Grated Pie Filled with Fruit Preserves

Grated Pie Filled with Fruit Preserves

So I had this grand idea of redesigning my blog a little (nothing major) to start the near year’s blogging afresh, but little did I know that redesigning a blog was not as simple as it sounded to me. I am not the one redesigning it and it is  Murat whom I have forcefully mobilized to undertake what I told him was a very serious endeavor, and he only manages to work on it whenever he has a spare moment, which doesn’t happen often. So things go slowly, but as Murat assures me, surely at the same time. I too did something that I think will be useful to all of you. I’ve added new buttons at the end of each post and now you can easily share posts with your friends by email or by other way, post them on your Facebook, like them and even print them! Hope you enjoy these cute little additions to the blog. Another news is that AZ Cookbook is now on Twitter! Please join me and we’ll tweet there.

Grated Pie Filled with Fruit Preserves

Now let’s talk recipes. I wanted to enter another year of blogging with a recipe for something sweet. I thought grated pie fit right in! This preserves filled tea time dessert is popular in Azerbaijan where it might have traveled from Russia years ago. (During Soviet reign same sweet pies, cakes, and the like were known to the entire Soviet population.) It is called tertiy pirog in Russian and this is now it is  typically called in Azerbaijan, too. The name “grated” comes from the technique that involves grating a part of the dough to form the top layer of the pie. It is a fun pie to make, and easy too. Enjoy! And have a sweet rest of the year!

“Grated” Pie filled with Fruit Preserves

For the Dough:
4  1/2 cup all-purpose flour (or more as needed)
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
3.5 oz (100 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

For the Filling:
Variation 1:  2 cups blueberry preserves, or sour cherry preserves or any kind of fruit you like (tart varieties better)
Variation 2:  2 cups apricot preserve and a handful of coarsely chopped walnuts

Directions:

Butter the bottom and the sides of a 13-by-9-inch (33-cm-by-22 cm) baking pan and set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl combine the flour and baking soda. Stir to mix. Set aside.

Place the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with a mixer on a medium speed until well blended and creamy. Add the melted butter and stir to mix. Gradually add the flour-soda mixture and mix (you may use the mixer at the initial stage, but as the dough becomes rough, use your  hands) until you obtain a somewhat tacky but not sticky dough which should not be very tight. You may need to add more flour to obtain this texture if needed, but do not overdo. You do not want a very hard dough.

Now, divide the dough into 2 parts. Press one part onto the bottom of the baking pan. Shape the other part into a ball, wrap in a plastic wrap and put in the freezer to harden, for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, spread the preserves onto the dough in the pan. If using the filling with walnuts, sprinkle the walnuts on the preserves.

Preheat the oven to 370ºF (185ºC).

Remove the dough from the freezer. Try to grate it on a coarse side of a grater. If the dough grates fine without sticking to and clogging the holes of the grater, it is ready. Put in the freezer if not ready. When ready, grate the dough over the preserves to obtain a “grated”  layer.

Bake the pie on the middle rack of the oven for about 35 minutes, or until it is just light golden on top. Do not overbake or the top will be  crunchy. Allow to cool before cutting. You can sift some powdered sugar on top of the pie before serving or serve as is.

Grated Pie Filled with Fruit Preserves

14 Comments

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  1. Interesting and surely delicious!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  2. Love the new design! And can’t wait to try the grated pie…it reminds me a spaetzle. Which now makes me wonder if you couldn’t make a shepards pie, but with a spaetzle topping. Hmmm… Andyway, lovely stuff. Following you on twitter now.

  3. I love you new design and recpes.

  4. Never heard of grated pie till ow, its an interesting idea! Have to try it.
    Liked the way the new columns look. I gave my blog a complete makeover too. Must be something about the new year. 🙂

  5. I’m so glad to see this! A distant relative (from Poland) was visiting years ago, and made this (or something similar) with fresh apples, and it was so interesting, and just as you describe…. perfect for a tea – not too sweet, but just lovely! Thanks for sharing!

  6. This sounds fantastic, love the idea of grating the topping 🙂

  7. Thank you, friends, for all your comments.

  8. How interesting! We also grate the dough in a Lebanese traditional pastry made with shortbread dough and apricot preserves.

  9. Tasteofbeirut: How interesting! So similar.

  10. Very good and tasty food. And excellent website. Thank you!

  11. Hello and nice to meet you for the first time through this beautiful. I want to thank you for your work and to tell you that I’m from Algeria and honestly this is one of my favorite recipe.
    Keep up the good work and see you soon inch’Allah.
    Greetings from Algeria.

  12. I love cakes like that! reminds me when I was child. Simple cakes like that were very popular in Poland.

  13. I used to make this cake when I was single but now my husband doesnt like it

  14. and if you want you can make it with sunflower or corn oil

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