My first memory from the kitchen involves pastry scraps. Helping my grandmother to make a pie, she would give me the raw offcuts and a small bowl of caster sugar in which to dip them, on the promise that I didn’t tell my mother – a cook’s treat that, to this day, I still indulge in. However, I’ve learned many more uses this week that will probably sound much more tempting to others.
If, like Marmaduke Scarlet, you end up with a fair few sheets of ripped filo that won’t work for a pastry or pie, then her Greek patsavoura will solve the problem. I found that peanut butter pinwheels from kookoo60 worked with both shortcrust and puff pastry, and went down well with kids and adults alike. The Turkish kerebic from Fadime Tiskaya were like a wonderfully crumbly, buttery shortbread with extra crunch from semolina. With the sweet walnut filling and warming spices filling the kitchen, I’d be lying if I said I waited long enough for them to cool and dust with icing sugar. On the savoury side, the tomato and herb twists were a cinch to make and perfect to nibble on with a drink while the star of the show is in the oven.
The winner this week came from Patricia Searle. These oat biscuits are easy to remember and created from only a couple of other storecupboard ingredients. If you’ve put the hard work into homemade pastry in the first place, then this is a satisfyingly simple reward for your efforts.
The winning recipe: oat biscuits
Good eaten alone, or with a slab of mature cheddar.
Patricia Searle, North Yorkshire
Leftover pastry
Rolled whole oats
Butter
Caster sugar
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Weigh the scraps of leftover pastry, and add the same weight of oats. Add half that weight of butter and again of sugar. Combine. Knead the mixture with your hands, or in a food processor.
2 Line a baking tray with baking paper, then cut the pastry into rounds, gathering the scraps together until it is all used. Bake for 10-12 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
Rag pie (or Greek patsavoura)
I love the texture of cooked filo, but I hate working with it, because I inevitably end up with a pile of torn, scrunched up and dried out pastry scraps. If this sounds familiar, here’s what to do with them: make this Greek “rag” pie or patsavoura. The amount given is for a whole pack of filo, so scale this up or down as required.
Marmaduke Scarlet, via GuardianWitness
Serves 8
60g butter, melted
60ml olive oil
A large handful of sesame seeds
1 pack filo pastry
240ml milk
120ml double cream
Zest of ½ a lemon
120ml greek yoghurt
5 egg yolks
120g caster sugar
1 tbsp icing sugar
Sugar syrup or honey , to serve (optional)
Pistachios, roughly chopped, to serve (optional)
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Combine the melted butter and olive oil and brush the edges, sides and base of roughly 22cm square baking tray with some of this, then sprinkle the tray with sesame seeds.
2 Arrange your sheets of filo pastry on the tray – no finesse required. Brush the top of the pastry with the remaining butter-oil mix and bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
3 Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring the milk, cream and lemon zest to a simmer. Set aside to infuse and cool a little.
4 Whisk the yoghurt, egg yolks and caster sugar together until the sugar dissolves. Pour the infused milk into the yoghurt mixture and stir until smooth.
5 Reduce the oven temperature to 160C/325F/gas mark 3. Pour the custard over the cooked filo sheets and allow it to soak for about 5 minutes, then bake until the custard has set – about 15-20 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool at room temperature.
6 Dust with the icing sugar, cut into diamonds or squares and serve with a drizzle of sugar syrup and a scattering of chopped pistachio nuts, if you like.
Kerebic: shortcrust cookies stuffed with walnuts and cinnamon
These kerebic cookies are eaten throughout the Middle East and Turkey. This version is slightly improvised using scraps of leftover sweet shortcrust pastry. By adding olive oil and semolina to the pastry you create something completely new and utterly delicious.
Fadime Tiskaya, via GuardianWitness
Makes 6
For the pastry
100g sweet shortcrust pastry
40g semolina
2 tbsp caster sugar
1½ tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
½ egg, lightly beaten
½ nutmeg, ground, or 1 heaped tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp baking powder
1-2 tbsp flour, plus extra for dusting
For the filling
50g walnuts, coarsely chopped
25g caster sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
Icing sugar, to serve
1 In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the pastry, then add more flour if needed. Cover with clingfilm and set aside for 20 minutes.
2 Meanwhile, prepare the filling by mixing all ingredients together. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2 and line a baking tray with baking paper.
3 Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and, using your hands, roll each piece into a small ball, then flatten into 7-8cm circles.
4 Place 1 tbsp of the walnut mixture in the centre of each dough circle, and seal the dough around the filling, using both hands to form a ball. Flatten the cookie again and place on the baking tray. Repeat with each ball.
5 Bake for about 20-25 minutes, ensuring that they are cooked through. Cool on a wire rack, then dust with plenty of icing sugar and serve.
Pastry scrap savouries
This is a good way of using all the pastry that you would make for pasties or even quiches; the quantity of herbs and spices is not mandatory and can be adjusted to taste... herewith my Mediterranean option.
arianz, via GuardianWitness
Makes 12
1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
2 tsp each of parsley and oregano, fresh and finely chopped or dried
1 tsp garlic salt
Puff or shortcrust pastry scraps, cut into 1-2cm wide strips (I find that you can get 12 strips out of between 120-150g scraps)
3 tbsp tomato puree
½ tbsp boiling water
1 Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5 and lightly oil a baking tray. Mix together the herbs and garlic salt, then tip on to a work surface and roll out each strip of pastry in the mix, making sure the seasonings cover them relatively evenly. Put each stick on the greased baking tray.
2 Whisk together the tomato puree, 1 tbsp of olive oil and boiling water, then brush the strips with the mixture.
3 Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until golden; watch to make sure the tomato puree doesn’t burn.
Raspberry-thyme handpies
There are no exact measurements for this recipe – simply make with whatever leftover scraps you have to hand. I usually have frozen berries in my freezer, which turn into a quick and delicious filling for these hand pies.
Angela Kim, via GuardianWitness
For the filling
A large handful of frozen berries
3 tbsp granulated sugar
½ tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp rosewater
A pinch of salt
150g (approx) pastry scraps
1 egg, beaten
Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Ice-cream, to serve
1 Place the frozen berries, sugar and thyme in a small saucepan over a medium heat, then cook until the berries have thawed and broken down a little. Add the cornflour, rosewater and a pinch of salt. Simmer until the juice has thickened, then allow to cool.
2 Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Roll out the leftover pastry scraps, and cut out discs of about 8-10cm in diameter.
3 Spoon the berry filling (not too much) into the centre of each disc, fold each one in half and seal well with a fork. Cut out a small slit on top for steam to escape. Repeat for each disc.
4 Brush each pie lightly with a beaten egg and sprinkle some sugar on top. Bake for about 25 minutes or until the pie is deep golden. Serve with ice-cream.
Peanut butter pinwheels
My mum made these for me as a child; unbelievably delicious.
Kookoo60, via GuardianWitness
Makes 6-8
100g leftover puff or shortcrust pastry
2-3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1-2 tbsp strawberry jam
1 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Spread crunchy peanut butter on to the pastry, then cut into 1cm strips and roll up into pinwheels.
2 Put the pinwheels on a baking tray, then cook for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned and the peanut butter has melted.
3 Allow to cool for a few minutes and finish with a dab of strawberry jam.
