Friendship Day was the most popular college celebration I knew of when I was growing up. Seriously, I never celebrated Valentine’s Day until the last year of my graduation. It was so interesting and fun to see girls buying cards for their Valentine. They got so giddy over it!
On Valentine’s Day, you could see girls dressed their best. They wait for their Valentine to come with red roses. Few guys did come, and the rest were jealous. The four(my friends and I) did not have much excitement on the day and tried to get past the day without being too embarrassed or annoyed. This happened for years.
So, the last year of college, my friends and I decided that we would give each other roses and cards. We wouldn’t worry about these men who didn’t deserve us. It was funnier than it sounds now.
In the morning of Valentine’ Days, we all met a bit early and went out for coffee. We exchanged our gifts and flowers. Entering the college with flowers in our hands was a quite proud moment. I remember a few of other friends went winking at us, I guess they just imagine the flowers that we had we given by guys..:). We carried on with what they thought and it was not a bad day to have virtual boyfriends. It was fun.
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That was then, now I don’t even believe that women or men should be showered with love/flowers and gifts on Valentines day alone.
Here’s a dessert which combines one of my favorite stuffing, which, by the way yum by itself. It is complete sweet heaven. Now, imagine that sweet heaven encased in a pie crust. Mmm! It’s one dessert, among a few others, which I am planning to make for a big party that I am hosting in a few days.
- 1 cup All purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 stick very cold butter cut into squares(put in it the freezer for 30 minutes)
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg cold
- ⅓ tsp pinch of salt
- 2-4 tbsp ice cold water
- 1 cup almond meal
- ½ cup milk powder(optional)
- ¼ tsp crushed saffron
- ⅓ cup sugar(use it according to how sweet you want your desserts)
- 3 tbsp of milk
- ¼ tsp cardamom powder
- Egg wash to brush over the pie for the golden crust.
- You can use a cuisinart or a standing mixer to make the dough. Keep the butter in the freezer for 30 minutes before making the dough. Add the flour, salt, sugar, egg and pulse for few seconds. Add the butter and shortening and let the mixer run until everything is incorporated and you can see tiny specs of butter in it. Add ice cold water a tbsp at a time and pulse until it all comes together to form a dough. The dough will take anywhere from 2 to 4 tbsp depending on the temperature in the kitchen. ONCE it all comes together, wrap it in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- In a non-stick pan or you can make this in a microwave. In a microwave safe bowl add almond meal, milk powder, saffron, sugar, milk and cook it for a minute. Take it out and stir it and cook for another minute. It will take about 3-4 minutes to cook and it will be slightly thick. Take it out and mix in the cardamom powder.
- Cool and stuff it in the pie.
- Roll the dough, cut to any shape, stuff, crimp the edges with a fork and brush with some egg wash Cut a small slit in the middle to allow the steam to come out and bake the pies in a 350 degree oven in the middle rack for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
You can make the pie dough and wrap tightly and freeze it for a longer time.
The stuffing is great as a dessert on it's own with some ice cream. You can make it without the milk powder completely.
Make sure all the ingredients are cold when making a pie.
Do not over stuff the pies.
Have fabulous Valentines day with your precious someone.
Copyright 2013 – Food Fashion Party
Beautiful!! I m mamking something to tomorrow!!
to Valentine’s
Wow,the pie looks very cute and awesome…
These pies look awesome Asha!!! It was a fun post indeed!!! Was a good reminder of college days lol..
My jaw dropped at the sound of the pie filling. almond and saffron! Irresistible! I am going to have to make this very soon.
We aren’t Valentine’s day celebrator, but your story is funny 🙂
my friends and I were the same way..even if it meant exchanging flowers amongst girls, that rose on valentines day felt proud 🙂 On another note, I want to eat the filling with everything..such a lovely pie.
Love the saffron in this! Such amazing looking pies! Really nice recipe — thanks so much.
Oh, my!!! These heart-shaped mini pies filled with almonds look pretty and very delish…Wishing you a super happy V-day, my friend!
Looks yummy Ash… Loved the filling!
Happy V-day to you too Ash 🙂
Is this a snack? My podcast (The Table Set)is doing game night (parcheesi) as a farewell party for Joy The Baker (our “boss” who is moving from LA to NOLA) and we’re supposed to bring Indian “snacks”. What should I bring?? GREG
Oh how absolutely gorgeous! and I love the filling, almonds and saffron, oh my, weak-in-the-knees moment!
I love your Valentine’s story! I bet I would have joined in on that one!
And these little pies look glorious. Saffron is one of my favorite things. So fragrant, it is unlike any other spice. Through history cultures have treausred this spice, and with very good reason. I will have to try these. They look delightful! I so enjoy the inspiration I find here on your site. Thank you again!
I love how you celebrated with your friends! I used to go out with my friends too, which was the best way to celebrate back then. These gorgeous little heart pies are a wonderful way to celebrate now with the ones you love! 🙂
Heart shaped individual pies… what a great idea…Loved it… !!! Happy valentines day !!
Ash – these are adorable! The saffron filling sounds incredibly delicious, and with that cardamom, I bet it smelled heavenly!
I, too, am not a huge fan of V-Day,just cos I don’t quite get the concept of taking one day out of the year to show the people you love, you love them – I would rather do small things during the other 364 days.
Wonderful job Ash! These really look lovely and using saffron in the stuffing is such an interesting idea.
Thank you for shargin!
What a wonderful new way to enjoy saffron–I’ve gotta try this!
These Valentine pies look absolutely adorable and beautiful.
Woww.. how cute!.. bookmarked! 🙂
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I’m sure my GF would love these pies if I’d bake a batch for Valentine’s. I just have to convince myself that it’s OK for a dude to bake heath-shaped pies 😉
These look so delicious, Ash! The combination of ingredients in the stuffing is so unusual but I know it’s got to be amazing. Great post and as always, love your photos!
Valentines day in college was a whole different story 😉 I feel old when I think of the transition. But i think that’s with all such celebration. It changes with time.
Cute little pies and I am liking the addition of whole wheat flour in the patties.
These look great! I love mini pastries and like that these are savory in a sea full of sweet Valentines day treats. 🙂
These look beautiful. I really like the almond meal stuffing. I think friendship day is better than Valentine’s day even though I don’t have friends over here since all of them are in Spain 🙂
Pics looks so tempting and inviting!
This looks delicious…I love the background story also.
I love your photos in this post! And the filling sounds really different to anything I’ve tasted before, but also lovely!
Yum! They must have tasted amazing. The filling sounds so delish.
These pies look simply delicious, I love saffron and almond together 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Asha, these heart shaped pies are so cute!
Love anything with saffron and almonds in it, it’s a perfect combination.
Oww, you can’t be wrong with saffron+pistachio+cardamon and crusted pies!!!
Great job my friend…
Ooooh, I have some almond meal left from my last batch of macarons so I’m definitely bookmarking it! Heck I may even use my heart cookie cutter because well, I deserve a little cookie love 🙂
What a cute Vday treat! Love the nutty filling!
Hi, i need some help from you recipes.: banana-semifreddo-eggless.. Thank you for sharing such a lovely recipe. i wanted to try out the same basic recipe and use apple instead of banana or any other fruit /nuts (Strawberry,pomegranate,apples, mango nuts- badam,pista,)kindly guide me if this recipe works only with banana. if i have to skip banana in this recipe do i have to add anything else. ..i wanted to try simple vanilla flavored semifreddo Thank you
These pies are actually the cutest valentines day treats ever 😀
YUM!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Adorable and tasty treats for Valentine’s day! Love these!
i love to have some.. they are so beautiful.
Sounds tasty.
Oh how adorable these hand pies look and the filling and perfectly golden crust is so tempting us to try this recipe out today,thanks for sharing 🙂
that looks so yummy! what do you edit your photos on? like the first one where you added text thanks.
I was thinking a lot regarding this topic, so thanks for bringing it up here. You certainly have a good writing style i like, so will be subscribing to your blog.
religion and food
Super cuteness
Those Valentine pies are adorable! They look really tasty, too. I may need to try them for our next Valentine’s party. It seems easy enough.
Claire Reynolds || http://www.loomas.com.au/party-packs-corporate-catering
These are so neatly done! And combination was perfect,cute n creative�� after all it’s done by Asha!