Zapple Pie

05 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Apple Pie, Summer Fruit Pie

Tags

It’s not Apple Pie: It’s Zapple Pie.

Yes, my friends. It’s time to talk about mock apple pie, made from zucchini and a few other ingredients that aid the trickery. Unless you actually make one yourself, you will probably not believe me when I say how good it is. But I and my taste-testers will tell you: it is really, really, really good. This Crumb-Topped Zapple Pie recipe can be found in Ken Haedrich’s book Pie, like most of the others discussed on this blog.

I made two of these back-to-back in late August/early September when mi querida amiga Linda gave me six zucchini from her prolific garden, two of which were actual giants. I’m a person that likes zucchini a lot of ways, but after making that first pie, it was like, oh, clearly this is 100% the best way to use zucchini. Let’s not mess around with zucchini bread and other such distractions anymore.

What does it take to make a Zapple Pie? Take a look.

Because this pie is so unusual, so delectable, and made with such a common ingredient, I feel it will be well worth our collective time to go into the process in a more step-by-step fashion than I typically would. Sound good? Sounds good.

Peel the zucchini and cut into thin, but not paper-thin, pieces (Cut rounds, then quarter them if a large zucchini, or in half for a medium zucchini.) You’ll start with six cups of raw zuke pieces.

Not previously pictured, but here is another key secret ingredient. Little bit of apple juice concentrate + Little bit of apple cider vinegar goes a long way in making zucchinis taste like apples, as it turns out.

Sugar, spices, and appley things simmer with the zucchini in a stockpot prior to baking. A cornstarch and lemon juice mixture is added towards the end to thicken and brighten up the mixture.

Like most of Ken’s crumb-topped pies, this pie is baked for half an hour with nothing on top, and the crumbs are added about halfway through the total baking time. Personally, one of my favorite aspects of this pie is the use of pecans in the crumb topping. This truly elevates the flavor and texture of the entire pie, in my opinion. Genius move.

In checking for doneness, you’ll see thick juicy bubbles around the edge of the pie when it’s done, just like you would expect of any classic fruit pie.

I was happy to be able to share these pies with Linda (the zucchini-giver) and her family and Levi’s grandparents and aunt. We’ve also been having backyard church some Sunday nights with a handful of friends, a real joy. Distanced and all that, you know the drill (Pippa and her cousin “baby Luke” don’t distance, because a. They stink at it and b. We are in each others’ bubbles.) But boy oh boy, it is GOOD to sit eight feet apart from physical people and physically drink the wine and eat the bread together.

And sometimes, afterwards, physically eat mystery pie together.

Pippa: “Whhaaaaat’s in it?” She loves being in on trickery.

Bonus completely irrelevant photo that no one will be mad about: Pippa and her beloved babies. I hope she never stops calling anyone that is even slightly younger than her “baby ___________”.

Left to right: Baby Pippa, Baby Margaret, Baby Dolly, Baby Lucy, Baby Lydia. #babysquad

Will you try making a Zapple Pie? Don’t forget to let me know. I very badly want to hear your reaction and whether you found it as entirely delightful as I did. ❤

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).

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.

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.

Pi Daze

15 Sunday Apr 2018

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

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bittersweet chocolate, caramel, chocolate, cream cheese, custard, pecan, Pi Day

Hi friends, I thought I’d write you a nice post right after Pi Day this year to share how we celebrated, but then my (very new) MacBook started doing this cute thing where it would randomly turn CAPS LOCK on internally by itself and refuse to turn it off, making it impossible to type ANYTHING THAT DIDN”T LOOK RIDICULOUS and locking me out when I would try to restart the laptop because it didn’t recognize the password (since it was wrong, being in CAPS, naturally…) Happily it has just returned from Apple with a new keyboard and we’re on our way again here!

Levi and I have been living in a 735 sq. ft apartment in downtown Los Angeles between Little Tokyo and the Arts District since this past September. It’s been a great experience for a number of reasons. Living in a city can be exciting; there’s so much to see and do and most importantly EAT. We have been able to spend more time together just as the two of us, as a couple, and really feel like best friends more than ever. And we have absolutely loved the opportunity to attend a small Spanish-speaking church in Koreatown regularly. My Spanish still isn’t what I ultimately hope it will be, but the members of the ecclesia are great about helping me practice and speaking slowly when we talk!

We have also been able to host visitors in our new place–though it’s small, our couch is comfortable and our spirits are willing. For their Spring Break this year, we were able to have my cousins Leanna and Daniel and friends Ari and Mara with us. It is pretty cool when your cousins who are ten years younger than you actually want to spring break near/with you, I have to say. The day they arrived we had a plethora of visiting friends at church downtown!

On the Wednesday of the Spring Breakers, 3/14 (we all know the significance of this day by now I should hope), I was realizing that I had yet to make a new pie from the Pie cookbook in our DTLA apartment (I’ve made new ones during this year, like Cherry Custard Pie, Maria’s Double Crust Walnut Pie, and New Hampshire Raspberry and Red Currant Pie, but all while traveling). This was a serious issue, especially as I had the audacity to bring my “Fresh Baked Pies Made Daily” sign downtown with us to hang in my kitchen.

I settled on Bittersweet Chocolate Turtle Pie for our Pi Day celebration. Ken’s description of this one suggests “Serve this kid-pleaser for a pajama party,” and while they’re not kids anymore, a week of six people in a one-room apartment is basically a non-stop pajama party come to think of it. I baked the pie in a beautiful dish that the “kids” brought to me carefully stowed in their luggage-a belated Christmas gift from my Aunt Ruthanne!

Here is the progression of the Turtle Pie:

1. New empty beautiful pie dish!

2. Homemade Graham Cracker Crust

3. Bottom is covered with a layer of toasted pecans.

4. Layer of pre-bought caramel sauce that you’re a little embarrassed of but it was really hard to find a normal bag of caramels to melt down for a homemade sauce anywhere in or near Little Tokyo.

5. Whipped cream cheese with some added vanilla and powdered sugar gets “spread” on as the next layer as best as possible.

6. Best part…lots of bittersweet chocolate whipped cream gets piled over the top, covering the messy layers beneath.

7. Prior to serving, the pie is decorated with whipped cream, and makes a statement about the importance of the day if/when appropriate.

We wrapped up in blankets and took our Pi Day celebration up to our rooftop, where we could enjoy a stunning view of downtown between bites of pie!

I’m quite behind on sharing the pies I baked last year and wanted to take this opportunity to time travel quickly back to Pi Day 2017, when I made a Tyler Pie to bring to one of my school sites in Orange County. I had no idea what a Tyler Pie entailed before I made it, and I’m guessing you probably don’t either. Apparently it is named after John Tyler, the 10th president (maybe he had a sweet tooth?) and it is essential a sweet custard pie with a caramelly flavor (in keeping with the theme of caramelly pies for Pi Day, it seems).

Tyler Pie is very easy to make. If you can melt a bunch of butter in a pot with cream and brown sugar and salt, you can make a Tyler Pie.

(There are some other steps too…mixing and adding a few dry ingredients and spices, and whisking eggs, but yeah. It’s kind of a no-brainer. And it tastes as good as you would expect, given that the starting point is a stick of melted butter.)

Thanks for reading and happy Spring or Fall, depending on what part of the world you’re reading from. ❤

Where to Begin?

21 Monday Mar 2016

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

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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.

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.)

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.

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.

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

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

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.

Mixed Feelings

20 Wednesday May 2015

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

apple, bourbon, caramel, crumb, pecan, spices, whiskey

It’s always a little bittersweet, baking pies for auction. I imagine it must feel like when painters sell their art; there is consolation in knowing that someone else will enjoy your creative work, but isn’t that joy sometimes mixed with the sentiment, “but…but…I want to keep it!”?

I’ll be honest, it’s borderline maddening when you’ve made your whole house smell like apples and caramel and cinnamon and know you aren’t getting a single bite.

It’s okay though. Really, it is. Not only did someone else (my super-fun 3rd grade student Sam’s uncle, Jeff) have the kindness to place the highest bid on this pie and support a wonderful school in the process, I got to bake it. And if that sounds like a paltry comfort, let me put it this way; if the only part of the pie-making process I cared about was the eating, I would have given up on this whole thing a long time ago. Baking and sharing are at least two-thirds the fun.

Jeff requested an apple pie, and since he was open to a few tweaks on the old classic, I decided to start with a recipe I’d done once before in 2011 (it’s #56 in the gallery)…Liz Reiter’s All-Granny Slug-O-Bourbon Spiced Apple Pie. To that, I made a few more changes: a pink lady apple mixed in with the grannies, a pecan crumb topping, and a little bourbon pecan caramel sauce on top of THAT! (Caramel sauce made by the lovely Carmel, who you’ll meet in a post in the very near future.)

I have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot more of this beautiful craftsman cutting board that we recently bought from Karveware, our good friend Jamil’s company. All of their boards are fully made from end-grain wood pieces (scratch-resistant, as they’re self-healing), fitted together to create what almost looks like a wooden mosaic. I’m loving having enough space to chop everything I need for pie/dinner/etc. on my extra-large board. If you’re interested in getting one for yourself, scroll down to the bottom of the page and send me an email, and I’d be happy to get you more details. (Mental note: maybe I’ll post a Karve giveaway someday when I’m a full-time blogger and have more time to generate interest and amass followers and that sort of thing…)

Here’s the finished product, and as I alluded to before, the smell coming out of the oven towards the end of the hour it baked was just mean. Cruel.

I heard tell that this boozy pie may have been destined for Jeff’s bachelor party (he’s getting married soon!) Here’s hoping it was a big hit. And thanks again, Jeff, for supporting a great group of kids.

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.

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.

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

Have a happy weekend!

A Beautiful Mess

16 Thursday Jan 2014

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

chocolate, coconut, cream, graham cracker, Jenny and Tyler, pecan

Okay…if Green Tomato Pie didn’t get you too excited…from the poll results it looked like about 30% of you had serious doubts…maybe this one will.

The Hammett House Famous German Chocolate Pie. I’ve never been to the Hammett House Restaurant (namely because it is in Oklahoma) but I get good feelings about it. Really good feelings.

First let’s just take a look at the way the coconut and pecans are being folded into the chocolate cream filling here…it’s a thing of beauty. Literally, this picture makes me drool.
As if the homemade graham cracker crust and luscious chocolately filling weren’t enough, the pie gets topped with chocolate whipped cream with more pecans and coconut mixed in. It’s almost too good to be true.

The end result just looks like a mess. A beautiful mess. It’s also MONSTROUS in size. The hugest pie you will probably ever encounter.

It tastes even better than it looks.

We got to share this pie with our friends Jenny and Tyler, who are not only lovely people but some of our favorite musicians. Check them out here if you haven’t listened to their music before. You may remember that J&T did a house show at our place back in March, so we felt pretty lucky to get them back for another one only about half a year later. I think it has something to do with the pies…

Thanks again, guys. It was a beautiful night. But no more pies unless you bring baby Jane next time. 😉

Pies Are Just Delicious Circles

29 Friday Mar 2013

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

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

date, nut, pecan, pi

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.

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.

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

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.

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!

Meet the Real Housewives of Simi Valley

31 Thursday Jan 2013

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

butter, chess, chocolate, nuts, pecan, Thanksgiving

Did you know that making pie is an occasion for playing dress-up?

It’s true!

My lovely friends Elona and Janine and I had rather too much fun taking these photos on Thanksgiving morn, as we made a Fancy Chocolate Chess Pie (Thanksgiving, I know. Ouch. What a slacker.) I had also made a Louisiana Browned-Butter Pecan Pie the night before, which I proudly showcase below.