'Pinya' Pineapple Pie

     This is my 3rd pie: 'Pinya' Pineapple Pie. The scene that inspired me to make this pie was down memory lane. I was still in my grade school, when every year I witnessed a whole mountain slowly transformed into yellow. Sunflower bloom in the mountains of Cordillera during the months of September to December. They are called 'marapait' in Ilocano. My grade school teacher once asked us to use the plants' leaves to make our classroom floor shine.
     In this pie, I used fresh and thin slices of pineapple for the sunflower blooms. I placed the slices in the microwave for 40 minutes at medium to low power to dehydrate them. Then lay them each in the cavities of a small sized cupcake pan to form a cup shape shape. As for the pie filling, I used the rest of the freshly opened pineapple and sliced them into chunks.

Ingredients:

1 medium sized ripe pineapple

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

3 tbsp flour

1/2 butter

Pie Crust:

2 cups flour less 3 tbsp

3 tbsp corn starch

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter cut into cubes and chilled

1/3 cup shortening chilled

1/2 cup ice cold water

Preparation:

1. Peel pineapple, remove seeds. and slice 10 thin pieces for sunflowers.

2. Pat dry 10 pineapple slices and  microwave at medium to low power for 20 minutes. Turn slices over and microwave for another 20 minutes.

3. Transfer slices into cavities of small sized cupcake pan to form cup shape. Leave it overnight to dry.

4. For the pie filling: Slice the remaining pineapple into chunks, place in a pot.

5. Add sugar, eggs, flour and butter. Then cook until it thickens. Set aside to cool down.

Pie Crust:

1. In a big bowl, place 2 cups flour, take out 3 tablespoons of flour and replace with 3 tablespoons of corn starch. Add sugar, salt the mix using a whisk for 2 minutes.

2. Mix in butter and shortening with flour using a fork or pastry cutter 

3. Add cold water 1 tbsp at a time, still mixing with the use of fork or pastry cutter. Stop mixing when mixture starts to clump with each other.

4. Divide dough into 2. Wrap each with saran wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Assembly:

1. Bring out pie crust dough, dust flat surface with flour, roll out the dough using a rolling pin, wide enough to cover a 9" pie pan surfaces with 1 cm hanging over the edge.

2. Pour in the pie filling, spread evenly.

3. Roll out the other dough and cover the pie pan. Trim edges with knife and seal with egg wash.

4. Brush pie top with egg wash. 

5. Using a rose leaf cutter, make some leaves from the extra pie dough. Arrange them on top of the pie, and brush leaves with green color gel. Refrigerate pie overnight or place pie in the freezer for an hour.

6. Bake pie for 35-40 minutes at 325 degrees.

7. Let pie cool down before decorating the pineapple flower slices. 

For a clean and easy slice, slice pie when it's cold. The slice of pie below was still lukewarm.

Enjoy and Cook happy!