Mini Cherry Pies

I feel like the title of this post could be slightly misleading. The cherries themselves aren't mini, however the pies are. I prefer making one size servings of pies and tarts simply because they're easy to distribute amongst family and friends/anyone that is willing to try my baking creations. The mother decided to bring home cherries in last weeks shop, as they were 59c in Aldi, an offer that she can never refuse. Her motto is "If no one will eat them, I will see what Katie can bake using them", I task which I'm almost always ready for. This week's taste testers (guniea pigs) were my brother and my mum. The verdict from my brother was "they're lovely" and when I still continued to watch him eat it, "it's really nice, now please go away." charming. The only time consuming part of this recipe is pitting the cherries, I cut around the pit and then took it out, so the cherries were halved when I put them into the mixture. I'm still not completely confident with baking pastry but these pies seemed to turn out pretty well. I am no longer tempted to use ready to roll pastry. However, if you would like to take some of the hassle out of this pie, feel free to use ready made pastry. How much sugar you add to the filling is completely up to you and how sweet your cherries are, I didn't use too much. I made these in a muffin tin, so I managed to make four mini pies. I would imagine you would have enough to make one big pie, if you would prefer. Happy baking!

Ingredients

For the pastry:
125g softened butter
75g caster sugar
250g plain flour
1 egg yolk
1tbsp cold water

For the filling:
200g cherries
3tbsp cornflour
50g caster sugar
1tsp vanilla extract
1tbsp milk, for brushing on the top of the pie.

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and the caster sugar, not for too long, just until combined.

2. Sift in the flour and mix together with your hands until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs 

3. Add the yolk and chilled water, combining again with your hands until a dough is formed. 

4. Wrap in cling-film and leave to chill in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. 

5. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Grease the muffin tin or pie dish. 

6. Remove the dough from the fridge, set aside 1/4 of the dough for the pie tops. Place the rest on a slightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to about half a cm in thickness. Cut out a circle shape of pastry that fits your tin/dish, allowing space for the sides of the tin and a bit more to place the top against. Place inside your tin/dish, pushing into the edges. Once placed in your tin/dish, poke holes in the pastry and bake for 10 minutes. 

7. Begin pitting the cherries. As I stated above, I cut around the pit, which halved the cherry, discarding the pit and putting both halves of the cherry into a bowl. Add the cornflour, sugar and vanilla extract. 

8. Remove the pastry from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Whilst this is cooling, roll out the remainder of your dough, to a size that will sit perfectly on the top of the pies.

9. Add your filling, discarding most of the liquid that has amounted at the bottom of the bowl. Place on the pie top. Fold the edges of the top crust underneath the edges of the bottom crust. 

10. Glaze over with a tablespoon of milk. Cut 4 slits in the top of the pies. Bake for 30 minutes. 

11. Allow to cool on a wire rack until they have completely cooled. 

Upon writing this, and rereading it, I realised how long and wordy it is. This was the simplest way I could put it and I like having lots of individual points rather than one big paragraph of instructions. I hope this wasn't too difficult for you guys to follow and if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask!

What are your favourite summer pies?

Paris Haul

Despite promising myself that I wouldn't buy a lot in Paris I ended up coming home with a hauls worth of stuff. I like where everything in from below and I'll try and find direct links if possible, not to sure about the Disney stuff though. This is also my very first haul, so I am very excited about it.

Disney Store

Minnie Mouse Cake Mould 
Disney Eiffel Tower Cookie Cutter
Disney Castle Keyring feat. Mickey.

Silver Mickey Mouse Candle Holder 

Mickey Mouse Place-mat

Disney Dogs Food Bowl 

Masions Du Monde

Vintage Metal Bakery Sign

Sweets & Cakes Mini Tray 
Cake Plate 

KIKO Cosmetics
Nail Laquers - 343 Spring Green, 483 Papaya, 522 Pearly Sapphire Blue

Smart Lipstick - 912 Crimson Red 
Bioderma Crealine H2O Micellar Solution - Picked this up in a Pharmacy.

I'm really happy with all my purchases. I was worried about getting the cake plate home in tact but it survived! I love the KIKO cosmetics, wish I had picked up more of them seeing as they are so cheap and there is such a huge range. I had completely forgotten about Bioderma until I saw it in a Pharmacy I happened to walk into. I haven't tried it yet but I will report back when I do. I hope you guys enjoyed seeing what I lugged back from Paris with me! Is there anything else I should have picked up while I was there?

Paris In Pictures // Part 2

In Friday's post I showed you guys what we got up to on our first full day in Paris. I promised to show you the goings on from the other few days of our trip. We spent Monday and Tuesday in Disneyland so all of these pictures were taken there. I also cannot apologise enough for the quality of the pictures, I decided against bringing my camera and just using my phone, a mistake I won't be making again. I am very proud of the first picture though, and that was taken on my phone so I can't complain about it too much. Be sure to check out Part 1 if you haven't already!

Seven Happy Things #6

Anyone else got the Sunday blues? I know I do. I have had the most fantastic week filled with Disneyland excitement and good news. A lot of what has happened almost doesn't feel real. I have fulfilled my life long dream of going to Disneyland and I am finally getting back on my feet, after what has been an utterly terrible two years. So this post is coming to you from a very happy Katie!

• I started off my week in Disneyland Paris, perfect way to start the week, right? It was amazing, everything I have ever imagined and more. The boy and I went on all the rides a part from the ones that were closed (Space Mountain & Dumbo). Our favourite rides were Big Thunder Mountain and Buzz Lightyear. I took quite a few pictures in Disneyland, although they're not the best quality because I had to take them on my phone but there will be a post including them on Wednesday.
  
  
• On Tuesday, we visited the second park in Disney which is the Walt Disney Studios. This park has lots more photo opportunities and shows, including a studio tram tour and a stunt show. We met Buzz Lightyear, too. The first ride we went on was Crush's Coasters (Crush the turtle from Finding Nemo), it turned out to be our favourite, much less timid than we had imagined while queuing up. Later that night we stood and watched the Night-time show. I have never seen anything like it in my life. I'm not going to even try to explain it but you can watch it here. I highly recommend that you do, it nearly brought me to tears.
  
  
• We took a trip to the Val d'Europe on Wednesday. I was completely gob-smacked when I realised how massive it was. The best way I can put it in perspective for you is to tell you that there is an Aquarium with over 5.000 species of sea life below it on the lower ground floor. Definitely a must see for the next time we're in Paris. We spent the day shopping (and eating) and I managed to pick up a few beauty bits and kitchen pieces which I'm excited to show you tomorrow.
  
  
• I arrived back in Cork at 3am on Thursday morning, I stayed at the boy's house. Later that morning, I was woken by a phone call from my Mum, telling me that I had been offered a place at college, studying Professional Cookery. Not going to lie, I cried about it. The past two years have been rocky. I've never been completely certain of what I wanted to do with my life, until now. I also mentioned my blog (it was in it's early stages with barely any views or followers and mainly focused on baking)  in my interview, I like to think that that helped me secure my place.
  
  
• Friday was a pretty chilled day. I caught up with all my favourite blogs, replied to comments on my own blog, answered a few emails and wrote a blog post. It felt like a very productive Friday.
  
  
• A good friend of mine is moving to Glasgow on Sunday, so on Saturday I went to visit her for a few hours. I made her a special print as an engagement gift and put it in a frame, I am so proud of it. I could post it on Twitter if anyone would be interested in seeing it. She loved it, that's the main thing.
  
  
• My Sunday will be a slow one, aren't all Sundays? The boy and I are finally home with our pup and I for one, am extremely happy about that. I package also arrived for me on Friday, I won a giveaway over at BeautyAngel blog, so I'm excited to try out all the goodies today.
  
  
  
  
  I hope you all had a wonderful week. The whether here in Cork is amazing at the moment, hopefully it's sunny wherever you are. What have been your highlights of this week?

Paris In Pictures // Part 1

Good evening and a very happy Friday to you all! So, I arrived back home from Paris early Thursday morning. I am extremely happy to be blogging again after a five day break. I had the most amazing holiday and took a fair amount of pictures, which I spent yesterday evening editing while the boy watched football. As the title would suggest this is going to be a very picture heavy post and is part one of two!