The season of heavy blankets and foggy mornings is here, which makes it the perfect time to binge the warm, comforting foods. While the evergreen options with gajar ka halwa, shahi tukda topped with rabdi, malpua, and so on, with Christmas and New Year’s Eve on the corner, your heart is bound to lean towards the global favourites.
Moving beyond the traditional plum cake, why don’t you experiment with pies this holiday season? Often deemed as an oil-free cooking appliance, a steam oven is actually a baker’s secret weapon. It rapidly transfers heat to bake desserts without drying them out and gives you the perfectly crisp and flaky layers in croissants, pies, tarts, and more. Why don’t you give these festive pies a try?
Mini Chocolate Pies With Fruits
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The holiday season is the time when all the family members are at home, and while it is fun, everyone has different pie requests. To cater to most of them, bake mini pies in Usha’s steam oven. With the same dough and a classic chocolate filling, you can experiment with a wide variety of fruits and nuts. Pick apples, cherries, peaches, plums, pecans, almonds, and so on. According to the preferences of your friends and family, you can customise the filling and create a curated spread of chocolate pies.
Pecan Pie
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If you want to get into an instant festive vibe, pecan pie is the right way to start. The holiday pie features a crunchy crust and chewy, nutty filling that is simply perfect to pair with a cup of hot chocolate or latte on a weekend. While the traditional versions feature eggs, corn syrup, sugar, and butter, you can elevate the pie further with options like bourbon, maple, or chocolate.
Hazelnut Praline Tart
Pralines can turn any dessert into a sweet tooth’s dream. To make the hazelnut praline tart for the holiday season, you’ll need a prebaked buttery crust and a filling featuring roasted hazelnuts and caramelised sugar. This tart works best if you’re running out of time to whip up a dessert, as the crust can be made with your biscuits turned into a dough. Furthermore, Usha’s steam oven won’t take much time to let you enjoy the tart with some whipped cream on the side.
Spiced Pumpkin Pie
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Even though pumpkin pies might not be a frequent bake in Indian homes, the vegetable is abundantly used to make sabzis, curries, and halwas. To turn the vegetable into a decadent dessert, you can chop the pumpkin and roast it in Usha’s steam oven. Then, blend the pieces with jaggery syrup and add spices like cloves, cinnamon, and some coconut milk to get the desired consistency. Pour the filling onto a crust, bake till the filling is set, and dig in.
Cranberry Apple Pie
Just imagine biting into layers of fruit when you take a spoonful of a slice of a holiday pie. Making the most of the tartness of cranberries and naturally sweet apples, this pie is juicy and does not require a lot of extra sugar. To balance the fruity flavours, you can add spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc and orange zest. Bake, and you’ll get a flaky pie that can be garnished with a generous amount of chopped nuts.