My everyday vegetarian treats with a twist!

Posts tagged “sugar cookie dough”

Vanilla Custard Fruit Pie


This recipe involves a few steps and may seem like a lot of work, but trust me it’s quite the opposite: minimal baking and easy to put together. What’s more, my version is relatively healthy! 🙂 I initially made this fruit pie with a cream cheese filling following the recipe from a friend in Atlanta (now is Dallas) and it was mighty delicious. However, with the recipe below I have replaced the filling with vanilla custard to make it a lighter dessert for a dinner party that may already be laden with cheese.  I have also included a recipe for the sugar cookie base which uses half the sugar than that found in ready-made cookie dough mixture that you can buy at the grocery store (only available in US, not in UK). For the fruit topping, you can combine any fruits that you like. I have chosen berries for my recipe below, but you can use pineapple bits, kiwis, grapes, etc.

Every time I have made it for others, it has gone down a treat! Why don’t you “bake” to impress! 🙂

Serves 8 /Total Time 45 minutes

Sugar Cookie Dough Ingredients:
170g /1-1/3 cups plain flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
115g /1/2 cup butter, softened
100g/1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

  1. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set these dry ingredients aside.
  2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
  3. Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Line a 12 inch/30 cm pizza baking tray with parchment paper. Roll the dough onto the parchment paper. You can use your fingertips to push it out evenly to the edges.
  4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let it stand on on baking tray for about two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

Vanilla Custard Ingredients:
250 ml  milk
100 ml  fresh cream  (I used 25% fat fresh cream)
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cornflour or cornstarch
1/2 of vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract/essence

  1. In a saucepan, put the milk and cream together and add the vanilla seeds/extract/essence. Take 1/4 cup of this mixture in a small bowl and mix in the sugar and cornflour to make a smooth paste and keep aside.
  2. Heat the milk mixture over a medium flame. When it comes to a boil, lower the flame and stir in the cornflour/milk mixture. Stir constantly until thick and creamy, making sure that nothing catches at the bottom of the pan.  Take off heat and set aside to cool.

Orange glaze ingredients:
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup orange juice
1 tbsp lemon juice
pinch of salt

  1. In a saucepan, combine all ingredients, heat over medium flame, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 or 2 minutes, until thickened. Remove from heat. Allow to cool, but not set.

Topping Ingredients:
2 cups strawberries, sliced in halves
1 cup blackberries, sliced in halves
1 cup raspberries, sliced in halves
1/2 cup blueberries
or
Any combination of your favourite fruits

  1. Once the fruit is cut up, set aside.

Assembly:

  1. Slide the cooled baked cookie dough base on to a serving dish of the same size if you wish. Otherwise, just remove the parchment paper from the baking tray.
  2. Spread the cooled custard over the sugar cookie base leaving 2 cm of edge of base uncovered.
  3. Arrange chosen fruit in a circle around the outside edge. Continue with fruit of your choice, working towards the middle.
  4. Now spoon over the cooled orange glaze over the fruits.
  5. Chill for at least 1 hour, then cut into wedges and serve.

August 23, 2011 | Categories: Desserts | Tags: , , | 1 Comment