the unfortunately minimal baking that has been occurring recently has led to a back log of baking books that i have purchased but never used! (other than to drool over of course) so i thought this would be a good place to start - and where better than with my beloved john whaite? his second offering is John Whaite Bakes At Home and follows a similar style to the first book, very matte and minimal.
i was lucky enough to meet john when he came to a book signing at exeter. my poor friend april was somewhat embarrassed to be in the shop with me as i promptly freaked out! but i managed to pull myself together and we had a lovely little chat about the perils of final year and the bad luck to have a birthday around exam time. (i was celebrating my fake birthday that day due to my actual birthday falling in the easter holidays, aka dissertation/exam lock down time)
i one day aspire to have such beautiful writing!
so, fan girling aside, i settled on the chocolate and lime pie as a simple recipe which looked perfect to ease myself back in. so many recipes now take up two pages or more, and i mostly far too lazy to deal with that!
sorry, it just has to be done
the recipe says to use a food processor, but bashing biscuits with a rolling pin is infinitely more satifying!
once the base has chilled, it's on to making the filling which is also super simple - just how i like it!
i find mini graters (i think i got mine from a hot chocolate gift set) ideal for grating citrus fruits, especially smaller limes, as you have more control and i feel there is less wastage
perhaps not the most visually appealing mix?
for baking the pie, i found the instructions were not quite right for my oven. the recipe suggests 20-25 minutes at 180° until the pie trembles, however i found that mine was quite rapidly bubbling away! so i turned the oven right down and left it in for a further ten minutes. at this point it seemed much more solid.
a great test of patience then occurs as the pie has to completely cool and then set in the fridge (never something you want to read in a recipe!)
so it turns out getting this pie out of the tin is not the easiest thing ever! the biscuit base is very crumbly and delicate, hence the crumb explosion all over the work top
low marks for presentation - the delicate nature of the base meant getting the bottom of the tin from under the pie was not going to happen
definitely not a thing of beauty but rustic chic is very in...
taste wise i'm a bit on the fence with this bake - the lime taste is very strong and overpowers the chocolate (especially as this is almost 'diluted' coming through a biscuit) so maybe i would include one less lime? the crust was definitely the best part, because of the better balance between filling and base. but definitely not a write off and an interesting experiment with different ingredients! the filling is very similar in texture to a cheesecake, which - as with a cheesecake - works well contrasted against the biscuit base.
well there we go, i'm back in business and hoping to get a weekly bake going to distract from the tedium of 9-5!
love,
nen
x
