Have you ever heard the saying “good things come in small packages”? From a taste point of view this could certainly be said to be true of McDonald’s Holiday Pie. Think of a parcel of crisp and crumbly pastry surrounding an oozy custard like filling, when served hot with a cup of coffee a McDonald’s Holiday Pie is a real treat. Aside from crumbs the main problem with eating one is that you have to balance impatience to taste it, with the risk of burning your mouth, so be careful.
There is one other problem with McDonald’s Holiday Pie, and you may have already guessed it based on the name of this dessert… It isn’t available all year round. McDonalds are very secretive about when they release each batch, but that’s fine by us, as we’ve developed our very own McDonald’s Holiday Pie copycat recipe, which we are going to share with you today.
How To Make McDonald’s Holiday Pie
As you know with McDonald’s, their recipes normally involve one or two ‘secrets’ that can change the end product significantly. This recipe is no exception. There are one or two ‘extra’ things that you need to do to ensure that your McDonald’s Holiday Pie recipe is as close to the real thing as possible. Fortunately, most of these steps take place during the preparation stage, but they can take a little time. So, if you want to whip up a batch, it pays to plan a little in advance.
The first stage involves careful management of temperature, and we aren’t referring to your oven. In order to get flaky crisp pastry that is an exact copy of McDonald’s Holiday Pie you will need to chill your dried ingredients, and also the oil that you will use in the pastry. If you have ever made ‘puff pastry’ you’ll know that the ‘flake’ effect comes from not handling it too much and keeping the ingredients cold. This is the same reason we do so in this recipe.
The filling itself isn’t too difficult, and we were surprised at just how easy it was to make our authentic McDonald’s Holiday Pie recipe. The use of sprinkles is an easy additional touch for both the filling and the pastry, however aside from a hint more sweetness and a tiny bit of texture, it won’t influence your end result too much, so if you haven’t got any, don’t worry. You can just as easily substitute the sprinkles. Just use equal quantities of coarse brown sugar instead.
The pastry is unleavened so there will be little rise when baked. You may notice that egg is included in this recipe. It is included merely as a glaze for your pastry. When beaten egg is baked it eventually turns a lovely golden-brown color, but does not add any real taste. If you don’t have eggs you will still be able to make this recipe. In a pinch, you can brush melted butter onto your pastry to achieve the same effect, or even use milk. The result will be slightly paler. In fact, you can forgo the glaze all together if you really have to. Your pastry may look slightly anemic, but should taste the same, so just close your eyes and bite into custardy heaven.
Conclusion
Although this is a recipe that requires a bit of time once you know how to make McDonald’s Holiday Pie at home, you will probably be able to speed the process up, as we guarantee you will be making them more than once. The key is managing the temperature of your ingredients and being organized. When it comes to assembling the Pies, get a little production line going, you could even get a few helpers involved.
Hi I’m super excited to make this recipe, can I use whole wheat instead of whole grain flour?