I was haunted by this image for weeks together. It popped up on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and even my phone’s photo albums. It was so artistic, almost too pretty to eat. A quick look through the how to do it pictures and I realised this was pretty simple. It was quickly put on to the menu for the next dinner. And since there were going to be kids around I changed the filling to a Nutella and Peanut Butter layer, instead of the normal chocolate.
I’ve often realised that the most difficult recipes (and awesome looking), if done in small simple steps can be easily achievable. Look at this pie for example, it screams professional, but it takes less than 2 hours (if using short crust pastry, or even less) in the kitchen. All you need is patience and nimble fingers.
Though I’ve made a traditional dessert pie here, you could give it a savoury twist by adding a layer of cheese and pizza sauce or just crushed pepper and flavoured butter. Once you’ve learnt the techniques, sky is the limit.
Time taken: 1.5 hours
Baking time: 30 minutes
Preparation time: 1 hour
Serves 8
Skill level: Intermediate
Equipment needed: Baking dish, Oven
Ingredients:
- 600 grams short crust pastry (How to make short crust pastry)
- 5 tablespoons Nutella
- 5 tablespoons Peanut Butter
- 200 ml coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons palm sugar
Method:
1. Spread a bit of all-purpose flour on a marble top. Place a ball of 200 grams of the pastry on it and roll it out to a 16 inch diameter round sheets. Make sure that the pastry is even.
2. Make 3 such pastry sheets.
How to Assemble:
3. Take a flat pie dish preferably about 18 inch in diameter, the flatter the dish the easier it will be to manoeuvre the twists on the pie. If you have a pie dish with a removable bottom, you can use just the bottom of the dish too. Cover it with a baking paper or butter and flour it before use.
4. Place one layer of the pastry on the dish.
5. Cover it with the peanut butter, end to end.
6. Place the second layer of the pastry on the peanut butter. Press the ends of the two pastry sheets together.
7. Now cover the top layer of the pastry with the Nutella. Spread it end to end, but ensure you do not put too much pressure on it, as the pastry sheet could tear.
8. Cover the Nutella with the third layer of the pastry sheet. Press down the edges again to ensure none of the peanut butter or Nutella seeps out.
9. Now place a small bowl or glass with a diameter of less than 3 inches in the centre of the pie.
10. Make an indention on the pie. This centre should not be cut.
11. Make 16 equal halves around the centre. To do this divide the pie into 2 halves, then 4 halves, then 8 halves and finally 16 halves. If you wish you could divide every 16 halves further to get 32 halves.
12. Now comes the tricky part. Hold 2 of the slices in your two hands. Together twist the slice in your left hand and right hand inwards such that it rotates 180 degrees and develops a twist. Ensure you keep the same angle of the twist on both the slices. Continue doing this to the end of the 16 slices.
13. Brush the twisted pie with an egg wash (egg yolk+water) if you want a brown top, or just milk to give it a golden glaze.
14. Bake the pie in a pre-heated oven at 200 degree centigrade for 30 minutes.
15. Serve the pie hot with chilled sweetened coconut milk. You can use palm sugar to sweeten your coconut milk.
Can be served with
Freakshake
