We shall not look down upon the benefits of raspberries. It is a world healthy fruit and the natural ingredients used by dessert chefs.
Raspberry pie is the super star dessert in French dessert shops. It appears at places from general bakeries to the top level dessert stores. The market price of raspberry would not be low due to its hard living conditions and transitory storage. The cheapest raspberry pie would cost 20 euros, as to the top level dessert stores in Paris like Le Notre, a raspberry pie that serves for 6 persons would be on sale for 60 euros. And that is why I would buy raspberries with special price every time I see them on sale. Use the fresh raspberries to make fruit pies would be cheaper than dessert stores, and what’s more, the ingredients are rich with real taste.
I choose pate sablee to make the pie, which is a common pie for making various of French fruits pies. Sable means sand in French, so this kind of pate sablee is so crisp like butter sweet biscuits. It needs large bulk of butter and sugar content in making the pie, and whisk the softened butter and flour with your own hands. I used to add a teaspoon soda powder in the flour when making the pie, in order to make the pie more crisp.
At this time I add fresh romarin into the almond jam, the match of raspberry and romarin would be the commonly used combination of fruits and vanilla in South France, Italy and other Mediterranean region. The fresh and little sour raspberry coordinates with dense flavor of romarin, let us think of the summer in Provence.
For the pate sablee:
Flour 160g
Butter 70g<soften under room temperature>
Caster sugar 50g
Egg 1
Soda powder 1tsp
For the romarin almond jam:
Almond powder 90g
Butter 50g
Eggs 2
Pinch of fresh romarin
Caster sugar 60g
Fresh raspberries 50g
Rum 1tsp
At last we need gelee de framboise<raspberry jellies> 100g and fresh raspberries 350g for the decoration
1.Flour, soda powder, caster sugar into a big bowl, add softened butter, break the butter into segments with your hands, until all the ingredients are well incorporated, add eggs, mix them with your hands, cover it with plastic bags, refrigerate for over 1 hour
2.Take out the pre-prepared pie, smear a layer of butter onto the 24cm round pie mould, roll the pie into the mould, block up many little holes on the pie with a fork, and refrigerate for 30 minutes
3.Heat oven to 356F, mix well the softened butter and sugar in ingredients for the almond jams, add almond powder, mix well, add eggs one by one, whisk until well incorporated every time, finally sprinkle the romarin and rum
4.Take out the pie, lay the almond jam evenly on, and sprinkle 50g raspberries, press raspberries into the jam gently with your hands, put it into the oven under 356F and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the almond jam is golden and brown
5.Let cool of the pie, and demould. Brush the raspberry jellies on the surface of the pie, and lay the rest 350g raspberries on, and brush another raspberry jellies, decorate with romarin leafs.
I’d like to bite one by one with well-cut raspberry pie. The French always says: La gourmandise est un peche mignon, which means love to eat is a lovely sin.