Baking for Beginners: Negroni Pie

It's rare for two words to inspire the giddy child-like sense of excitement and awe usually reserved for events like 'the-ice-cream-man'. Whilst there are definitely phrases like "free drinks" and "gin... 2 for 1" that can bait the average punter, they'll never equate to the exquisite excitement of noticing something like 'Negroni Pie' on my twitter feed.

When the notion of this amazing desert appeared out of the blue I had the misfortune of being stuck in the office, woefully far away from a kitchen and with no prospect of recreating this pinnacle of boozy desserts. So a week later I decided to take a days holiday and recreate my own version of this marvel. So without further ado I present to you the Domestic Sluttery Negroni Pie.

Negroni pie.
For the filling you'll need:

• 1 packet of shortcrust pastry
• 200g sugar
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 separated eggs
• 3 tablespoons of cornflower
• 1 cup of milk
• A pinch of salt
• 75ml of Campari
• 25ml of gin
• 50ml of sweet vermouth (although Punte Mes worked out for me really well) 
• 1 Red grapefruit
• 1 medium pot of whipping cream

Make it!
Make the base

• Preheat your oven to 190C
• Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface until it exceeds the diameter of the tin
• Line a buttered 20cm tart tin with greaseproof paper
• Fill with baking beans and blind bake at 190°C for 25 minutes
• Pull those baking beans out and bake for a further 5 minutes at 150°C

Meanwhile for the custard

• Beat the sugar and butter until well blended.
• Add each egg yolk one at a time beating into the mixture.
• When you have a nice smooth consistency, sieve in the flour, pour in the milk and add your pinch of salt.
• Now for the first two parts of the booze. Add the gin and Campari.
• Add a squeeze of grapefruit juice and two teaspoons of grated grapefruit zest and beat everything together
• Beat the egg whites in a separate bowl and fold them into your custard.

The final act

• Pour your custard into your pie shell and bake for one hour at 150°c.
• Which gives you just enough time to add 50ml of vermouth to your cream as you whip it.
• When a knife comes out clean from your pie it's ready to come out and cool for an hour.
• Then pipe on your boozy cream and grate on grapefruit zest to garnish.
• Serve with a negroni (obviously).