I made the pie last night - but no, it didn't, success! And even grumpy uncle, who doesn't do complements, said it wasn't bad at all. And then had a second piece :)