I made this blackcurrant and lavender pie for today’s Vegan Mofo challenge. The theme is „Tell us about a weird food combination that you love.“ Ha, good one. I don’t think I like a single weird food combination. I am very boring when it comes to flavours. Sweet and sour is already too much for me.
When I think about new recipes for this blog, I usually go for complementing and supporting flavours. Some of these combinations could be labeled as weird. For example, I like tart berries a lot and I like to exaggerate their flavour by pairing them with herbs.
Black currants, sea buckthorn, blackthorn (sloe) are rarely sold at stores. They haven’t made it next to the much sweeter varieties such as raspberries, strawberries, and cultivated blueberries. Black currants, sea buckthorn berries, or sloes all have different flavours, but they have one thing in common.
If you taste them, their flavour makes you think of Scandianvian forest, of moss and water drops on dark green leaves. You can smell conifers and moldy soil. Or in the case of sea buckthorn you can feel the wind in your face and hear the waves.
These berries have a complex flavour, a hint of intractability, that is not pleasant for everyone. Some of their flavour comes from the essential oils and tannins present. That is why they are not widely popular, I think. But this is what makes them so outstanding.
Herbs usually have essential oils, too and that’s why they go so well with tart berries. My favourite combination used to be berry plus rosemary, but this year I finally made use of the lavender bush in our yard.
For this blackcurrant and lavender pie I used two teaspoons of dried lavender buds, but you can halve the amount, if you don’t trust this flavour combination. But that probably doesn’t count as weird anymore. If you don’t have black currants available you can use blueberries.
Black Currant and Lavender Pie
- For the crust
- 210 g 1 3/4 cups flour
- 200 g 2 2/3 cups ground hazelnuts
- 100 g 1 sifted cup powdered sugar
- 100 g 1/2 cup granulated brown sugar
- 110 g 1/2 cup soft refined coconut oil
- 60 ml 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon ground vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- For the topping
- 450 g blackcurrant jam (storebought or homemade)
- 2 teaspoons dried lavender buds
- To make the crust, combine all ingredients except for the oils in a bowl.
- Add coconut and vegetable oil and knead until a crumbly dough forms.
- Reserve 1/4 of the dough for the topping and form the remaining dough into a disk.
- Wrap in foil and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F). Grease a round pie or tart pan with a diameter of 28 cm (11 inches).
- Roll the dough out between two sheets of plastic foil and press into the bottom and the edges of the pan.
- For the filling combine jam and lavender buds. (If the jam is very thick you can heat it for easier handling.)
- Pour into the crust and form the reserved dough into large crumbs.
- Distribute on top of the cake.
- Bake for 35 minutes and let cool completely before removing from the pan.
14 comments
Ich habe Lavendel tatsächlich noch nie zum Kochen oder Backen benutzt. Aber klingt total spannend :) Ich bin meistens auch nicht so experimentierfreudig ;)
Liebe Grüße
Lena | http://www.healthylena.de
Wow, this looks fantastic!
I couldn’t think of any weird food combo’s either! This sounds like a great combo to me, I really like rose flavour in desserts but I don’t think I’ve ever tried lavender. I’ll totally try it next time I see it as an option though!
This is so beautiful, I don’t care if it’s weird or not! I am also in love with your plate and fork. One of my housemates is moving out and taking a lot of the stock standard cutlery, I am going to use it as an excuse to go op-shopping for some prettier things!
Mir geht es genauso! Ich habe das gestrige Thema tatsächlich ausgesetzt, weil mir einfach keine ungewöhnliche Vorliebe eingefallen ist. Der Kuchen klingt auf jeden Fall super lecker… offen bleibt ob ich mich auch an den Lavendel herantraue beim nachbacken ^^
Der Kuchen schmeckt natürlich auch ohne Lavendel. Ansonsten gehts auch Rosmarin.
You just stirred the viking ancestors in my blood! I always want my food to remind me of the wild forest and lichen dripping off the trees! Lovely black currants they would pair well with lavender yet I’d have never thought of that. I only see seabuckthorn in cosmetics, I’ve never tasted it.
I think this sounds delicious, but then lavender and blackcurrant are probably two of my favourite things! Blackcurrant is so popular here in the UK (Ribena anyone?) but most people in the US have never heard of it!
I know. The US needs more blackcurrants!
This is absolutely stunning. I am still thinking about his prompt …
I love the addition of edible flowers in sweet dishes it somewhat elevates it further. I do however know a lot of people who have an aversion to lavender for the reason mentioned above by Amey, but not me.
I thought this was a hard prompt too, because I don’t really have any weird food combos that I like either. I love tart berries, but I really don’t like lavender in my food. When I was a very little girl, I had a preschool teacher who made me little sachets to put in my clothing drawers, and they were filled with lavendar. I think it made such a strong impression at a young age… now it just seems like lavender reminds me of my underwear. ha ha. But, I love the idea of rosemary and berries, so I’ll just imagine that. :)
I totally get that! We have lavender in our cupboards and I sometimes even put it in the washing machine. It can definitely overwhelming. But I am afraid I am addicted.
This looks really spectacular! I love European-style cakes since they’re much less focused on adding heaps of sugar and rather use natural jams and the like. This is 100% going to happen soon! :)
That would be cool!
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