The Smurfs Pie

Easily ranks among the better pies. The cream, pudding, chocolate and apricot filling make the smurfs pie a very complete dessert.

Created in 1977 by Belgian baker Lucien Swinnen. The time when "The Smurfs", by cartoonist Peyo, were the rage even with grown ups.

The songs, merchandise and comics were enough to inspire bakery Swinnen to create the smurfs pie.

The smurfs collectables from the 70's.

Pastry cream:

1. Bring milk to a boil, remove from stove. Immediately add the vanilla and stir.
2. Whisk egg yolks with sugar until pale yellow. Sift cornstarch above yolk mix and blend well.
3. Pour some of the warm milk in the yolk mix to make it more liquid.
4. Add this mixture back into the pan with remaining milk. Stir well until homogeneous.
5. On medium fire, whisk the cream until thick. Keep whisking. When you see a couple of bubbles popping you're done.
6. When the temperature drops to between 55-60°C, combine with the butter in small pieces.
7. Pour the pastry cream in a large tray for quicker cooling.
8. Lay a sheet of cling film over the cream to avoid surface hardening.
9. Leave to cool.

Apricot filling:

1. Take some of the compote and mix it with the cornstarch. Make sure there are no lumps.
2. Add this mixture to the rest of the compote and blend.
3. Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice into the mixture. Blend!
4. If there are large chunks of apricot, cut them into smaller pieces or mash in food processor.

Pie crust:

1. In a bowl, make a hole in the flour and pour some of the milk. Add the yeast and stir to dissolve. Blend in the egg and sugar too.
2. Add the soft butter and start kneading in all of the flour. 
3. Sprinkle the salt over the dough and continue kneading.
4. Now you need to assess the hardness of the dough. It needs to be supple. Not too tender but not too hard either. To do this add some of the remaining milk until you're satisfied. If necessary add flour.
5. Knead the dough until it's smooth. Cover dough with clean kitchen towel and let proof for about 20-25 minutes.

A typical baker's pie pan. Note the slanted walls!

Baking:

1. Dust surface with flour. Roll out dough to a thickness of approx. 3 mm. Lay it over a 23-24 cm greased pie pan. Let it rest for 5 minutes to allow contraction.
   
2. Preheat oven at 220°C.
3. Gently press dough in the corners using your thumb while lifting up the edge of the dough sheet.
4. Fold excess dough over pan rim and use rolling pin to cut it off the edge. 
5. Using an offset spatula, spread a thick layer (about 1 cm) of pastry cream in the pie pan. Spread some of it against the dough wall (see photo). Careful not to cut the dough. The cream should be cold or lukewarm at most.
6. Next, spread the apricot filling over the custard, with a thickness of approximately 0,5 cm. This layer doesn't have to touch the custard edge.
7. Lower oven temperature to 200°C and bake pie for 20 minutes. The crust should be brown.
8. Let pie cool for 20 minutes, carefully take it out the pan and continue cooling on a rack.

Garnish:

1. Beat ice-cold cream over ice water. When it starts to thicken gradually add the sugar and cornstarch (or stabilizer).
2. Add the vanilla extract and continue blending at medium speed.
3. When the cream starts to fold and shows firmness stop beating.
4. Using a piping bag with star nozzle, decorate the cold Smurfs pie with the whip cream. The whole pie should be covered with a 2,5 cm (1 inch) layer.
5. Spread the shaved white chocolate over the whip cream layer. Sift some powdered sugar over the chocolate flakes.
6. Refrigerate the smurfs pie and serve.

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