Quay Po Cooks: apple pie

Showing posts with label apple pie. Show all posts

Monday, April 11, 2011

Bacon cheddar cheese apple mini pie

I saw some pictures of cheddar apple pie by “feeding maybelle” and decided to adapt the idea to clear up some chopped apples in my fridge. I wanted something crunchy to the filling so I added fried bacon. The saltish sweet taste of these mini pies are uniquely delicious. I like that they are mini and it is not too filling even if I take two but I took three after they were baked and I have to stop myself not to take the fourth! An idea came to my mind, these mini pies will be a great snacks to carry on a road trip.

I am submitting this recipe to Aspiring Bakers #6: Say Cheese! (April 2011) hosted by Jean of Nom I must. To find out more click here. Do head over to Jean's blog, she has lots of great bakes.

Makes 18 mini pies

2 ½ pieces of 10 x 10 inches Borg short crust

Ingredients for fillings:

(A)

1/1/4 cup chopped green apple

3 tbs brown sugar

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

(B)

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

6 pcs fried bacon

2 ½ sheets short crust pastry

Method:

Put A in a small pot and cook till apple is slightly limb. Fried bacon till crispy and drain away all facts. Cut bacon into bite size. Mix bacon bits and shredded cheddar cheese with half cooked apple. Cut out 36 pieces of round short crust dough about 2 ½ inches in diameter. Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of each piece of cut-out dough and place another piece on top and seal it. Use a fork to poke some holes in the top crust and top with 2 thin slices of cheese crossing them. Preheat oven at 170 degrees C. Bake the pie for 25 mins. Serve warm.

A LITTLE ABOUT THIS QUAY PO

Before I was married to my "Quay Lo" (Guaylo) husband, I did not know how to bake or cook. Subsequently I learned some baking and cooking Western cuisine from him, and providing his food for him launched an interest in cooking in general. Many of my Chinese friends and family told me that "Quay" is the wrong spelling for devil in Cantonese. The right spelling should be "Kwai" or "Guay". Well, somehow I like the spelling "Quay" better although I have to agree that it does not sound very Cantonese. Try asking a Westerner to pronounce "Kwai" and you will probably hear "Quay" haha. Whether is "Quay" or "Kwai" or "Guay, just know the devil woman is me when you see Quay Po Cooks. My hubby said if people pronounce "Quay" as "Key" is even better because I am the key to his heart. LOL!

Only now, have I started to learn the traditional Cantonese cuisine of my Mum. She cooks fabulously and all her specialties are divine. These two interests, my husband's Western food, and my mother's traditional food, prompted me to document them so they will not be lost.

Here, I wish to share my cooking and baking experience with my readers. I also hope to inspire those who do not know how to cook or bake to do so because, trust me, if I can, you can too.

Something I'd like to mention is that I find that many people are rather unwilling to share their recipes. However, for me, I think differently. I think good recipes should be shared thus allowing as many people to enjoy it as possible. Unless those recipes are for doing business, I don't see why we want to keep them all to ourselves. So if you are generous in sharing your recipes, you are welcome to share on my blog. Send the recipes to me and better still with pictures of the final products and I will be very happy to post them them with credits to you of course.

Our cuisine is a deeply embedded part of our culture. When two cultures come together under the same roof the results in the kitchen can sometimes be comedic, sometimes confrontational, but more often it is a journey full of surprises and discovery. There is joy in our food. If we think upon this, it is intuitively obvious. This blog is a journey of joy and sharing, reflecting what the French like to call "joie de vivre" (joy of living). No one could be more different from one another then my husband and my mother. Yet one thing they share in common is knowing intuitively that food, cooking, and sharing can be avenues of joy in life itself. So herein, help yourself, to a little joy and , if you like it, share it with your own family and friends. Joy is something that should be shared.