Category Archives: No-Bake Pie

Let the Record Show

30 Wednesday Sep 2020

Posted by in Chocolate Pie, No-Bake Pie, Pumpkin Pie

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I had a real moment this weekend. A moment of serious pie déjà vu.

I was working on a Triple-Layer Pumpkin-Chocolate Pie, a pie which, in my own words, “I’m really excited to make because I’ve been eyeing this recipe forever and never actually made!” Well, look. I hate to say this, but sometimes pies begin to blur together in my mind. I’d checked the Pie Gallery page of this website multiple times, saw no hint of the Triple-Layer, and thought I was in the clear. But then, the aforementioned déjà vu hit too strongly when I was photographing the pie with its top sour cream layer and I did a more careful search through old blog posts. Come to find, the Thanksgiving pies of 2013 never made it to the gallery!! I laughed out loud when I saw the image below…

…Because I’d just finished taking these photos.

By the way, I don’t mean to complain. There was clearly meant to be a 2020 version of this pie; I was happy to make it again, share it with some lovely family friends, taste it again myself (since I had no recollection of the taste from 2013. Weird right.) Plus you guys would never have gotten these sweet Pippa/Process Pics.

She is getting PRETTY good with a rolling pin, I will not lie. And check out this nifty pie rolling mat! Another embarrassing confession-from-a-pie-maker to add to the list in this post; I’ve never even seen one of these baking mats or surmised their existence. What a fantastic invention. And what fantastic bedhead.

By the by, the reason this pie was up for (re)consideration was when I asked the recipients for favorite pie fillings, the response was “chocolate, pumpkin, and macaroni and cheese”. Even I could not figure out how to combine all three of those, but the first two? YES.

This may be a good recipe to consider if you’re thinking of making something new and a bit different for your Thanksgiving this year. I always find most families have some pumpkin people and some chocolate people. And maybe some pumpkin-chocolate people. Make everyone happy. Reach out if you’d like the recipe.

The chocolate layer of the pie is the same cheesecake-y pumpkin filling shown above, just with melted chocolate added.

The striking profile you see below is achieved with multiple rounds of baking. The crust is partially pre-baked, the chocolate-pumpkin layer is baked alone for twenty minutes, then the plain pumpkin layer goes on top of that. It’s time consuming, but not too much trouble; just a lot of time all added up! The sour cream layer is poured on top of the cooled pie, which is then chilled for at least three hours before eating.

Moving on. Following the discovery of my startling omission, I was compelled to give the Pie Gallery a fresh update. It took a bit longer than I’m comfortable admitting and was probably the 567th most important thing on my to-do list last night, but it was rewarding in its own way. A few minor numbering errors were corrected and the Triple-Layer’s photo was added to spot 116, along with the Jellied Cranberry-Pecan Pie (117) that had been made at the same time. I also took the opportunity to add in the Mocha Ricotta Mousse Pie with Warm Mocha Sauce that my cousin Daniel and I collaborated on in the summer of 2019. It’s currently taking a high place of honor in spot #150 – the halfway mark of this project! Unfortunately for Dan (and for myself come to think of it) I have a feeling I’m yet missing one to two pies and that number may shift. It would be very, very cute, and very good for my storyline if the pie with Pippa’s name emblazoned on it (currently in spot #149) ends up being Pie 150. P.S. I know I care WAAAAAAAY more about any of this than I could ever imagine you would, dear reader. If you’ve already got the gallery page open in another tab and are trying to make sense of my ramblings…well, you’re my hero.

In conclusion, a few things you should know about the Mocha Ricotta Mousse Pie.

1) It was incredible.

2) It was actually fairly simple to make.

3) My cousin Dan has a fake celebrity chef/Instagram persona named “Chef Gusto” who wears a tall white hat, a fake mustache, and speaks with what can only loosely be called a French accent. So as you might guess, cooking with him is quite hilarious. If you want a good laugh and you’re reading this post within the week it was published, click here to view Chef Gusto’s Instagram Story from July 2019; he made it temporarily public for the enjoyment of Peace of Pie readers! Thanks Dan. Can’t wait for you to “teach me how” to make another pie sometime.

Below: serving suggestion for coffee lovers: Mocha Pie, Mocha Sauce, Espresso…what else could you want?

See you all in October. ❤

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

27 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by in No-Bake Pie

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The question is on the table. For a million (imaginary) dollars, answer the following:

Which of the following is NOT found in Millionaire Pie?

A. Coconut

B. Pecans

C. Pineapple

D. Ice Cream

Oh never mind. I forgot to take away the sign.

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Although this no-bake pie does NOT contain ice cream, it does contain a goodly amount of cream cheese and whipped cream. Due to the simplicity of assembly, I made three of these for Sunday morning refreshments at church (one with a homemade graham cracker crust, the other with standard store-bought crusts. As Ken points out in the recipe notes for this pie, the intent here is to be quick and easy and sometimes I definitely see the wisdom in that.)

The above picture shows the crusts with just the main filling. Below you’ll see the finished pies, topped with whipped cream and pretty pecan halves. Voilà!

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For me, this pie absolutely fell into the category we refer to around here as “the weird ones”. I love to make fruit pies so much that when I have the opportunity to pick a new recipe from the cookbook for a particular occasion, Levi has started to tell me that I “really need to do one of the weird ones this time”. He’s right. This past year was perhaps the slowest yet in terms of my progression through Pie, but not the slowest in terms of overall pie production; I just need to remember to keep trying different things and moving forward. After all, with over 150 recipes left to choose from, it’s not like the pickins are all that slim. And really, I’m always delighted with the results of the “weird ones”. Millionaire Pie won’t make you wealthier, but it certainly has the potential to make you happier. (Unless of course you’re allergic to nuts or lactose intolerant, in which case obviously this is not the pie for you. Steeeer clear.) I loved the texture, the pineapple flavor, the whole delicious situation.

I’m very interested to hear if any of you have ever heard of/made/eaten Millionaire Pie before. I certainly hadn’t before being introduced to it in Pie. From what I’ve gathered, it probably hails from the convenience-food honeymoon period of the late 50’s or early 60’s, and maybe has Southern (Texan?) associations. To propose a reason for the name, Ken says, “perhaps it was fancied by some well-heeled Texas oilman”. (Or perhaps it’s Regis’ fave?) Please do leave a comment if you have any Millionaire pie encounters you can share!

Banoffee Pie?

24 Sunday May 2015

Posted by in No-Bake Pie

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Last week, I continued my seasonally appropriate blog posting with a pear pie I made for Christmas Eve. Today, I will be sharing some pictures from Christmas Day itself. It started out with early morning gifts and chats with Matt and Carmel, who had just arrived from Canada the night before. We were gearing up for a week and a half of incredibleness.

Here’s me loving my new Anthropologie rolling pin and pie plate from Levi. Beauty.

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These biffles unwittingly got each other whiskey stones. How adorable is that.

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After Obi unwrapped his new toy snowman, some serious bonding time ensued.

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He then absconded with the snowman to the top of the couch.

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As befitted her name, Carmel bestowed us with a trio of homemade caramel sauces.

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Later that evening, the Collisters joined the Gelineaus and Colbys to form possibly the first group of carolers Simi Valley has seen in 40 years (at least that’s what one of the neighbors told us, with teary eyes). We were largely greeted with excitement, cell phone videotaping, and wide-eyed little children, and decided that this was our new favorite Christmas activity—one that we hope to make a true tradition. Levi and I don’t have many of those yet, other than Christmas dinner Mexican-style. Tamales and tortilla soup all the way, baby.

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Now we get to the pie, which in fact stems from another Christmas tradition—maybe we have more of them than I originally thought.

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There’s a scene in Love Actually, our favorite Christmas movie, where Keira Knightley turns up with some Banoffee Pie in exchange for a wedding video filmed by her husband’s best man (aka guy who is hopelessly in love with her and secretly only filmed her throughout the entire wedding, leading to a rather awkward moment when said video is found and played.)

I’ve wanted to try Banoffee Pie since seeing this scene for the first time, even though there are jokes made on Keira’s character’s part that she has “terrible taste in pie”. I could not reconcile “terrible” with the ingredients in my cookbook’s version of this recipe…dulce de leche, bananas, cream, sugar, instant coffee. What could possibly go wrong there? The answer is, of course, nothing. Keira, you’re wrong-o.

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I followed Ken’s recipe precisely on this one and used prepared dulce de leche rather than making it from scratch. Turns out that Trader Joe’s has a very delicious jar of it, at least around the holidays. Joe never lets me down.

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*The screenshot was borrowed from this top-notch post on the same subject, which I highly recommend reading in its entirety. It includes a variant recipe for banoffee pie, history on where this pie originated, and some classic jokes about the zip-up turtleneck that features so prominently in the referred-to movie scene.