A Delightful Pie

On June 8, 2016 by battenburgbelle

It doesn’t seem like a year ago that I took part in the 2nd annual Pieathalon, courtesy of the fabulous Yinzerella. But here we are again.

Pieathalon

Pieathalon

Just like last time, I had to nominate a vintage pie recipe (published before 1980 – that definition of vintage makes me feel very old…) This time I turned to the Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook from 1970 (thank you for “lending” that to me about a gazillion years ago Grandma Battenburg…) and chose Huntingdon Fidgety Pie – can’t wait to hear how that one turns out.

Fatty Arbuckle

Fatty Arbuckle

Anyhow, I was nominated to try out Fatty Arbuckle’s Delight (not a euphemism) from Saucepans & the Single Girl, which looks like an awesome book, but for some reason I can’t get the picture to download. But it does look like the kind of book I would have turned to, back in the day!

I had to adapt the recipe a bit – Mr Arbuckle apparently favoured a coffee-based pud. I on the other hand don’t at all. So I decided to throw caution to the wind and swap the instant coffee for cocoa power. The recipe didn’t specify how to make the pastry, so I used the tried and tested Bertinet way and was very pleased with my pastry case. My brother was very taken with my fluted edges. The filling is mostly cream, which may go someway to explain Mr Arbuckle’s nickname. I had to guess some of the quantities, but the end result was very pleasing indeed. A bit like instant whip in a pastry case. In a good way. I gave it a bit of a 21st century twist by sprinkling some ground pistachios on top. I also served the pie with strawberries, in an attempt to make us all feel a little less guilty about the lashings of cream involved…

Fatty Arbuckle's Delight

Fatty Arbuckle’s Delight

I took the leftovers to work in the morning and was very popular. I think the retro 1970s convenience food vibe struck a chord around the office.

If you want to try it yourself, here’s the recipe, without my tweaks:

1 pint heavy whipping cream
½ cup powdered sugar
3 tbsp instant coffee powder
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 envelope unflavoured gelatine
¼ cup cold water
9 inch pastry shell

Combine cream, sugar, coffer powder, salt and vanilla in a bowl. soften the gelatine in cold water in a saucepan, then heat gently until gelatine is dissolved. Remove from the heat. Gradually pour the gelatine into the cream mixture and beat until blended thoroughly. Pour into the shell and chill for half an hour. Garnish with shaved chocolate and chopped nuts.

It seemed only right and proper to find out something about Fatty Arbuckle, after baking and enjoying his pie so much (thank you Wikipedia). A sad tale, after a promising start – he was one of the most popular silent stars of the 1910s, was mentor to Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton and Bob Hope. He was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood, but it all went wrong after he was the defendant in three apparently widely publicised trials for the rape and manslaughter of actress Virginia Rappe. This wasn’t good for his career, even though Fatty A was finally acquitted in the third trial. He died of a heart attack at the age of 46, annoyingly on the same day he signed a contract with Warner Brothers to make a feature film. I’m not going to make any jokes about the health impacts of cream-based pie consumption.

You can check out some of the other pie challenges at these wonderful blogs!

8 Responses to “A Delightful Pie”

  • I love that you decided to substitute cocoa for the coffee powder! I would have gotten coffee powder and then pitched most of the pie because I hate coffee and don’t have anybody to give it to who would like it. Great idea!

  • That’s the most perfect looking pie I’ve seen so far in this Pieathalon ( but that’s no surprise…EVERYTHING you make looks so beautiful)! Sounds yummy too. I just might have to try this one out too…when am I going the time to make all these pies? Great job and LOVE your blog!

    • battenburgbelle

      Why thank you for you kind comments! I loved reading your blog too – and I felt sorry for you trying to think of a way to make a vegetarian steak and kidney pie… But your Fluellen Pie looks gorgeous 🙂

  • S S

    Lucky you- you got one of the good pies this year! It looks fantastic.

    • battenburgbelle

      I was very relieved, I have to say! I guess my name’s in the frame for something weird next year…

  • MMM – I was SO JEALOUS that you got the Fatty Arbuckle pie. I am gonna get me a copy of that book, just to see if this was really Fatty’s very own recipe, and if there are any other movie star recipes within…

    Your pie – as always – looks lovely. I think both of us got good recipes to try, I’ve been reading some of the other blog posts and there are some horror stories!

  • Bonnie

    I have Saucepans and the Single Girl, bought brand-new when I was in my early 20s. I cooked many recipes from it, although not Fatty Arbuckle’s Delight.

    I didn’t catch any men, but the recipes I tried were delicious. I remember the rigatoni recipe fondly, although, looking back, I can’t believe I had the patience to stuff all those little pasta tubes.

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