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A 2020 Pie Roundup

31 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Apple Pie, Berry Pie, Buttermilk Pie, Chess Pie, Coconut Pie, Mini Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Original Pies, Summer Fruit Pie

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

apple, blueberry, buttermilk, chess, coconut, cranberry, creme brulee, meringue, nectarine, peach, pear, rhubarb, saturn peach

2021 is upon us, and, arbitrary though it may be, it feels good to move forward. It feels good to set new goals and intentions, to re-dedicate ourselves to our core beliefs and values and relationships, to know that any pain and struggles we experienced in 2020 will carve space for deeper joys to come, if we let them.

This is going to be a long post. The format was the most recent guest baker (aka Levi)’s suggestion so if you get too the end of this and think “THIS WAS TOO. MUCH. PIE.,” you can take it up with him. I was intrigued by the idea of starting my blogging life somewhat afresh in 2021, so I went for it. Without further ado, here is a roundup of eight dessert pies I baked in 2020 that had not yet been blogumented.

Yep, I just made that word up.

Indiana Buttermilk Pie

August 2020. First of three pies from when our friend Matt was in California to visit us for slightly over a week. Three pies in a week, that’s well above my usual pace. To put it in perspective, if that was my standard pace, this project would have been over by 2013. This was my first buttermilk pie (there are three buttermilk pie recipes in Pie) but not my last in 2020, as you’ll see. Simple, basic, uncomplicated flavor. 1 teaspoon of vanilla is the only real flavoring agent, and the tartness of the buttermilk shines straight through. I loved this.

“White” Summer Fruit Pie…sort of!

August 2020. Second of three pies in aforementioned week. We really wanted one of them to be a fruit pie, and Matt (Pie Hype Man) really wanted me to make progress in the cookbook, so we chose this “White” Summer Fruit recipe. It called for Rainier cherries and either white peaches or nectarines. As it turned out, we weren’t able to locate Rainiers so late in the summer, so we followed the recipe exactly but used zero cherries, white Saturn peaches, yellow nectarines, and rhubarb (of which I freeze lots each spring). While it was absolutely divine and we ate it with homemade vanilla ice cream (extra divinity points) my overactive conscience won’t allow me to check this pie off my list until I make it again with Rainier cherries. *Avoids eye contact with Matt, who totally thought this one counted.* But look how pretty!!

Little Crème Brûlée Pies

August 2020. Third of three. Unusual and unforgettable mini pies. My first time making Ken’s “Extra Flaky” pie crust recipe, which calls for cake flour. (Also my first time purchasing cake flour! A few of the pies in this post had ingredients outside the typical realm of my pantry, as you’ll see.) The pastry was lovely to work with and yielded enough for four miniature pie pans, pictured below. After these pies are baked, they are topped with a layer of brown sugar and blow-torched to perfection. I mean, what could be better?

Coconut Cream Pie with Coconut Meringue Topping

October 2020. More ingredients I never hardly ever buy: sweetened flaked coconut and cream of coconut (as in, the stuff in piña coladas, not to be confused with coconut cream aka thicker coconut milk). My cousin Martin’s family visited us for a weekend and I wanted to make a great pie to enjoy all together. When we were growing up and on summertime vacations in Vermont, Martin and I were the little kids who would order coconut almond ice cream without fail when we’d all go to our favorite ice cream shop (our grandparents’ treat). Our shared love of coconut led me to choose this pie for the occasion. Decadent. A coconut lover’s dream come true; yet, not overpowering or artificial in any way.

Three Sisters Coconut Buttermilk Pie

October 2020. Remember that sweetened flaked coconut I’d just bought? Me too…so I looked for another recipe that called for it. Since making the Indiana Buttermilk Pie and absolutely adoring it, I had been looking forward to trying a second buttermilk pie – this was an easy pick. Like a coconut custard pie but with the tang of buttermilk to take it to the next level; a real treat. We shared this pie with our good friends Brad and Deb at our big outdoor table. It seats 18, but we’ve been so grateful for the few times this year that we’ve used it to seat even 4. ❤

Homestead Chess Pie

November 2020. I was looking for something very simple, with pantry ingredients, as I decided to put this pie together at the last minute. This fit the bill: eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, a bit of vinegar and cornmeal. In my last blog post, I mentioned that I made a (correct) executive decision to bake my Tarte au Sucre an extra 15 minutes past the time given in the recipe. I initially took this pie out at 35 minutes (recipe calls for 30-35) but ended up putting it back in the oven later, cause it clearly was underbaked. Yikes. Perhaps my oven does run cold and I am just waking up to this fact? I shall ponder this further. A delightful pie in the end, for all its simplicity. The fifth of the five Chess Pies in Pie – I’ve now exhausted that category. I confess, I did secretly wish this was a Lemon Chess Pie when I was eating it. Levi probably did too because he is Mr. Lemon Dessert.

Crock-Pot Fall Fruit Pie

November 2020. The name above ruins my punch line. Which of the desserts pictured below do you think was my Thanksgiving pie this year? That’s right, it’s the only one that looks nothing like a pie! This oval-shaped semi-imposter, though not what you would expect of me, was a popular and tasty dessert table choice that I’d recommend any of you try. It’s made with baking mix (like Bisquick – I used Birch Benders Organic Classic Pancake and Waffle Mix), fresh cranberries, pears, apples. Super Thanksgiving-y and great with a dollop of homemade whipped cream.

Apple and Blueberry Crumb Pie

December 2020. This was an important pie for me. I didn’t follow a recipe. I made it for my dear Linda (Pippa’s former nanny) and her family. My apple pie is Linda’s favorite, my blueberry pie is her daughter’s favorite, and they both love crumb topping. Linda had filled a pie dish with homemade tamales for us shortly before Thanksgiving. After the tamales sustained us for several days, I was left with this empty dish (it says Blessed on the bottom – I’d actually given it to her as a gift the last week she worked for us). I couldn’t picture giving it back like that, so I made this pie while Pippa took an afternoon nap one day. This has been a season of grief, and that was an afternoon when the grief was more present than I realized. There was something so visceral in making that pie with my hands, both painful and healing at the same time. I didn’t expect to react the way I did to peeling and coring the apples, to breaking up clumps of butter with my floury fingers – each familiar step generating a physical heartache – but perhaps I should have. Linda said her whole family agreed it was the best pie they have ever had.

Through that experience, I recognized that pie making has become a way to let my heart speak what is on is mind. It is a path I can walk any time, in any weather. And it is a way I can return blessings on the givers in my life, of whom there truly are many.

Be blessed in 2021, my friends, though it may look different than you expect. Happy New Year!


A few editorial notes:

  • You probably got this already, but a pie named in bold type is a pie from Ken Haedrich’s Pie baked for the first time. The two fruit pie titles are not in bold, denoting that they aren’t counting towards my count to 300.
  • While at this moment I’m feeling 96.5% sure that I covered all of 2020’s sweet pies, there were also a couple savory pies I’d like to tell you a bit more about another day. Also, there are still some pies of yesteryear that will occasionally pop into my mind or out of old photos which have yet to claim their rightful place in the gallery. So, if you had any fear that I was completely done with flashbacks…fear not.

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Pinnacle Pie

09 Monday May 2016

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

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

cornmeal, rhubarb, strawberry, travel

In the past, I’ve demonstrated to you time and time again the merits of pie-in-a-jar. It can pass airport security checks, it travels securely to faraway bake sales, it can be mailed to Australia with no incidents whatever. Just in case you were looking for another reason to add to your mental list of “Why Pie-in-a-Jar is Truly Awesome,” I’ve got you covered.

Pie-in-a-Jar can climb mountains.

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We had the privilege of visiting Pinnacles National Park this weekend, with the added privilege of Allyn and Ali’s company and conversation along the way. I highly recommend catching up with a friend you haven’t seen for nine years/making a new friend while walking for five hours. A lot of territory can be covered, literally and figuratively.

Along with other feats of Creation, we encountered talus caves, a nocturnal red frog, an exalted reservoir, Mariposa lilies, monkey flowers, and FOUR CALIFORNIA CONDORS. I’m still a little bit giddy just thinking about how incredible the views were from the tops of the pinnacles the park is named after. No wonder the condors love it up there.

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All this beauty aside, let us turn now to a matter of practicality. To paraphrase what Ali said so wisely, one of the best parts of hiking is snack breaks. Which brings us back to our strawberry rhubarb pies-in-jars. I mean, who doesn’t like the idea of eating pie on a pinnacle?

Also, do you readers wonder if I bring pie everywhere I go just so I have a reason to tell a story about it on my blog? I wonder that too sometimes. I like to think that the answer is no, that it just happens organically this way, but I’ll ponder the question some more and get back to you. For now, lay all doubts aside and enjoy these last few pictures of happy people and pie in the middle of nowhere.

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What Everyone Else Is Doing While I Am Making Pie

11 Sunday Oct 2015

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

apple, peach, rhubarb, strawberry

When we visited Montana in May, we spent a day in Yellowstone having our breath taken away and a day at Levi’s aunt and uncle and cousins’ house with my aunt and uncle and cousins. That second day was rainy and the house was full of good smells, and I asked my aunt to walk around and take pictures of what everyone else was doing while I was making pie.

I like these pictures because I think they show the reality of what pie is to me. It is important, but it’s not the whole story. I enjoy it, like others enjoy sketching or playing games. At the end of the day, pie is just something I can bring to the table.

I love it when the table is full. IMG_6421IMG_6439 IMG_6408 IMG_6423 IMG_6422 IMG_6413IMG_6426IMG_6415IMG_6427IMG_6432

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Summer Solstice

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

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

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

apple, lemon, Minnesota, orange, pear, rhubarb

On the afternoon of the Summer Solstice, Grandmother was taking her well-earned daily nap, Aunt Sarah and cousin Matt were swimming off the dock, and Levi and Uncle Joe were shopping til they dropped at Gander Mountain. Granddad and I worked on a puzzle and made this pie. He has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t remember much of anything these days, but I think baking is a relatively familiar territory for the following reasons.

1.       He has eaten possibly hundreds of my Grandmother’s delicious pies (blueberry and apple are the best kinds.)

2.       “Grandfather bread” is a term used in my family to refer to the amazing bread he used to make every week in his bread machine. Grandmother has since taken over the breadmaking (Zante currant is the best kind.)

3.       He used to be a research chemist, and what is baking, really, other than edible chemistry? (Post-Its and Scratch and Sniff were some of the best projects he worked on.)

IMG_0941I told Granddad that we were going to make an “Experiment Pie,” meaning that I had no recipe to follow. He laughed and stirred the filling: rhubarb, an apple, a pear, a little bit of pomegranate-lime juice, a squeeze of lemon juice, lemon zest, orange zest, powdered ginger, and nutmeg.

IMG_0939Butter pats go on top, because more butter is more better.

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IMG_0944IMG_0955That evening–the sun didn’t set until ten–there was a Summer Solstice feast of epic proportions at the cabin.

There was a strawberry jicama salad from neighbor-friend Jackie.IMG_0951IMG_0952There was a pile of crispy walleye and bass straight from the St. Croix.

IMG_0953IMG_0954And to top it all off, we enjoyed a trio of pies (Experiment Pie, the Nectarine-Lime Pie of yesterday’s post, and a Grandmother Marie Apple Pie).

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Pie Upon Pie

22 Saturday Jun 2013

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

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Tags

blackberry, blueberry, mini pies, rhubarb, shortcake, strawberry

Levi starts to get really happy right around Memorial Day Weekend, because “It’s almost summer, and in summer the pies really pick up the pace.”

True.

Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching. But it kind of consumes my life during the school year, and by the end of May, I am as squirmy for summer vacation as my eight-year-olds are.

LOOK AT THIS RHUBARB! Thank you, Whole Foods, for actually having some awfully decent stuff. It’s hard to come by in California.

Photo1To kick off Memorial Day weekend, much to Levi’s disgust, I made a Strawberry-Rhubarb Crumb Pie and gave the whole thing away to my cousin Alisa for her birthday. (I had made it once before.) Hope it was delicious, Jennings family!

Photo1-1We had guests for the long weekend, Celia and Ken from Baltimore. On Saturday night we had our first chaotic bring-something-to-share-don’t-mind-the-mess-or-the-dog-he-just-wants-to-eat-all-your-food barbecue on the patio. Good times. For this event I did make a new pie…Three-Berry Shortcake Pie. Man, berries are just SO delicious at this time of year.

photoMaybe it’s just cause I’m writing this post from Minnesota, but I can’t help thinking that little berry juice formation in the middle of the pie looks just exactly like Lake Michigan and Lake Superior…right?!! Or am I crazy?

photo-1Other highlights of the weekend included an excursion to the Getty Villa in Malibu and a jaunt to Chinatown. It was fun being in Chinatown so shortly after being in China. A bit anticlimactic though, to be serious.

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Photo1-4I found the mini pies. I tried the Black Bean variety. It was satisfactory. I’m now a bit interested in figuring out if there is some sort of pie in every culture. Besides bean paste pies and egg tarts (which I had in China) I can think of empanadas, quiches, savory meat pies, pasties, Jamaican patties…Could a samosa be considered a mini pie? Hmm. Will have to consider this further.

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Photo1-5Now that it really is summer, I’m making pies much faster than I can post about them. Stay tuned, and–as always–thanks for reading.

 

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Pie Sold Here

21 Wednesday Nov 2012

Posted by jessica@peace-of-pie in Berry Pie, Chocolate Pie, Freeform Pie, Mixed Fruit Pie, Nut Pie

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

blackberry, butterscotch, cherry, chocolate, cranberry, peanut butter, pecan, pumpkin, rhubarb

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?

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All-Rhubarb, All the Time.

28 Thursday Jun 2012

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

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

rhubarb

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.

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