Well I call them summer fruit but really they could be early autumn meringue pies as they are filled with blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. I used the same batch of pastry as I did for my custard tarts so only made 3 small pies, however you could do a large pie or 6 small pies if you weren’t making anything else at the same time. I love these pies because they aren’t as sweet as some of the bought ones, meaning you don’t get that sickly feeling after eating them.
125g Plain flour
15g Castor sugar
75g Unsalted butter
1 large egg yolk (keep the egg white for the meringue)
1 tablespoon of cold water
- If you have a blender (which I donβt), just put all the ingredients in and mix.
- Otherwise place the flour and sugar and in a bowl and mix through before rubbing the butter in to create a breadcrumb effect.
- Next beat the egg yolk and mix through with your hands or a wooden spoon.
- Add the water and combine the dough into a ball.
- Knead briefly to ensure the egg yolk has distributed evenly throughout the pastry (no yellow bits).
- Butter your pie tin – with fluted edges I find the best way to stop pastry sticking is to get right in there with your fingers and make sure every bit of the fluting is buttered.
- Roll out the pastry on a floured non-stick surface (I used my fondant mat but greaseproof paper works too) and then flip the pastry onto the pie tin before carefully peeling off the non stick surface.
- Carefully lift and press the pastry into place making sure there are no holes.
- Use a knife to remove excess pastry from the top drawing it outwards so that it pulls the pastry into the walls of the tin rather than away from them.
- fill each mini pie with the fruit mixture and place in a 180c oven for 15 minutes.
250g of mixed berries I like to use raspberries, blackberries and diced strawberries
The juice of half a large orange (or 3 tablespoons of bought orange juice)
30g unsalted butter
100g castor sugar
2 large egg yolks (beaten)
3 tablespoons of cornflour
- Place the berries, butter, sugar and orange juice in a pan over a low heat and cook for about 5 minutes on a low heat stirring to dissolve the butter and sugar. Cook until the fruit begins to break down and the liquid starts to thicken a little.
- Remove from the heat and add the beaten egg yolk and cornflour (make sure the fruit isn’t too hot as this would cook the egg)
- While the filling cooks make the meringue ready to add.
For the meringue:
2 egg whites
120 g castor sugar
- Whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks
- Add the sugar a spoonful at a time while continuing to mix at a slow speed
- Once the pies have cooked for 15 minutes add the meringue on top and return to the oven for another 1o minutes until they turn a golden brown
I had some meringue left over as I was making fewer pies than normal so I added a splash of clear vinegar to the remainder to stop it browning as much and made some mini meringues to serve with the pies.
Linking up to The crazy kitchen and Mummy Mishaps
mmmmmm i have never had a meringue baked pie asides from a lemon one so it is nice to see a different filling. these sounds really nice and and your pastry cases look perfect. thanks for linking up x
These looks lovely and I really like your photography on this post – very warm, clean and inviting.
these look lovely..nice little size – I bet these were lovely & sharp & fruity..I need to get myself some smaller tart tins –
i really love your styling i bet there was no soggy bottoms at your table that night i never thought of using autumn berries this way before but i will now π
Thanks π they were delicious and I’ve never had a problem with this pastry – the custard tarts were a tiny bit soggy but it was because they sat on the side too long before going into the oven π
Hi, I stumbled across this recipe whilst searching for a way to use leftovers and have myself a 7″ meringue settled by in the oven!! I had a problem with pastry shrinkage as soon as the dish went in the oven, despite resting, not over handling, pricking the base etc, but I’m hoping I’ll find it somewhere when I cut into it βΊοΈ Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the lovely comment.