#LardLovers Recipe Contest Entry: Mangonada Pie for #NationalPieDay

UPDATE: My pie made it into the Top 10 and came in 7th place! 

Happy National Pie Day! If you've been following me on my blog and social media channels, you know I love to cook! I promised one of my competitive cooking friends that I would work on my baking skills. You might have seen my YouTube video of my Biscuits & Jampionship entry, Tropical Biscuits, back in October. I think I have conquered my fear of baking and ready to punch through the "dough" layer and make some tasty baked goods.

I came upon Coast Packing Co.'s #LardLovers Recipe Contest and decided to try out my skills. It took me two tries to perfect it. The first try, I had problems with the crust and the filling. The crust seemed too wet and also not enough to cover the pie dish. The custard filling wouldn't set before it the top started getting brown. UGH! Back to the drawing board... For the crust, I increased the amount of flour and started adding cold water, a tablespoon at a time, until it just clung together into a ball. The crust rolled out nicely and even had enough extra dough to double up on the edges. I decided to forgo the custard and went with a pastry cream filling. There is more attention to be paid on the stove top, but the end result was perfection. It set up nicely after refrigeration and I did my "Happy Dance" in the kitchen.

Mangonada Pie is inspired by a popular fruit snack here in SoCal. It has sweet and savory flavors from the sweet mango, tangy chamoy sauce, and spicy salty Tajin. This pie incorporates those flavors in a velvety mango pastry cream, sweet and tangy glazed fruit topping, and a flaky spiced crust.

Mangonada Pie

Mangonada Pie

Serves 6-8

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Refrigeration Time: 4 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Crust:

2 cups Jovial All-Purpose Einkorn Flour

1 tablespoon Tajin

6 tablespoons cold lard

7 tablespoons cold water

Mango Pastry Cream:

2 large mangos (to yield 2 cups puree)

1 cup coconut cream

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

6 egg yolks

½ cup sugar

¼ cup Jovial All-Purpose Einkorn Flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup salted butter

Topping & Glaze:

2 tablespoons chamoy sauce

4 tablespoons corn syrup, divided

½ cup sugar

1½ cups mango juice, divided

1 teaspoon pectin

1 large mango

1 center slice lime

¼ teaspoon Tajin

Directions:

1. Crust: Preheat oven to 400°F. Combine flour and tajin in a medium bowl. Cut in lard with a pastry blender until mixture is combined and stays together in a ball. If still dry, add 1 tablespoon of cold water at a time until consistency is achieved. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1 inch larger than the rim of pie dish. Transfer dough to dish and press down to the bottom and up the edges. Use excess dough to double up on the rim crust. Use a fork to poke holes through the bottom of pie crust to let steam through so crust doesn’t bubble while baking. Bake for 15 minutes with pie weights. Remove pie weights and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.
2. Mango Pastry Cream: Cut mango from seed and scrape fruit from skin and seed. Place in a food processor/blender and blend until smooth, yielding 2 cups. In a medium saucepan, combine mango, lime juice, and coconut cream. Heat on medium heat for 15 minutes. While mango mixture is heating up, in a separate small bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract, and flour. After mango mixture has cooked for 15 minutes, add ½ of mixture to the yolk mixture and whisk to combine. Add in the other half of the mango mixture and whisk. Return combined mixture to the saucepan and cook for 15 minutes or until thickened (ribbon stage). Remove from heat and whisk in butter, 1 tablespoon at time, until combined. Pour mixture into pie crust and level off with a butter knife or rubber scraper. Refrigerate for 4 hours.
3. Topping: Combine chamoy sauce and 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Spoon on top of pie and brush to coat the entire top of pie. Refrigerate for 15 minutes. In a small saucepan, combine sugar and ¾ cup mango juice. Bring to a boil. In a small bowl, combine pectin and ¾ cup mango juice. Once saucepan is at a boil, add the mango pectin mixture to the pan. Whisk until combined and thickened. Turn off heat. Cut mango off seed and scrape fruit from skin in one piece with a spoon. Thinly slice mango into petal-like slices. Arrange from the middle of pie into a flower petal pattern. Place center lime slice in the middle of the mango flower. Brush mango glaze on top of fruits. Sprinkle Tajin on top. Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes before serving. 

If you end up trying the recipe, let me know what you think.