Cherry Floss Open Pie
Hello from sunny Southbourne!
Here is a little something I prepared earlier...
Open bakes are my go to idea when feeding a large number of people, with minimal effort.
You can make them as large as you want and they always look impressive, when laid in the centre of the table.
My brother was given a candy floss maker for his birthday (he was 28!) and I love the stuff. Since we have been back from America, I have been desperate for a little bag of the fluffy wonder and was thrilled when I spotted it in the local supermarket.
As we got home and I started unpacking the weekly shop, Sammy, who had brought in the bunch of flowers for the kitchen, held up a fox glove stem and said "Mama, this looks just like candy floss!" And this little idea was born. What could be better than sprinkling it's sugary over a baked delight?
Cherry Floss Open Pie!
You could easily make this with cooked rhubarb, plums, strawberries, raspberries or blackberries. Or do a summer mix up of them all!
I find it much quicker and easier to use puff pastry as a flat baked pie rather than make a traditional pie. Plus I like to see what's inside.
Ingredients:
- 1 sheet puff pastry
- 2 tins of pitted cherries or 500g fresh cherries, stones removed (I used a mix of both)
- Sprinkle of caster sugar
- Handful of chopped walnuts (optional)
- Drizzle of vanilla syrup
- 1 beaten egg to glaze the pastry edges
- 1 tub candy floss (Morrisons supermarket sell individual tubs for c£1)
- Dusting of icing sugar
- Vanilla custard to serve
Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees or Gas Mark 4.
Lay your sheet of puff pastry on a baking tray and gently roll the edges inwards to create an approximately 1cm lip to contain your filling.
Arrange your fruit filling in rows and sprinkle with caster sugar and the chopped walnuts. Drizzle the vanilla syrup over the entire mix.
Heat in the oven for around 15 minutes until the tops of the cherries are caramelised. Make sure you don't burn the walnuts!
Gently rip your candy floss into bit size pieces and place them randomly on the top of your flat pie. Watch them sizzle into the hot mixture to create pockets of sticky goodness.
Dust with icing sugar and serve with vanilla custard. Enjoy immediately.
Sammy loved that as the candy floss sizzles into the cherries it looks like spider's webs. Very cool to small boys.
Watch out next week for my savoury idea and pick up a roll of puff pastry and stick it in the freezer.
An easy summer dessert idea, to use up your seasonal fruit. Plus cherries need no pre cooking as opposed to rhubarb - time saving, I like it!
It's also so easy to change the fruit for a more Autumnal idea as the weather changes.
