I’ve been wanting one of these baby’s for quite a while. My daughter picked up my ‘subtle’ hints and gave me one for Christmas. I’ve been busy pie making since.
This little fella can get you out of a jam pretty darn quick. I’ve been invited to a few impromptu gatherings and the same question pops into my head about 5.5 seconds after accepting such and invitation…
“What am I gonna make??”
Pastry is very easy and should be a staple in your kitchen, (at least keep a batch in the freezer). When you’re in a REAL pinch, keep a couple of tins of ready made blueberry or cherry pie filling on hand as well. I had cherry, blueberry and homemade cinnamony apple pie filling!
THREE Things to keep in mind:
Breville suggests using puff pastry. I did… but my personal preference is ordinary homemade Tenderflake pastry. I’ll tell you why…. I found the puff pastry to shrink, crinkle and wrinkle on the top when the pies cooled. I didn’t like the look. I tried different combinations too, puff pastry on top/pie pastry on bottom, puff pastry on top and bottom. I’m sticking with pie pastry.
All fillings have to be cooked and cooled. The pie maker really just cooks the pastry and heats up the filling. The pies are not in there long enough to cook the fillings.
The Breville instructions also suggest you use 1/3 cup of filling, I used more.. and I’ll tell you why again.. If the pies aren’t filled enough, the top pastry doesn’t touch the top heated element and doesn’t brown. Filling them a little more makes them brown beautifully. I also cut some air holes in my top crust so steam could escape making the pies crimp and seal better.
Follow all the instructions given with the pie maker (plus my little added tips) and you’ll have four spectacular pies in minutes.
My first couple of batches were trial and error. I made up my mind after the first batch of puff pastry, that I didn’t like that as much as pie pastry. Trial and error on how much to fill them as well, but they turned out great once I got it down to a science.
If they cool and you want them warmed up again, they warm up lovely in the oven.
Is that not the cutest thing you’ve seen !?
Enjoy !
