SEARCH

White Pie with Hartshorn Salt

White Pie

I’ve made this pie before. The recipes are almost identical except for the use of an unusual ingredient in this one – hartshorn salt. It is actually ammonium carbonate, a baker’s ammonia and it’s used as a leavening agent since 17th century. What amazes me is how it came to their minds to produce a baking ingredient out of the deer’s horns?!

Anyway, it is smelly and sore for the eyes once you open the oven door, but when heated, it releases ammonia and carbon dioxide gases, but no water. The absence of water allows cookies to cook and dry out more quickly, and thinner cookies allow ammonia to escape, rather than to remain trapped. Cookies make with hartshorn can be kept for a longer time without hardening, and their shape remains the same during the baking.

White Pie

(original recipe)

Biscuit

300 g flour
50 g pork fat
5 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
10 g hartshorn salt
100 ml milk

Dissolve hartshorn salt in milk. In a mixer, beat pork fat and sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat. Add milk with hartshorn. Gradually add flour until you have a soft dough. If needed add more flour. Divide into four equal parts.

Turn large oven pan upside down and line with baking paper. Flatten each piece of dough as thin as possible (it will rise in the oven). Bake in a preheated oven on 200 ° for about 6-7 minutes, until it starts to get yellow stains, but still remains white.

Cool before filling.

Filling

250 g butter, softened
250 g powdered sugar
1 bag vanillin sugar (10 g)
500 ml milk
6 flat Tbsp corn starch
1 bag whipping cream powder (40 g)

In a mixer beat butter foamy with powdered sugar. Combine 100 ml with corn starch. heat remaining milk and then add milk with starch. Stir continuously until it thickens. Let cool completely.

While the cream is cooling down, prepare whipping cream according to the instructions on the bag. Combine beaten butter with the milk cream and finally, add whipped cream. Divide into three parts ad fill the biscuits. Keep in the fridge overnight.

Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

You May Also Like

14 Comments

  • Amy January 2, 2012 7:47 pm

    This is lovely! I love that it is made with vanilla sugar and the layers of creaminess and cake! So festive!

  • C&T January 3, 2012 1:03 am

    Looks really lovely! :) Love the photo :).

  • Sandra’s Easy Cooking January 3, 2012 6:45 pm

    Sounds interesting, but so very yummy!!!!! Love the recipe and mouthwatering photo!!!Have a very Happy New Year!!!!

  • beti January 3, 2012 7:15 pm

    it looks so pretty! I’ve never hear about this pie but it looks gorgeous

  • Sandra January 5, 2012 2:59 pm

    This is so interesting. Pork fat, wow! It’s a pie but it looks like a cake, I have to try this. Beautiful picture too.

    • Marija January 5, 2012 5:22 pm

      Sandra, it is strange, but in this part of Europe, pie refers to phyllo dessert, but also something like this :) It does look like a cake, but if you touch it, or taste it, you will be able to see the difference.

  • Rochelle (@Acquired Life) January 12, 2012 3:39 pm

    I must see what I can do to find some of this “hartshorn salt” you speak of… Now that I’m in Europe it might be easier… but I’m betting I’ll have to check Amazon or something before I find it. Either way I need to at least try to make this gorgeous looking pie (though it looks like a cake to me too :D)

  • Veny January 15, 2012 8:06 am

    @ROCHELLE
    Hartshorn salt is ammonium carbonate. The other name used is baker’s ammonia. Hope this helps. :)

  • Cakebaker April 27, 2012 12:59 am

    Oh I want to give this a try…..the Hartshorn salt might be a bit tricky to find here…..is there another raising agent that I could use in it’s place?…and as for the pork fat…..is Lard what you mean?….I am in Australia so we may not have some of the products you have in Europe.

    • Marija May 20, 2012 3:47 am

      Yes, pork fat is lard.

      You can substitute 10 g Hartshorn salt with 2 teaspoons baking powder.

  • julli October 3, 2012 12:09 am

    hi,Marija!can I ask you how many whipped cream I must take instead of whipping cream powder?thanks

    • Marija October 4, 2012 8:58 am

      Hello Julli, I am not sure about this, but, 150-200 ml heavy cream would be my suggestion. Let me see first time I go to the store about the exact amount…

      Will let you know.

  • julli October 7, 2012 12:08 pm

    hi,Marija!
    I already done this cake, with 250 ml heavy cream and it works fine!thanks again!:)

    • Marija October 11, 2012 9:26 am

      Great!

Comments are closed.