Category Archives: Nut Pie

Pies Are Just Delicious Circles

29 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by in Dried Fruit Pie, Nut Pie

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There is one list of holidays commonly recognized throughout the United States by the average citizen. This list includes the like of the fourth of July, Halloween, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, perhaps Hanukah, maybe Easter…etc.

Then there is anOTHer set of holidays that only teachers know about. It’s true. Secret list. Teachers, in addition to decorating their classrooms seasonally and being more likely to wear holiday-specific attire than anyone else in the world, have created a whole slough of extra holidays to celebrate. This phenomenon occurs because teachers don’t have anything else to do with their time (sarcasm.) It actually occurs because teachers are just such fun and fantastic people.

Holidays that fall in this category, at least at my school, include the following:

  • Read Across America Day/Dr. Seuss’s birthday
  • Pajamas and Pancakes Day
  • 100th Day of School
  • Crazy Hat Day
  • Pi Day (March 14th)

Pi Day is a great holiday because pi has everything to with circles, and circles are shaped like pie, and pie is a homonym for pi, so Pi Day really usually ends up as another cleverly disguised excuse to eat Pie. (I find there are so many of these excuses in life.)

On Pi Eve (3.13) I baked Ken Haedrich‘s Chewy Medjool Date-Nut Pie.

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Just one little tip from Ken about chopping dates: it’s much easier if you sprinkle a little flour over them first. Cause they’re really sticky, dontcha know.

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Dates: one of those food items people either love or hate. I love ’em.

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Levi took it upon himself to make sure the flavor was up to par. The description that I heard was, “This is basically a better pecan pie.”

Obi would gladly have taken the job of taste tester upon himself had he been granted the opportunity.

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Here are a few peeks of Pi Day gluttony in action. I love pie and all, but I’m telling you, this is a no-fail recipe for a stomachache.

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If you’d like to check out my post about LAST Pi Day (3/14/12), go here.

If you’d like to watch a video my students made last year in response to the question “What is Pi?” you can find that here.

If you commented on my last post (about Pie-in-a-Jar) thank you so much for your enthusiasm! I will be randomly drawing the names of at least one domestic and one international helper and will announce the winners in my next post. Here’s hoping the jars can hold up to the journey!

A Christmas Milestone

15 Friday Feb 2013

Posted by in Dried Fruit Pie, Nut Pie

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Pie 100! I put off baking this pie because I thought, “Pie 100 has to be the best yet.” “Pie 100 deserves a really special occasion.” “Pie 100 has to be over-the-top and awe-inspiring to all who encounter it.”

Then all of a sudden it was Christmas and I had to make a pie for Christmas. So I just made something I thought sounded yummy, and Christmasy. You can’t force this kind of thing.

My commonwealth friends will know what I’m talking about when I say that I think the most Christmasy taste in all the world is mince pie. I guess to be specific, that taste is cloves. But yes. Very Christmasy.

Ken Haedrich calls this pie Dried Cranberry and Walnut Funeral Pie, which doesn’t sound very Christmasy, or even slightly cheerful. But it definitely tasted like the holidays. It was eaten without fanfare, on a cozy Christmas Eve. 200 pies to go. I wonder how many will be baked in 2013?

IMG_1195Some of the key players.

IMG_1196Stirring the filling/crying in anticipation for Les Mis. Typical.

IMG_1197Sneakin’. Also typical.

IMG_1219This pie was such a good poser, I couldn’t help myself.

IMG_1221Pie in a sleigh.

IMG_1222Pie with a Levi.

IMG_1225Pie waiting to become a ghost of Christmas past.

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Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. I hope you all had fantastic Valentine’s Days, by the way. One of these days I’ll start being seasonally accurate. But really, would that be as fun?

Pie Sold Here

21 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie, Chocolate Pie, Freeform Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Nut Pie

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And for a good cause!

If you back up a few posts, you’ll find the flyer I posted prior to the auction. It went off pretty much without a hitch, I’d say, and we raised about $500 for the Glendale Relay for Life. Thanks so much to everyone who baked, bought, or just came and participated in some good, ol’ fashioned fun.

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P.S. If you’re interested in seeing close-ups of the 5 pies I baked, move on over to the Pie Gallery page and check out pies 91-95. Which one would you have placed a bid on?

Going Nutty

07 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Nut Pie

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Here’s a crazy idea for you. Make a pie not with pecans, not with walnuts, but with….

PINE NUTS!

Oh wait, Ken Haedrich already thought of that.

Pine nuts are in my top ten list of things that are delicious and make everything more delicious-er. Here is what that list looks like:

1. Sun-dried tomatoes.

2. Garlic

3. Pine nuts

4. Sea Salt

5. Dark chocolate

6. Olive oil

7. Mushrooms

8. Goat cheese

9. Applewood smoked bacon

10. Butter

But while I put pine nuts on my salad, pasta, and pizza at every opportunity I get (and could probably eat a whole large bag of Sicilian pignoli cookies), I must confess that I never would have thought it would be okay to make a pie out of pine nuts unless Ken had given me the green light with his recipe for Pine Nut Pie.

Pine nuts can be expensive, but the Costco-size bag isn’t a bad deal. Especially if you frequently decorate your food with them like I do.

The formula for this pie is much like that of a pecan pie…the nuts get folded into an eggy, sugary, corn syrupy mixture and during the course of baking float up to the top. Pretty!

Ken suggests serving this pie with butter pecan ice cream, and I felt that it would be nothing short of foolhardy to ignore his advice.

Really it makes sense that pine nuts make a good pie. I mean, if you take out the first “n,” they become “pie nuts.” That can’t be coincidental.

Don’t forget…if you are interested in purchasing the Pie cookbook at a discounted price (because let’s be serious, you’d like to taste these pies instead of just salivating at your computer) or would like to receive free, funny, and informative videos about pie-making, check out the Pie Academy website!

The Love of my Life

30 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by in Berry Pie, Chocolate Pie, Cream Pie, Nut Pie

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….is not pie. It is my husband, Levi.

We’ve been married for three years today. Three whole years! It’s both hard and easy to believe.

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If you’ve read the “Why Pie?” section of my blog, you already know that I received my now well-worn Pie cookbook as a wedding present. What you may not know is that Levi and I opted have pies instead of a wedding cake…much to the initial chagrin of my very traditional Italian relatives. (Although I happened to look through my Nana’s wedding album shortly after our wedding and discovered that she and Pop-Pop had a big heaping platter of Italian cookies instead of cake at their wedding. Needless to say, I drew her attention to this incriminating fact!)

Our reasoning for this decision went something like this:

1. We really like pie.

2. We don’t like wedding cake.

3. Wedding pie it is.

A decision that was less easy to make was, “What KIND of pie should we have?” So we had five kinds. Pecan, Berry Medley, Key Lime, Chocolate Chiffon, and Coconut Cream. Something for everyone. (If you were in attendance, what kind of pie did you choose? If you weren’t, which one would you pick today, three years later?)

Levi and I sampled every pie, I’m not ashamed to say. Each was as wonderful as the last, just as the years of our marriage have been. Three years later, I’d still pick you, Levi. You’re my favorite, favorite one, my very best friend, the love of my life. Happy Anniversary.

(Professional photographs taken by the incredible Elisabeth Millay. Her blog is super gush-worthy.)