Shepherd's pie

   Shepherd's pie has a meat filling and is  lined with the crust made of mashed potatoes.  This savoury pie was traditionally devoured whenever there was  left-over of grilled meat.  I can also say that it's a comfort food.   With so much humidity around, all you need is a piping hot shepherd's pie and a good book to mark a great day.

I got this recipe from my mom's Morphy Richards oven guidebook.  They have beautifully twisted it according to our Indian palette.  This dish is a layered dish.  The layers start with  thinly sliced potatoes, followed by vegetable mince, lamb mince and topped with mashed potatoes.  This, in turn, is brushed with melted butter and some crumbled cheese.  When these layers are baked, all you get is aromatic and a crispy potato crust top, followed by soft layers of vegetables and meat mince and ends with potato slices. I flavoured meat mince with dill and totally  this pie had such complementing flavours that I ended up devouring them as such.  Alternatively,  you can dig them with roti as well.  

  The round  casserole, I used here is 15 cm in diameter and 5 cm depth.  The filling measurements are made accordingly.  You may have to twist the measurements according to your casserole's size. 

So, let's get started. 

BHAJJI KI MINI PIE

  Well, what can I say about this cheesy n soft (vegetable) bhaji stuffed pies??  They are a divine fusion of Indian chaat with England-based dessert.  Since bhaji goes excellent with pav, their combo with buttery pie crust was good too :)  I made them when I desperately needed a savory snack. I am always a savory lover...  so when this 'fusion' idea struck me, I no longer resisted myself to bake :)   Yes, I don't know why baking is very mesmerizing and these days I am getting bakeaholic :D  :D

When it came for filling, I needed them a bit cheesy with  a different seasoning.  So, I went for oregano with mozzarella combination.  You can use any dry herbs seasoning (or replace them with a couple of fresh herbs and chili flakes you have).  If you want a classic 'cheesy' look, you can replace quarter cup of cheese to almost 1 cup.  (Trust this one, you will get a 'classic temptation')  These pies are better had straight from the oven, piping hot.  :D  :D So, with freezing climate here, they were a 'pleasure to intake' :D  :D

I got a lot of credits when I shared this pie with my neighbor :D :D  She especially appreciated the filling.  This has given me a lot of confidence, yes I am going to try this filling with more of savory types.  On the other hand, I had to admit that making these pies were a bit time-consuming.  It is best to prepare the dough before a  day and refrigerate them if you are in short of time. 

Whoopie pie

     Remember our idly-upma from left-over idly's??  Here is the same process of converting left-overs to more yummy snack.  In Pennsylvania, some farmer's wife didn't want to throw away  left-over cake batter.  She inturn, spooned them over parchment paper, baked to form cookie-shaped cake.  After that, two cake cookies were sandwiched with icing.  This initial delight excited the farmer's tastebuds, that he had shouted 'WHOOPEEE' and hence the name.  Slowly, and steadily whoopie pie became popular and lots of people preferred it over cupcakes (because of ease of biting into cake first and tasting icing inside rather than cupcakes toped with icing)  Now, this whoopie pie is declared as US baked good and is made professionally over a lot of eateries....

Quite interesting, isn't it ?  This professionally made whoopie pie, itself is an complex process.  They are actually made from butter, eggs and buttermilk.  But, as the real concept involved is to balance up the left-overs, isn't it ??  So, I just baked these choco whoopie pie as simple as possible.  You can take a look below 

Apple pie

   Hi, this is my second challenge to Baking Partners, and topic i choosed was Apple pie.  To begin with I am a poor baker.  My first righteous cake made was, plum cake, for my first challenge for Baking partners (and before that tried making several cakes, but in vain)  I joined this group just in correct time, bcoz joining so pushed me to learn many facts, google many baking videos online, and learn baking tips.  It made me to exercise 'sincere baking efforts' which i wud not have done otherwise.  So I am feeling so thankful to Swathi Iyer, Tamy, Gayathri, Samantha and other friends of mine for putting such an nice initiative, and encouraging new bakers.. Great job guys.. go ahead...

  And yes, my apple pie, really turned out super-delecious (though i was a bit upset about its shape, as i had baked on aluminium pan, it came out like 'cake shaped' .  On the top of this my kid didnt beleive it was pie, she said 'no mummy, it is apple cake' ;) ;) and correcting me, she happily ate it )

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So, off to recipe..

Ingredients required

For the crust

• 250 gm plain flour/maida
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 80 gm butter
• 1 Egg
• 100 gm powdered sugar

For the filling

• 1/2 kg apple
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 20 gm butter
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 50 gm powdered sugar
• 1/4 tsp cloves