Category Archives: Summer Fruit Pie

Friendly Competition

02 Tuesday Oct 2012

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We had a dessert-off at our church.

A dessert-off is what it sounds like…a free-for-all contest in which any dessert may be entered. No parameters.

What kind of pie would you make in this situation, given 212 recipes to choose from? I was at a loss. Should I make a chocolate pie? Everyone likes chocolate…but then again, I was sure many of the desserts would be chocolatey.

Nectarines were in season (this was at the very beginning of September. California seasons.) I also like nectarines a lot. I decided that I wasn’t going to find one pie that would please everyone, so I might as well pick one that pleased me.

Added some blueberries, to please the hubby.

Now normally I don’t give away my secret ingredients so easy. But as this recipe is neither mine nor a secret, being as it’s published in Ken Haedrich’s Pie, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that the key to success here is almond extract. Don’t skip it.

Deep Dish Nectarine Pie with Almond Crumb Topping arrives at the dessert-off and nervously checks out the competition.

There are an array of other tasty and beautiful desserts around, from cupcakes to tarts to cheesecake and beyond.

But lo! What treachery is this? A decadent-looking Caramel Apple Pecan Pie made by an aspiring young pastry chef? What does this mean for poor Deep-Dish Nectarine?

It means that the competition will be stiff. Well done, young pie Jedi. I have my eye on you.

Although neither pie took home the prize, I should mention that they were both in the top four. Also, that they were delicious in my belly.

Keeping it Local

20 Monday Aug 2012

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Beautiful Mt. Rainier, seen from above the clouds. The mountain gives its name to a very special fruit, grown in the locale. There would never be a more appropriate time to bake some Rainier Cherry Pie with a Grated Top Crust.

Rainier cherries are sweet, peachy, red-and-yellow marbles of deliciousness. And if you go to a local Washington market (NOT a supermarket), you will get a great price such as $1.99 a lb. I should have bought about twice as many as I did. Regrets.

Regrets continued: for the first time in my life, I talked myself into buying pre-made crust. “I don’t want to buy all the ingredients and have the leftover go to waste,” I said to myself. “I don’t know if there will be any measuring cups where we are staying.” (There weren’t.) “I’ve already spent too much money on groceries this month.” All pitiful excuses. This will never happen again, I promise you, because the pie would have tasted about 100 times more delicious if I had made the crust myself. I already hear some of you insisting “But the store-bought crust tastes just as good!”  Quite frankly, you’re wrong. Sorry.

*Deep breath* Moving past all that…the pies sure looked pretty. To make a grated top crust, simply freeze half of your pastry and then grate it over the top like a block of cheese. In case you were wondering, we were in Washington for a family vacation. Levi’s grandparents, Ken and Bonnie, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this year. Hooray for them! Locally made ice cream to go along with your Rainier Cherry Pie? But of course!

 

All-Rhubarb, All the Time.

28 Thursday Jun 2012

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Minnesota checklist:

  • Jump in the river X
  • Canoe 15 miles X
  • Eat licorice ice cream X
  • Catch fish X
  • Bake pie X
Would you just LOOK at this gorgeous rhubarb?!

When I saw this growing in a friend’s garden, it was easy to decide what kind of pie to bake first. All-Rhubarb.

Here’s a question, but don’t think too hard, because it’s not a trick.

Q: What’s more fun than baking a pie?

A: Baking a pie while drinking beer.

I have a few items to discuss in relation to this pie. Let’s take them one at a time.

1. Rhubarb. Do you love it? Like it? Hate it? I think it’s one of the most wonderful plants I’ve ever encountered. Ken Haedrich gave me the following tidbits that I thought worthy of sharing: rhubarb is also called “pie plant,” (makes sense) and the only two groups of people who customarily eat rhubarb RAW are Afghans and Eskimos. Random. (Disclaimer, in case you have never eaten rhubarb and are so inspired by this post that you immediately go find yourself some: don’t eat the leaves. Poison.)

2. Oranges. Add half of a large orange’s zest and half of its juice to a rhubarb pie for a very pleasant flavor enhancement.

3. Zesting. My Aunt Sarah (whose wonderful place by the St. Croix River I am currently luxuriating at) did not have a grater in her possession. I went down to the general store and found the grater/zester that is shown in the above picture. IT IS AMAZING. I can’t believe I’ve been using a second-rate grater to zest citrus fruit for so many years. Never again. I’m immediately buying one for myself when I get back back to Cali Cali.

Of Softball and Lemonade

14 Thursday Jun 2012

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Greetings, lovely readers.

I am proud to announce (or maybe I shouldn’t be announcing this at all) that for the first time I am totally, 100%, up-to-date on this blog. As in: the pie you see in this post was actually the most recent pie I’ve made. For a while I’ve been pretending, you see.

“Recently…*cough a month ago* I was in New Jersey…baking some pies…”

It feels good to be caught up. Now to just stay on top of things…I do tend to bake faster than I can blog.

MY MOST RECENT PIE, for serious, was a Lemonade-Peach Pie. It was the first day of summer vacation (awwww yeah) so I made two.

(Just pretend you don’t notice how dirty my oven is and smile politely.)

Let’s talk about lemonade for a minute. You obviously wouldn’t want to add straight up lemonade to a pie, as pies produce a lot of juices on their own and will suffer if anything watery gets in there. That’s why it’s a good idea to make sure not to add wet fruit (i.e. berries that haven’t been properly drained after rinsing) to the filling. Anyway, this pie is made with thawed frozen lemonade concentrate, packing a lot of flavor in a little liquid. Trader Joe’s has a great, cheap one–I think I should go recommend it to the kids on the corner of my street who are currently serving some pretty flavorless lemonade. I guess that’s why they’re selling it for “FREE! (But we accept donations!)”. Clever business strategy, I must say.

I brought the pies to Levi’s last softball game of the season. For over a year now, he’s been on our church’s team, and they’ve had a lot of fun (waaay more important than winning lots of games.) In addition to the 12 or so guys on the team, there’s quite a fan base that shows up to cheer. Really, in retrospect, three pies would have been better than two.

Owen and Austin endorse my pie wholeheartedly. I’m going to hire them when I  get a pie truck. They can just ride around in it and give people thumbs up all day long.

(Thanks to Renee Reich for the last two images!)

What kind of pie should I bake next?