• Pie Gallery
  • The Cookbook
  • Why pie?

The Peace of Pie

The Peace of Pie

Category Archives: Nut Pie

The Calm After the Storm

26 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Berry Pie, Nut Pie

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

apple cider vinegar, blueberry, cherry, maple syrup, orange juice, strawberry, travel, vinegar

The third week of January 2021 was a Rather Blustery one as Pippa and I would say (we’re big Winnie the Pooh fans around here). On Tuesday the 19th, the volume of the wind rose to an all-day and all-night howl. We spent the day watching our neighbor’s roof blow off a shingle or five at a time (ducking out to help clean up, too!) and were without power for over 24 hours. A tricky bit in all this was that we were going out of town from Wednesday to Sunday, and never got power restored before our departure time. A big thanks to friends who lent a helping hand through all the logistics of that situation… “Hey, can you go to my house and run the garbage disposal?” That kind of thing. Our friends are the real ones.

In retrospect, there was more we could have done to save our food, but, weird times, you know. Bottom line is, we ended up having to throw away the contents of our fridge and some of our freezer. The saddest loss there was the Meyer Lemon Gelato that Pippa and I made for our first “Ice Cream Monday” of the year. More on that in a future post; Pie and ice cream are such clearly related topics that I do plan to regularly share our 2021 ice cream escapades with the Peace of Pie audience.

Our destination this time was Cambria, a gorgeous coastal town about four hours north of Los Angeles. Over the last ten years, the Central Coast has become one of my very favorite places on earth and is a favorite vacation spot for both Levi and I. It’s even more fun seen through the wondering eyes of a nearly-three-year-old. God’s beauty. Pine trees, the ocean, playful otters, shiny gorgeous creatures in tidepools. We were blessed with one extremely sunny and warm day in which we kayaked out into the calmest Morro Bay I’ve ever seen. Pippa was a ball of delight in her little pink-and-yellow life jacket.

Back to the pie(s). We didn’t really intend to bring multiple coolers of food (and I didn’t really intend to make two pies in four days), but between us and Levi’s parents (who had also lost power overnight) we arrived at our vacation home with defrosted bags of frozen cherries, blueberries, and strawberries. The solution was fairly obvious.

Let’s give this one the descriptive name of “Frozen Berry Windstorm Pie”. And here is a very cute pic or two of Pippa and her Nana sniffing said Windstorm Pie. A bit of oaty streusel on top completed this dessert. I’d packed the oats for Pip’s breakfasts but they sure came in handy here!

I was more prepared than usual to whip this pie up than I normally would have been outside my home kitchen. I had packed a rolling pin, pie dish, and pastry ingredients, with the intent of crafting a French Canadian Walnut-Maple Syrup Vinegar Pie. This pie immediately follows Sugar Pie in the Pie cookbook; readers may remember that Sugar Pie was the latest addition to the Pie Gallery (made and eaten less than a month ago, for Christmas 2020) so it’s cute that these pies get to be next to each other in my gallery as well as in the cookbook. It’s the little things…

Have you heard of vinegar pie before? Aside from this recipe, my knowledge of vinegar pie largely comes from the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. Pippa and I have recently been enjoying the “My First Little House” series, which are beautifully illustrated picture books based on the original works. There’s one book where Almanzo goes to the County Fair and the favorite page (like mother, like daughter, I guess…) is of Almanzo eating his heart out in the dining hall, where all the ladies from church are serving a plethora of pies – Vinegar Pie among them. Pippa remembers bits and pieces of what she’s read and regurgitates phrases during play, so it would not be an unusual occurrence to overhear her, for example, setting up a “birthday party” made of bubble wrap and play food and telling her stuffie “Pomegranate Cat” to eat some “Vinegar Pie”. Every day is a new adventure around here.

By the way, you really can’t taste the vinegar. There is an acidic kick to the pie (which contains 1/4 cup orange juice in addition to the couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar), but it really is just there to offset the sweetness and provide a more well-balanced flavor. So, don’t be deterred. It’s lovely…if you enjoy maple syrup (who doesn’t?) and walnuts (less of you, probably). My father-in-law is a huge walnut fan, so I timed this pie to occur at least near-ish to his birthday (which is next week, but he believes in a long birthday season).

Here’s something funny. I have never been the *best* at posting about pies immediately after baking them, so I don’t know that this has happened before…but after I put that last picture in, I remembered that I still had about one sixth of this pie remaining in the fridge, and I went and helped myself to a slice. Yep, there’s that citrus tang in real time. Delightful.

Action items from this post:

  • Get yourself outside and maybe somewhere near the ocean, if possible. It’s good for the soul and I know our souls are weary these days.
  • If you’re interested in trying a vinegar pie (you might even have all the ingredients in your pantry already!) here is a similar but slightly different recipe from Ken’s Pie Academy website: Maple Walnut Vinegar Pie. I’d love to hear if you decide to make one yourself!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Christmas in July

21 Tuesday Jul 2020

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Chiffon Pie, Nut Pie

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

apple, chiffon, chocolate, dutch apple, holiday, peanut butter, sour cream, travel

Hello friends!

I’m writing to you today from the state of Virginia, where current temps and humidity are combining to make it feel like 108 degrees or so. Swampy is a word I’d use to describe the feeling upon departing from any air conditioned building. That being said, super happy to be here, and also looking forward to going to another swampy state (Georgia) in a few days. Just remember, fellow Northern Hemisphereans, it’s winter somewhere. Somewhere like Australia.

Flashback to….December 2015, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The hottest Christmas day I will probably ever experience. We were staying at our friends Nathan and Nicole’s house and it was so fun to share a warm back patio “Summer Supper” (a reference to one of P’s favorite books) in lieu of the more cozy indoor meal I typically associate with the Christmas season!

Nic is a fellow pie maker and owner of the Ken Haedrich pie tome. As part of the *many* delicious menu items she had planned for the Christmas meal, we baked not one, but two of Ken’s pies. Below left: Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Sour Cream Pie, and right, Black Bottom Peanut Butter Cloud Pie. Far right, Nic’s cute daughter Indianna. (Between us collectively, three babies have arrived in our families since this photo was taken. Goes to highlight how far back this story got stuck in the pie history bottleneck. It’s been added to its rightful position as Pie #138 in the Pie Gallery!)

43ACBA9E-5AB3-4A3C-A7B2-EA02B99322B8_1_105_c

Here’s a little close-up of our starlet:

E880DE1E-8EFF-4126-9467-1458EF6451EF_1_105_c.jpeg

And then, a slideshow of Christmas morning pie and luncheon preparations for your viewing enjoyment:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Captions for several of the photos in the above slideshow:

  • Black Bottom. A fancy term for, spread some chocolate in the bottom of that pie crust please.
  • When you’re baking in Australia from an American cookbook…you gotta break out that kitchen scale!
  • California walnuts (for the Apple Pie) and Australia peanuts (for the Peanut Butter Pie), aww, it’s a metaphor for friendship!
  • Note to self (or Levi if he’s reading this), one of those fancy nut choppers might be a necessary Gelineau kitchen tool…
  • If you’re wondering where the “Cloud” in Black Bottom Peanut Butter Cloud Pie comes in, just pause the slideshow for a moment on the image the peanut butter filling pouring lazily from the mixing bowl. Light as a cloud, my friends, light as a cloud.
  • Graham crackers? Australians have never heard of ’em. Try some good old Arnott’s Shredded Wheatmeal biscuits in your next homemade graham cracker crust! (This particular pie calls for peanuts in the crust in addition to in LITERALLY EVERY OTHER PART OF THE PIE. 10/10 would recommend to your favorite peanut lover.)
  • Wait a second…those pictures are not of pie! But, goodness me, doesn’t all of that food look divine? I’m just over here trying to show that Nic is the next Donna Hay. Only my Australian friends will get that but it’s totally fine.

Other bits and pieces:

  • Nic and I have been talking pie for many years now, and she has even shared a savory pie recipe on this blog before, in the post linked here: A Recipe from Nic.
  • Here’s the story of my first Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Sour Cream Apple Pie: Pie and Music

Sending love to each one of you out there having a hot, cool, chilly, or any kind of beautiful July day. ❤

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Pieyonara!

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Dried Fruit Pie, Nut Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

apple, apricot, cherry, dried fruit, lard, prune, walnuts

While I have a few favorite scapegoats for the fact that for the past several years I’ve been hovering right around 150/300 pies completed from my Pie cookbook, my favorite favorite goes something like this.

“Well, I love using fruit that’s in season, and I’ve pretty much already made every fruit pie in the book…it’s all those chiffon and ice cream pies and so on that I never seem to get to…and it always seems like a waste to NOT make pie out of fruit I have around (DOES ANYONE KNOW WHERE I CAN FIND LOGANBERRIES?!) so I end up just making up my own fruit pies. So, please believe me, I AM making pie, just not making progress towards my 300 pie goal.”

It is pretty accurate.

But, for this story, I am proud to say, that I found a never-before-made double crust fruit pie recipe in Pie for which I did not need to find loganberries or marionberries or any other such nonsense. Georgia Orcutt’s Thanksgiving Dried Fruit Pie. Yes, it contains only readily available dried fruits (Bing cherries, apples, prunes, and apricots), which get stewed and simmered back to life in a pot of apple cider before melding with walnuts, lemon juice, sugar, and butter to become a unique and quite delicious final showpiece.

Why, you may ask, did I need this particular pie to be a double crust fruit pie? Well, I had come into possession of some very high-quality lard, hand-rendered by friends, and Ken Haedrich, in his lard pie crust recipe, notes that lard is a particularly good choice for a double crusted fruit pie. With an ingredient on hand that produces an impossibly flaky and perfect crust, it would be a mistake to fiddle around with distractions like crumb or streusel toppings. Let the crust shine. The more of it, the better.

IMG_2752

A word on lard. I have never bought it in a grocery store. I probably never will. I was a vegetarian for six years. I will probably never be a vegetarian again. All this is to say, I care deeply about my food, and I like to know where it comes from. And if you knew the pig, (or the bear, for that matter) and it’s been killed for meat, and the fat is available as another useful product, I’m all about using it to create something delicious that can be enjoyed and that will give nutrients to the eater. (The pig that provided this particular jar of lard was one was raised at nearby Apricot Lane Farms. Thanks and respect.) And speaking of apricots…

IMG_2754 2

You guys, now that I have a baby, it takes DAYS to make a pie. One to make crusts, one to prep ingredients, and one to hastily assemble it and get it in the oven before naptime’s over.

IMG_2755

Here comes that apple cider action. About ten minutes of simmering on the stovetop and lots of stirring, and the dried fruit is nicely re-hydrated.

IMG_2756

And here’s the regularly scheduled Trader Joe’s product plug you have come to love and expect from peace-of-pie.com.

IMG_2757IMG_2758

Walnuts coming in for the win.

IMG_2759

As I was rolling out this crust I was immensely pleased with the texture and knew it was going to turn out great. And that’s saying something. As Levi will attest to, even though I’ve made hundreds of pies at this point, I usually utter a few deprecating comments during the baking process (“This isn’t sticking together the way I want it to.” “It’s a little overdone.” “I should have left that in the oven for another five minutes.”) Silly, but true. Usually when I taste the pie I sheepishly agree that it’s totally fine (no, usually more than fine). Anyway…total confidence this time.

IMG_2760

I texted the picture of the finished pie to our friends Johnny and Andy (the gifters of the lard) and told them I had made them a pie-o-nara pie and that they needed to come over and have some. They did, although it was later discovered that pie-o-nara was lost in translation/texting. Say it out loud. What do you think it means?

I updated the spelling of this made up word in the name of the post. Pieyonara. Sayonara. I think it’s more accurate. For a made up word. Johnny and Andy are heading out to some beautiful parts of the West and Southwest in their amazing renovated van for the first half of the year, so this pie was a little farewell for now.

IMG_2764

IMG_2776

More about Dried Fruit Pie. This pie is hearty and filling, truly a meal in and of itself. Ken Haedrich’s description speaks of the pie being present in Georgia Orcutt’s family’s Thanksgiving weekend pie buffet (in other words, they have a table of pies laid out that are available all weekend, and that can be eaten at any time, even for breakfast. Doesn’t that sound like a great tradition?)

This pie goes well with wine. Or, slightly warmed, with tea or coffee, in the morning.

Andy is a stellar hand model.

IMG_2777IMG_2779

Happy New Year to all, and have a beautiful day.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Old Favorites

01 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Nut Pie, Pumpkin Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

butternut squash, holiday, maple, pecan, pumpkin, Thanksgiving, travel

Dear friends,

I have new stories to share. Stories about olive harvesting with toddlers and bison lard pie crusts. Stories about champagne grapes, Minnesota fall fruit bounties, family bonds (biological and otherwise), fake Instagram celebrity chefs, first birthday parties, National Park excursions. We’ll get there. For now, suffice it to say: I hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving, and I’m eager to know what pies you ate this weekend. Please tell me in a comment on this post!

We just got back from visiting my parents in Georgia for Thanksgiving, and I am not ashamed or embarrassed to report that we ate at least one piece of pie per day for six days in a row (four pies to four adults and one baby, so, a pretty reasonable ratio). This time I didn’t knock out any new recipes from Pie (Ken Haedrich’s exhaustive cookbook, which I’m baking my way through; you can see my progress in the Pie Gallery). I chose instead to revisit a few old favorites.

Maple Pecan Pie: Maybe because my dad’s always been partial to a pecan pie, this is the third Georgia Thanksgiving that the Maple Pecan has made an appearance; I’ve also baked this one for my work team, to much approval.

Five-Spice Winter Squash Pie: Butternut squash available from the garden made this seasonally-appropriate pie an obvious choice. And a word about five-spice powder; seriously an underused and underrated ingredient, in my opinion. I just love the little licorice shout out (fennel and star anise are two of the five spices). I say that as someone who loves all things licorice, but for those of you on the other side of the licorice fence, fear not; the flavor doesn’t seem to be strong enough to chase away licorice haters (after all, cinnamon, cloves, and pepper round out the blend).

IMG_2236

That’s two, but I did mention a total of four pies earlier. My mom made an apple pie with an olive oil crust earlier in the week. We also enjoyed a pumpkin pie (pictured above) made with a recipe from my great-Aunt Sally, who we recently said goodbye to. The traditional apple and pumpkin pies alongside the slightly more jazzy pies mentioned above made for a very well-rounded line-up.

img_4240.jpg

Happy holiday season to all, and don’t forget to share what kinds of pie made your Thanksgiving lineup in the comments! Talk to you soon.

IMG_2261IMG_4182IMG_4280IMG_4210

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Sweeny Family Gives Thanks

28 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Nut Pie, travel

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cream, holiday, honey, lemon, travel, walnuts

Here is the original Norm and Marie Sweeny family, some years ago, bundled up for the snow and clearly in their element.

IMG_5753.jpg

In 2017, the Sweeny family celebrated many milestones including Grandmother’s 90th birthday, Aunt Susan’s 60th birthday, Mom and Dad’s 30th anniversary, Alex and Levi’s 30th birthdays, and Matt’s 21st birthday. We were happy to be able to gather in Illinois to share a Thanksgiving weekend of celebrations together!

The family has grown over the years, as you can see…the photo below is even missing 4.5 grandchildren/great-grandchildren who couldn’t make the trip out from California.

IMG_2169.JPG

Although many delicious desserts and savory items were made and consumed as part of the festivities, for the purposes of the blog I will naturally focus on the pie I baked for Thanksgiving: Maria’s Double Crust Walnut Pie. This pie is unique on several accounts, but, like many good things, begins with a bunch of butter.

IMG_5739.jpg

Maria must be a special lady, because she has a special pie crust recipe in Pie to be used with this very special and delicious recipe: Maria’s Shortbread Pie Pastry. It contains much more sugar than a typical crust, as well as an egg and lemon zest. In fact, the crust has about the same number of ingredients that the pie filling does. Due to the egg, the crust has a heartier, sturdier texture than average.

IMG_5740.jpg

Part of the uniqueness of this pie is that is meant to be baked in a springform pan. However, my aunt did not have a springform pan at her home (nor do I have one at mine–we’re more of a pie than a cake family clearly) so I slightly adapted the plan and used a deep dish pie pan. The recipe gives direction to add “ropes” of dough to the inside of the pan as pictured before pressing the dough flatly up against the sides of the pan. As far as I could tell, this just served to form a thicker pastry around the edges and hold the pie together more concretely. And the crust is such a delicious and important part of this dessert. I think it’s a good move.

IMG_5747

The pie filling is made from walnuts that get boiled with sugar and water and added to honey and cream. Nothing to object to there. The top crust is brushed with an egg glaze, and the final result is drool-inducing.

IMG_5759

If there was such a thing as Baklava Pie, this would be it. (Confusing picture below, that’s pumpkin pie on the plate there, also delicious, just not matching.)

IMG_5770

In this shot here you can see the true decadence of the filling.

IMG_5771.jpg

This pie is one of several to date that fall into the category of, “I don’t care if I still have roughly 150 pie recipes left in my cookbook and I probably won’t finish this project until I’m 53, this is a pie I would make again and again because it’s just that good.”

I’m sharing a few more pictures from the Sweeny family Thanksgiving weekend below. Enjoy and have a beautiful week!

Thanksgiving FeastIMG_5750.jpg

Cousin Alex’s Bacon-Wrapped DuckIMG_5748.jpg

When you turn 90 you get two cakes.IMG_2137.JPG

A little help with the candles!IMG_2134

Unwrapping a birthday birthstone gift. IMG_2153.JPG

Matt, the Jenga Master.IMG_2122

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Macadamia Magnificence

10 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Chocolate Pie, Cream Pie, Nut Pie

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

chocolate, cream, macadamia

Pi Day comes but once a year, but if you’re lucky enough to teach at my school, Pi Day lasts an entire week each March. Good stuff.

Following in the footsteps of many worthy predecessors (such as 2015’s Avocado Cream Cheese and 2014’s Coconut Cream) was a pie I had been excited to make for a long time, due to my great love of the main ingredient: Niel’s Chocolate-Macadamia Nut Cream Pie.

IMG_8129

One time, I was working late and a coworker had recently returned from Hawaii and generously brought eight tins of flavored macadamia nuts back with her. She left them in the kitchen, and I knew others had at least gotten the opportunity to try them that day. So uh after everyone else went home I took it upon myself to polish off the remainder.

Embarrassing.

IMG_8122

Oh, there are almonds in the crust. I love you too, almonds. But you’re not as much of a novelty so I didn’t stuff as many of you in my face while I was baking this pie.

IMG_8121IMG_8120

Nutty pastry crusts (recipe in Ken’s book) are very very delicious things and can be made with a variety of nuts…other pies in my past have called for walnuts, or peanuts. The almond crust here really adds to the level of Specialness of this pie. Only thing to really note about nutty crusts is that they do tend to be much trickier to work with. Don’t be surprised if the crust doesn’t hold together as well as a typical pastry does when you roll it out, and if small cracks form in the bottom as it pre-bakes.

IMG_8131

Case in point. Don’t worry, you’ll never notice-the filling is never runny enough to sneak down into that crack. Plus, the next step is to cover the bottom of the crust with chopped macadamia nuggets anyway.

IMG_8132

The chocolate cream pie filling goes on top of the macs. A layer of plastic wrap smoothed over the top prevents a skin from forming when it’s refrigerated.

IMG_8134

Once the pie is refrigerated for hours, it’s completed with a layer of whipped cream and topped with more marvelous macadamias. Et voilà!

IMG_8137

Like most of Ken’s pies, this one had all the flavor you could ever hope for and a subtle, not sickly, sweetness. This is helpful when you’re trying to eat multiple slices of pie at 10:45 am while also avoiding sugar crashes and stomachaches as much as humanly possible.

There are always so many delicious options.

IMG_8143

IMG_8145IMG_8146IMG_8147IMG_8135IMG_8140IMG_8151

This post has been brought to you by circles, the Hawaiian islands, Trader Joe’s, and coral fingernail polish.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Where to Begin?

21 Monday Mar 2016

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Nut Pie

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bourbon, pecan, Trader Joe's

Hi friends! I’ve been busy. Life is so sweet. Our friends have been getting married, having very hard times, getting sick, needing help, moving houses, having babies, needing encouragement. This year, I’ve been better at listening to and playing meaningful music, going to yoga classes, and reading books but worse at keeping up with my pie blog and learning Spanish. Everything goes through its cycles.

It’s in the height of California springtime now. IMG_7941

I recently bought a sign from my good friend Emily to hang in our bedroom. It says “Life is hard, God is good.” I want that to be my new answer every time someone asks me how I am.

Since I don’t have very much time tonight, I’ll just start with a small little post.

I saw this new product at Trader Joe’s. (So far, not unusual.)

IMG_7937

I thought I’d better test it out and let you all know whether it’s worth buying for yourself. The first thing I noticed was that there is NO corn syrup in the ingredient list. If you’ve made pecan pie before you’ll know that this is truly unusual. I don’t imbibe corn syrup too often in my life, but I will make an exception for pecan and certain other pies, as it’s hard to get the hallmark gooey texture without it. That being said, the best pecan pie I ever had was this one, made with maple syrup…and so I was excited to try another non-corn-syrupy variety.

When I lack the time to refrigerate my crust before rolling it out, I love breaking out this really nice pie crust recipe that uses no butter or shortening, only oil and cold water. This is the crust my mom uses, and we got it from a dear Schooley’s Mountain sister.

IMG_7936

The ingredients in the Trader Joe’s jarred filling (cause I know you wanna know what IS in it, not just what isn’t) are cane sugar, water, pecans, brown sugar, bourbon, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cream of tartar, salt and citric acid.

IMG_7938

To make the pie filling, you just mix the jarred filling with four eggs and some melted butter. Easy peasy. So far, so good!

IMG_7943

So far, still good. Like, really good. The smell at this point=fantastic.

IMG_7947

Overall comments: Great flavor. Would buy again. Ease of baking worth every penny. Filling cracked apart more than I would have wanted. You CAN taste the bourbon. Slightly sweet for my tastes-I’m used to the super low sugar content of Ken’s recipes at this point-but definitely not egregiously slow. High quality vanilla ice cream should go on top. 8/10

Optional: Share with super squirrelly, dessert-crazy little girls.

IMG_7948
IMG_7949
IMG_7950
IMG_7951
IMG_7952
IMG_7953
IMG_7954

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

North, South, East, and West

12 Monday Jan 2015

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Nut Pie, Pumpkin Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Georgia, maple, pecan, pumpkin

Of his Maple Pecan Pie, Ken Haedrich writes, “I’m a former Yankee with a wife from Charleston, South Carolina, so this pie is right up my alley. I think it’s a truly elegant pie, an arranged marriage of northern sweetness and southern charm that never fails to make pie lovers weak in the knees.”

My parents live in the South, now–an hour out of Atlanta, to be more precise–and I think the maple syrup/pecan hybrid is somewhat descriptive of their new life. To carry this idea further: I don’t particularly identify as a Yankee, but I consider myself an East Coaster, though my driver’s license has been Californian for four years now. Thanksgiving with Levi and my parents, in a place relatively new to all of us, was therefore a serious meld of North/South/East/West. We talked to my grandparents in Minnesota on the phone. We stuffed the turkey with herbs from our very drought-tolerant front yard. We sorted through many of my old notebooks and toys from my childhood in New Jersey. We drank a red blend called Family Tree from our favorite Central Coast winery. We hiked up a waterfall near the border of Tennessee and the head of the Appalachian Trail. I chose this arranged marriage of a pie for Georgia Thanksgiving 2015 not only because it seemed super delicious, but also because it seemed super appropriate.

I made one other pie during our visit, because we arrived on a Tuesday and Thanksgiving wasn’t til Thursday and it seemed a shame to waste all that potential pie-eating time. It was a pumpkin pie–a recipe from my Great-Aunt Sally who lives in that great Maple state of Vermont. For this pie, I made a crust with half butter and half coconut oil for the first time. I wouldn’t recommend a repeat of this tactic if it’s 30 degrees out and your coconut oil has been refrigerated (East), but I’m guessing it would be just fine if it’s 70 degrees out and you keep your coconut oil in the pantry (West). I had to handle the mixture a bit too much for my liking in order to break up the cold oil and even resorted to sunning the bowl, as you’ll see below. Although, I have to say, all’s well that ends well and the pumpkin pie disappeared quickly with no known complaints. 🙂

Without further ado, here are some pictures from our lovely Thanksgiving festivities. Thanks, as always, for reading.

IMG_4999

IMG_5002IMG_5010IMG_5016

IMG_5018IMG_5019

IMG_5027IMG_5008IMG_5030

IMG_5051IMG_5065IMG_5072

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

When Friends Come to Visit

19 Monday May 2014

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Chocolate Pie, Nut Pie

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

chicken, chicken and mushroom pie, chocolate, coconut, dark chocolate, macadamia, mushroom, San Francisco, savory

It’s really great when friends come to visit. It means that we can do fun things such as: run around San Francisco for a couple of days.IMG_1398IMG_1112

IMG_4783

San Francisco’s a gorgeous city, no doubt, and we loved being there with Nathan and Nic. It’s not like we get to see them often–they live in Australia, after all. We just met Nic last year, when we met up and similarly ran around Salt Lake City (you can read that post, “Guilty Pleasures,” here. You should, it’s a good one.) Nathan we’ve known for quite a while now, and we still like him, so that’s good. People often ask me how come I have so many friends who live all over the world, and it does seem strange at first, I admit. But I know exactly why these friendships work and why they are so good; it has to do with Jesus.

If you ever want to know more, just ask. IMG_1263

Whilst running around San Fran, Nic and I stumbled upon this delight of delights. A chocolate factory! I sagely decided to purchase some chocolate baking discs, as I thought that we would probably be able to make use of them in a pie. (I was right, as you’ll see later on.) Tcho is pronounced with a long O, by the way. For a while I was thinking “Tcha”, like what the first syllable of the word “chocolate” sounds like, but pretty sure that it’s “Tch-oh.” You can read about one of the coolest aspects of the company here. IMG_1122

Nic is quite a cook and baker. A fun fact is that she has also acquired a copy of the Pie cookbook (by way of me and another willing Aussie traveler) and has made a few of the recipes on her own over this past year. This is more of a feat when you take into account the fact that all the recipes are written using American measurements, so I applaud her for her efforts. We were excited to get back home and start pie-ing it up.

One night, Nic showed me how to make a chicken and mushroom pie. I’ve ranted on this before, but, truly, we Americans do not eat enough savory pies. Not even close to enough. Cause they are delicious times a million.

IMG_2675Someday I’m going to try making my own puff pastry. Or maybe that’s a lie. Either way, it didn’t happen on this particular night, but I have no qualms about store-bought puff pastry until they discover a less time-consuming way to make it at home. I think it takes approximately seventeen hours and pounds of butter. Ain’t nobody got time for that.IMG_2678Here’s the finished product, all warm and flaky and lovely. Leave a comment if you’re interested in making a chicken and mushroom pie yourself and I just may be able to share the recipe.
IMG_2686IMG_2689IMG_2683Even Obi suddenly appeared at the table when he smelled the pie. What a little sneak. *Disclaimer: We do not actually feed our dog at the table, nor we do let him drink wine.*IMG_2695

Now let’s turn our attention to dessert. Remember those Tcho baking discs that came home with me from San Francisco? They made an excellent addition to Macadamia-Chocolate Chunk Pie.

IMG_2705Can anyone tell me why macadamia nuts are so delicious? Is it just all that good fat? The rich, buttery flavor? I have no idea, but there is a lot of attempted self-restraint that goes on when I have an open bag of macadamias around. It’s a massive struggle that looks something like this:

Me: I only need one and a quarter cups of macadamia nuts for that recipe, and I bought two cups. I’ll just have one small handful.

Me: Well, just one more small handful. That’s fine. Then I’ll clip the bag and put it away.

Me: I still have enough left for the recipe, so who really cares? I’m going to take out the bag and have only a couple more. Then that’s IT!

IMG_2707The end result of this pie has a texture that’s sort of half like a nut pie (pecan pie is what I’m sure we’re all the most familiar with), thanks to the egg/corn syrup/brown sugar base. It’s also half cookie-like, with lots of chopped macadamias, chocolate chunks, and coconut flakes. There are a lot of goodies in there. IMG_2719

When friends come to visit, it’s really nice to cook and bake and enjoy each others’ company. And unintentionally wear lots of maroon and take Apple Photo Booth shots of yourselves, as it turns out.

4-up on 2-21-14 at 9.47 PM (compiled)Hopefully it won’t be too long before we are reunited. Australia 2015? Sounds great to me.

IMG_1343

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...

Festivities

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Chocolate Pie, Nut Pie, Pumpkin Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

chocolate, cranberry, cranberry sauce, pecan, pumpkin, sour cream

Today is National Pie Day (not to be confused with Pi Day, March 14th). I didn’t bake today. I didn’t even eat a piece of pie today. That being said, I like to think I embody the spirit of National Pie Day a good deal in my life; I’m not feeling too guilty about my lack of celebrations.

In fact, I did one good pie deed today…I delivered a Pie-in-a-Jar. Did any of you “celebrate”?

In honor of the holiday, I wanted to share with you the pies I baked for Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) this past fall.

The Triple-Layer Pumpkin-Chocolate Pie is pictured below. 1. Empty crust  2. The first layer, cheesecakey pumpkin filling with chocolate mixed in  3. The second layer, the same pumpkin filling without chocolate added  4. A tangy sour cream topping to finish it off.

IMG_2204

Here’s what it takes to make a Jellied Cranberry-Pecan Pie.

picstitch

Have a happy weekend!

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest

Like this:

Like Loading...
← Older posts

Click here to receive my new posts via E-mail the moment I bake a new pie!

I’ll have a slice of…

almond apple banana berry bittersweet chocolate blackberry blueberry butter butterscotch caramel cherry chess chiffon chocolate chocolate chips Christmas christmas eve coconut coffee corn cranberry cranberry sauce cream cream cheese crumb custard date dutch apple egg fig five-spice freeform graham cracker holiday honey icebox ice cream Jenny and Tyler ken haedrich key lime lemon maple marshmallows meringue mini pies Minnesota mint mousse nectarine orange oreo peach peanut butter pear pecan pie-in-a-jar pine nut pluot pumpkin raisin raspberry Republic of Pie rhubarb savory sour cream spices strawberry tart Thanksgiving travel vanilla vegan walnuts whipped cream whiskey

Pin This!

My Twitter

  • Chocotastic peace-of-pie.com/2021/09/18/cho… 1 year ago
  • Margarita Bay peace-of-pie.com/2021/05/28/mar… 1 year ago
  • On a Chilly Thursday in March peace-of-pie.com/2021/04/10/on-… 1 year ago
  • Crack Pie and the 2021 Speakeasy Bakery Pi Day Auction peace-of-pie.com/2021/04/03/cra… 1 year ago
  • Calvados-Apple Custard Pie peace-of-pie.com/2021/02/28/cal… 1 year ago
Follow @ThePeaceofPie

Recent Pies

  • Chocotastic
  • Margarita Bay
  • On a Chilly Thursday in March
  • Crack Pie and the 2021 Speakeasy Bakery Pi Day Auction
  • Calvados-Apple Custard Pie

Calendar

February 2023
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728  
« Sep    

Contact Me!

You can send me a private message at the.pie.diaries@gmail.com. Thanks so much for visiting!

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • The Peace of Pie
    • Join 87 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Peace of Pie
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: