I’m a sucker for chips and salsa, just ask anyone who happens to be standing next to me at a party — I plant myself there and move only once the bowl is dry. That’s right, I’m one of those, the dip Hawk; I keep one eye on the dip and another on the chips. Despite my shortcomings, I assure you, I am not a double dipper because, quite frankly, that is a party foul worthy of a public flogging. But I don’t limit my vulnerability to just chips and salsa….pie chips with berry compote also make me weak in the knees.
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Pie chips are essentially pastry cut into shapes, sweetened with sugar and brushed with butter, then baked until golden brown. I love homemade… but sometimes life gets in the way and I have little desire to do a big clean for such a little snack, so I keep a box of ready make pastry in my fridge and a few bags of frozen berries in my freezer so when the craving strikes I can have a bowl of pie chips and compote in 10 minutes flat. And when I am feeling really fancy, I still reach for the ready made pastry, only I jazz it up with a cookie cutter to make it look like I spent hours in the kitchen.
Making a berry compote is simple, if you have never made one before, rest assured that it is nearly impossible to ruin, and takes no skill–nada, zip, zero, none. Simply simmer a splash of orange juice, a sprinkle of white granulated sugar and fresh or frozen berries over the stove until they gently bubble and thicken. Add more juice to thin it out, add more sugar to sweeten it (even add Brandy if you are feeling especially festive). For a more step by step recipe, watch me make a Meyer Lemon Compote here.
Easy as pie… see what I did there? Only it is so much easier than pie because it takes 10 minutes and any left over compote you can store in your fridge for up to a week….add it to juice, booze, ice cream, freeze it into ice cubes, make ice cream with it, or simply eat it with a spoon.
