The pie with shortcrust pastry and orange cream is a fresh and soft dessert where those who love the scent of oranges will find all its goodness.
The shortcrust pastry that forms the base is proposed in a slightly sweet version, in my opinion more suitable than the neutral one, to accommodate the cream filling.
Moreover, this dough does not contain eggs or yeast.
Served fresh from the fridge, this pie is really good, refreshing, and with a soft texture. You will see that one slice will not be enough.
It can be served as a dessert at the end of a meal, on the occasion of a coffee with friends, for a birthday, and in all those occasions where you need to prepare a dessert in advance that keeps well in appearance and taste.
The day after preparation, this dessert is even better.
The cream I use in it is my orange curd, a cream that has been part of my favorite recipes for years now and maximizes the fragrance of this citrus fruit.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Energy 385.11 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 52.96 (g) of which sugars 23.20 (g)
- Proteins 4.70 (g)
- Fat 18.48 (g) of which saturated 11.52 (g)of which unsaturated 6.78 (g)
- Fibers 0.73 (g)
- Sodium 85.86 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 123 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour
- 10.5 tbsp butter
- 0.25 cups sugar
- 5 tbsp water (very cold)
- 1 pinch salt
- 3.17 cups water
- 0.75 cups potato starch (or cornstarch)
- 0.75 cups sugar
- 2.5 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 3 egg yolks (from medium eggs)
- 10 tbsp orange juice
- orange zest (grated from two oranges)
- 3.5 tbsp butter
- 1 pinch salt
- to taste powdered sugar (optional)
Tools
- Rolling Pin
- Electric Whisks
- Cookie Cutters
- 9.5 inch Pie Pan
Preparation
To prepare the pie with shortcrust pastry and orange cream, start by preparing the cream in the doses and following the procedure found by clicking here.
Then let it cool covered with cling film.
Now take care of the shortcrust pastry. In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, cold butter in pieces, and work these ingredients quickly together.
Add the very cold water from the fridge and continue working for the minimum time needed to obtain a homogeneous dough ball.
Wrap in cling film and let rest in the fridge for a few hours, but not less than half an hour.
Take the dough back, take a small piece and put the remaining back in the fridge.
Make cookies about half an inch thick. Using a graduated rolling pin greatly facilitates this operation.
If the molds are not small, you can form 7 – 8, otherwise make a few more. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F, static or at 340°F if ventilated, in the central part of the oven until lightly golden. It will take about a quarter of an hour.
Meanwhile, roll out the remaining dough, lining a springform pan greased with release agent.
Alternatively, line a regular pan with parchment paper.
Create an edge all around, but it does not need to be very high, because although the cream that will be added later is silky, it is consistent enough and does not drip.
Prick the base and perform a blind bake, covering it with a sheet of parchment paper topped with either classic ceramic balls or rice or dry beans.
The latter, after this operation, can no longer be consumed but thrown away or saved to use later always for blind baking pies.
Bake in the same manner as the cookies for about half an hour, removing the parchment paper with weights in the last 10 minutes to dry well even the covered part.
Let cool before removing from the pan.
When everything is cold, work the cream with the electric whisks until reaching the optimal level of silkiness.
Transfer the pie base to the serving plate.
Fill the shortcrust shell with the cream and level well.
Decorate with the made cookies and exert slight pressure to fix them onto the cake, partially embedding them in the cream.
The pie with shortcrust pastry and orange cream is now ready.
Serve well chilled from the fridge and, if desired, dust only the cookies with powdered sugar just before serving.
Storage
In the fridge, in an airtight cake container, it keeps well for about 3 days. It can be frozen for about a month, but since it contains eggs, it’s best to put it in the freezer the same day it’s prepared. Additionally, portioning it beforehand will be helpful when defrosting.
