Chicken and Leek Pie

I know what you're thinking. Savory? But I couldn't resist, after all it's National Baking Week and this pie was delicious. Yesterday it got colder and so I felt like some comfort food was needed. I used the brilliant 'Long Nights and Log Fires' cookbook to make this Chicken, Leek and Tarragon Pot Pie, recipe can be found here. The pastry was really simple and the flavours were great and perfect for a chilly evening.

Mini Cherry Pies

Ok so they could be a bit neater, but they are pretty cute. Made in cupcake tins, the mini versions are good for dessert portions or maybe picnics.

Cherry Pie

When I was at school it was always a sign that summer holidays had started when we went fruit picking. My friend had never been so I took her last week and as always it was strangely fun. We got lots of strawberries, the raspberries were lame, but found the most amazing cherry trees. After coming home with my own weight in cherries, I knew I wanted to make something special with them. My Dad is a really big cherry pie fan so it was an easy decision. No one I knew had a recipe so I did some research and found this recipe for the filling. I tweaked it as I went along and after what looked like a murder scene I ended up with a sweet and sticky filling.

For the pastry I used Bill Granger's Pie Pastry and used this amazing lattice tool that my mum had to create the pretty top. I brushed the top with milk to make it golden brown in the oven. The pie went down really well, especially with vanilla ice cream. I've got a few adjustments in mind for the next time, but for now I have enough pastry and filling leftover to maybe make some mini pies...