Cornish Style Sweet Pasties

Beach Cafe by Lucy Diamond tells us the inspiring story of Evie Flynn who from being the black sheep of the family turns into a successful restauranteur and the envy on the entire family.It is an inspiring or 'feel- good' story that reaffirms your optimism and also brings out the romantic dreamer in you. Atleast that what I feel. It has got all the elements of a gripping story and I was gripped and would recommend it to others as well as an optimistic read. 

More than that it takes you to Cornwall seaside where we relax and leave aside all the worries and tensions for later and introduces us to the local cuisine especially the Cornish pasties which are the national dish of Cornwall.The traditional pastry is one that does not crack during cooking and cooling and has minced skirt steak and veggies like potato,turnip etc and has crimped edges and looks like the alpahabet 'D'. Several variations have originated and currently Shortcrust pastry is used with your choice of fillings.Shortcrust pastry is used a base for pies,tarts etc and  I have made a simple sweet shortcrust pastry -sweetcrust - using the regular method I follow and had made sweet jam and nut pasties. Not exactly Cornish ,but right snack/dessert after enjoying the book from cover to cover.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour: 1.5 cups

Butter:1/3 cup

Castor Sugar: 1 tbsp

Chilled Water: 2-3 tbsp 

Filling: 

Walnuts: handful chopped

Jam: few tbsp:of your choice 

Preparation:

In a bowl, add in flour,and mix in cubed chilled butter and pinch and fluff to get coarse mix. Mix in sugar and adding enough water gently form a soft dough without overworking. Chill the dough for at least 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough into a round circle and using your largest cookie cutters cut into circles/shapes.I used a 3' cookie cutter and went for mini pasties.

Put around 1tsp of nut and a dash of jam in the centre of each circle. Slightly dampen the edges (optional) and bring the ends together and crimp them to get the 'D' shape. Ok, I could not do it properly,but as I said I am getting there.

Put the 'D' in an optionally lined baking sheet Bake in a preheated oven at 375F/190C for about 10-12 minutes or more (depends on the size and no:) until they start browning on the top. 

Serve warm as a sweet for tea or even as an after dinner dessert.

 The pastry is flaky and light and the pasty simply melts in your mouth if not for the crunchy nuts.

Lets see what other have cooked to celebrate the success of Evie at the BookClub