Yuletide presents!

[spatz]

I received TWO fics this year, both of them for Biggles, so I've been delighting in the foe-yay h/c of it all. I read The Arrangement first this morning, on the very scientific decision of it being the first email I got, and it's a wonderful post-Hatchet adventure where Biggles has a malaria recurrence mid-mission and von Stalhein ventures out in a storm to get him medicine. Oh, them ♥

[Then I had to stop reading and make two (2!) pies and attend family dinner, which was lovely. I've apparently perfected my cherry pie, which was already very good, and the accolades make all the fuss worth it. The food was delicious, the wine was plentiful, and my cousin's kids have gotten absurdly cute since the last time I saw them. Merry Christmas to me! I hope ya'll all had beautiful days if you celebrated. ♥]

My second present was the fantastic On the Threshold, an AU where von Stalhein shows up injured at Mount Street and Biggles is VERY Biggles about it :DDDDD Absolutely lovely, and jam-packed with my favorite tropes! (almost like they know me.... ;)

Comments

[philomytha]

Happy Yuletide! I am so charmed that you requested Biggles on the strength of enjoying all the fic. Also your pies sound fantastic!

[spatz]

*laughs* Well, I blame you entirely - so thank you for seducing me into this fun, tiny fandom.

I definitely just had leftover pie for breakfast (lunch?) and I'm patting myself on the back for becoming the family's Pie Gal. :D If you'd like the recipe, I'm happy to share, but they're all in US measurements if that's an issue. Hmm, I should do a weight conversion next time, that would make it much faster in future.

[philomytha]

At some point you’ll read the books and make the same delightful discovery I’ve been watching everyone else make, namely that they really are that shippy :-D

I speak American for cookery purposes, my Canadian mother taught me to cook, and I’d love your cherry pie recipe!

[spatz]

I'm looking forward to it! My attention span has been shot lately, I'm trying to retrain it so I can get back to reading books without wandering off every 5 pages. :/

Here you go! I've modified the cherry pie a bit from the original and added some tips - it initially called for 1/4c almond extract, which was horribly overpowering the first time I made it, yech - and included the pastry recipe I use as well (which amusingly was the first pastry recipe I learned, but apparently it's difficult? oops. this is like the time I decided to learn knitting on a blanket pattern with multiple colors and a complicated pattern, ahaha. But it's very flaky and delicious). I usually prep the pie crust first because the filling thickens quite a lot as it cools, so you don't want to leave it around too long or you'll be scraping at the pot.

Red Cherry Pie

3/4 to 1 cup sugar
4 tbsp. flour
1 T almond extract
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 can sour red cherries [~14.5 oz]
2 tbsp. butter

Combine sugar, flour, almond extract, and cinnamon in sauce pan; stir in cherries and juice. Mix dry ingredients before adding liquid, or you'll get weird lumps.
Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and boils.
Pour into pastry lined pie pan.
Dot with butter.
Cover with top crust; cut slits in crust.
Bake at 425F for 30 – 40 minutes, or until browned and juice bubbles through slits in crust.

SOUTHERN PASTRY

2 c. sifted flour [sifting actually does make a difference, apparently, that was my latest discovery. the benefits of not being lazy lol]
1 tsp. salt
1 c. shortening [I've only ever used Crisco/vegetable shortening for this, my hands run too hot for butter and I never got the same flakiness]
6 T. ice water (or more, depending on ambient temp and how fine you cut in the lard)

Mix flour and salt; cut shortening with flour; add water a tablespoon at a time, using only enough to make workable paste; too little will leave it crumbly. This pastry, being extremely rich, must be handled deftly. (Thorough chilling before rolling makes pastry easier to handle.) [I actually found chilling makes it more difficult? possibly it dries out in the fridge; ymmv. Since it's pretty delicate pastry, I also roll it out on wax paper to make flipping it into the pie plate easier.] Roll out pastry and line pie pan.

Makes two 9-inch pastry shells or pastry for one two-crust, 9-inch pie.

Enjoy! ♥

[philomytha]

That looks delicious, thank you!