Make my husband a pie and he’s in seventh heaven. Steak and kidney, chicken and mushroom, rabbit pie or apple pie. You name it, he loves it! I resist making the heavier ones in the summer months and stick to lighter savoury and sweet tarts, but now hints have started to drop about cooler evenings and steak and kidney.

Pies have always been a much-loved part of British cooking. A 14th-century recipe for pork pie (another favourite) tells you to ‘flay your pig and cut him in pieces’, then ‘lay in your coffyn a good store of raisins and currants’. Well, these days the butcher does the flaying, pork pies no longer contain dried fruit and the ‘coffyn’ is now known as pastry which can be puff or flaky, sweet or savoury shortcrust, suet crust or phyllo. It can be wrapped around, put under or on top of any number of different filling or toppings.

I like my pies to be more filling than pastry, which is why I made my ham, cheese and leek pie in a fairly deep sandwich cake tin. When I need white sauce or béchamel, I usually make it myself, but as I only needed 200 millilitres for this one for the first time I tried one of those little packs of béchamel from the supermarket. It will now be a regular item on my shopping list. The pie is nice and moist and good served hot with vegetables or cold with a salad.

At this time of year, I start to think of autumn fruit pies made with apples, pears, plums or blackberries; although most of those are available all year round. Instead of making a pie or a crumble, I ring the changes by making a cross between the two, lining the dish with pastry and topping it with crumble. With lots of custard it makes a good Sunday lunch pudding.

We tend to think of pies on this side of the Atlantic as a top and bottom of pastry with something sweet or savoury in the middle. Across the pond, pies are mostly sweet and are either double crust like apple, cherry, peach or blueberry pies or they just have a pastry or biscuit crust base, like lemon meringue, Key lime, peanut butter or banana cream pie.

One of my favourites is Mississippi mud pie, which apparently appeared shortly after World War II. I don’t think there’s a definitive recipe, but it can be made with either pastry or biscuit crust, and usually contains corn syrup and, more often than not, ‘instant chocolate pudding mix’.

Well, I used golden syrup instead of corn syrup and as the pudding mix is basically a chocolate blancmange, I made a chocolate custard with egg yolks and cornflour.

The pie is squidgy, gooey and utterly irresistible.

Crumble-topped autumn fruit pie

(Serves 4 to 6)

200g plain flour
Pinch of salt
100g butter
Sugar
3 Granny Smith apples
2 ripe pears
1 level tbsp cornflour
6 firm red or purple plums, stoned and sliced

For the crumble topping
150g plain flour
½ tsp mixed spice
75g butter
75g demerara sugar

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, rub in the butter, then stir in a tablespoon of sugar and add enough iced water to mix to a dough. Turn it out on to a floured surface and roll it to a round large enough to line a 23-centimetre pie dish, then chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Peel, core and slice the apples and pears into a large pan. Add two tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently until the fruit is tender, then let it cool. Mix two tablespoons of sugar with the cornflour, stir it into the fruit mixture together with the plums, then turn it all into the pastry case.

Preheat the oven to 200˚C and put a baking sheet in to heat. For the crumble sift the flour and mixed spice into a bowl, rub in the butter and stir in the Demerara sugar, then scatter the mixture all over the fruit. Stand the dish on the hot baking sheet and bake for about 45 minutes until the top is golden and crunchy. Serve warm with custard or cream.

Mississippi mud pie

(Serves 6)

175g plain flour
30g icing sugar
120g butter, diced
30g cocoa, plus 1 tbsp extra
5 egg yolks
100g dark chocolate
2 tbsp golden syrup
20g butter
450ml milk
3 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp caster sugar
150ml cream
Chocolate shavings or curls to decorate

Preheat the oven to 200˚C. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl, rub in the diced butter, sift in the cocoa and mix well. Add one of the egg yolks and enough cold water to mix to a dough and knead lightly. Roll out the pastry on a sheet of greaseproof and line a 23-centimetre pie plate or tart tin. It’s quite fragile, so if it cracks just patch it with the trimmings, making sure that there are no holes. Chill for half an hour. Line with greaseproof paper and baking beans and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and beans, cook for 10 minutes more, then cool on a rack.

Melt the chocolate, golden syrup and butter over hot water. Whisk together the cornflour, sugar, extra tablespoon of cocoa and the remaining egg yolks with a tablespoon or two of the measured milk until well blended. Heat the rest of the milk and when it’s hot, pour it on to the egg yolks, whisking all the time. Return it all to the pan and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Lower the heat, simmer for two minutes and cool slightly, then fold in the melted chocolate. Put the pastry case on a serving plate, pour in the custard and chill until set.

Whisk the cream until it stands in peaks and swirl it all over the pie. Scatter over the chocolate shavings and chill again until ready to serve.

Ham, cheese and leek pie

(Serves 4 to 6)

300g plain flour
Salt and white pepper
150g butter
60g finely grated mature Cheddar
1 egg yolk
20g butter
2 leeks, white and pale green parts only, trimmed, sliced 1cm thick
300g thickly sliced smoked ham
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme, or 1 tsp dried thyme
2 eggs, beaten
200ml béchamel sauce
1 dessert spoon Dijon mustard
Half a 150g pack sliced emmental or Gruyère cheese

Sift the flour into a bowl, season with salt and pepper and rub in the butter. Stir in the grated Cheddar, then add the egg yolk and enough iced water to mix to a dough. Turn out on to a floured surface, knead lightly, then wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Melt the 20g butter in a frying pan and add the leeks. Fry gently until they soften, then transfer them to a bowl. Shred the ham and add it to the leeks together with the thyme. Reserving a spoonful of the beaten egg for glazing, beat the béchamel, eggs and mustard together, then stir them into the leeks and ham and season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200˚C and put a baking sheet in to heat. Roll out just over half the pastry and line a 23-centimetre pie dish or flan tin. Add half the ham mixture, arrange the cheese slices on top, then spread over the rest of the ham. Roll out the remaining pastry and top the pie. Trim and flute the edges, brush with the reserved egg and decorate with any pastry trimmings. Make two or three slits in the top for the steam to escape, stand the pie on the hot baking sheet and bake for about 40 minutes until the pastry is golden. Cut into wedges and serve hot with vegetables or cold with a salad.