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Tag Archives: walnuts

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.)

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

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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

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On Dates and Freedom

09 Sunday Aug 2015

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

date, freeform, walnuts

Gone, but not forgotten. Well, nearly forgotten. This pie eluded publicity for nearly seven months because the pictures of got removed from my phone in an untimely fashion, but here it is, another from the ranks of Pie. May I present to you…the Date-Walnut Freeform Pie.

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Freeform pies are never the most picturesque, the most noble-looking or impressive types. But I think there’s a beauty to them all the same, and part of that beauty is the sheer ease of folding crust up and up and up and being done, no fussing with a pie dish. Just a plain cookie sheet is all you need. It’s very freeing (pun intentional) to know how to make a pie without a pie dish. To be honest, this pie was made in the comfort of my home, where I had a half-dozen pie plates around that I COULD have used, but it’s the principle of the thing. I’ve got pie making down to the point now where I think I could make a good pie with the only tools being as follows:

Any type of baking surface

Any cylindrical object

A sharp paring knife

A spoon

A bowl

….yep, that’s it.

(Don’t hold me to that, okay? Levi can vouch for the actual number of dishes I dirty when I make a pie. It’s more than five.)

Here are some of the other freeform pies I’ve made (1, 2). They’ve all been pretty yummy. But now let’s turn our attention to the pie at hand.

Dates. Dates are good. What I’ve learned about date desserts in my short life as a baker is that dates and dairy go well together. Dates + Dairy. That’s an equation to remember. If you’ve never had a date shake before, that’s a great reason to visit the California desert. Go to Palm Springs and get yo’self a date shake. Dates + Ice Cream. Also, I know something about Sticky Date Pudding, which I learned to make from some Australian friends of mine and have made from scratch at least a half-dozen times. That was like my go-to dessert that I would make for youth group hangouts or to bring to dinner at a friends’ house when I was an older teen. I just thought it was so delicious…gooey and rich and just a little sweet, covered with toffee sauce…oh hey, there’s that equation again. Dates + Butter + Cream = Yes.

Guess why this pie works?

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It’s all about that cream, that cream, that dairy. Without it, the date and walnut filling folded up inside a walnut pastry would just be too dry. But with it, success. Ken Haedrich describes this pie by saying, “Unabashedly rich and sweet, [it] has a single thick layer of dates and walnuts baked in a delectable walnut crust. The moisture comes from heavy cream, most of which is warmed and poured over the dates to soften them; the rest gets mixed in when the nuts are added to the filling.” Doesn’t that sound so fun? Don’t you want to try making this recipe now?! I thought so.

I made this pie for a women’s Bible class that was held at my home back in February. Oh, and that curried yellow carrot dip I made was yummy too…but you don’t get to hear about that here, since it’s not something circular that I can pass off as a pie. (I do sometimes wonder if anyone believes that Levi and I subsist off pies and maybe quiches, that I only bake and don’t cook, that I like sweet foods more than savory foods, etc. It’s fun and funny to think about. The answer to all of those musings is a decided no…but if you want to believe any of them, dear readers, I can’t deny you that right.)

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Last Harvest Pie

24 Tuesday Feb 2015

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

dates, dried fruit, green tomatoes, raisins, walnuts

February has been a good month for pies. Several new pies from the book have been tested for various occasions. I also baked up a couple Apple-Berry Pies of my own imagination to bring to the tech/warehouse department of my company, because I believe in bribery, I mean because I’m such a nice person. (No but for real. I needed to work out of the warehouse for several days and there is no better way to ensure a bunch of guys will run around finding you printer ink when you use it all up than feeding them pie first.)

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Okay, wow, I just now noticed the double smiley face. That is some serious sucking up.

IMG_0470I’m also gearing up this week for my annual bake sale mini pie frenzy. (Just had horrible thought…am possibly out of half pint jars? Ran to garage to check on jar situation. Crisis averted.)

So yes…I will have PLENTY of 2015, February, current, hot-off-the-press pie stories for you. They’re coming!

But first. IMG_5196

Green tomatoes. Ahhh yes. This Green Tomato Selfie harks back to December and to the Green Tomato-Mincemeat Pie I made with the last of the stragglers on our vines. This is the second green tomato pie I’ve made, the second that’s featured in Ken’s Pie cookbook, if you’ll recall. (If not, check out this post from a year ago, In which I Pride Myself On My Resourcefulness and Also Obi Nearly Poisons Himself.)

I felt that it was very fitting to christen this Christmas gift from another pi(e)-loving friend with a pie of a hue to match. (Thanks, Ren!)

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I suspect we North Americans don’t eat enough mincemeat. It truly has become my favorite Christmasy pie. This is a delicious variety; in addition to the finely chopped green tomatoes*, we have here raisins, walnuts, dates, white sugar, brown sugar, cider vinegar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, lemon zest, and butter.

*Boy, is that ever a time-consuming activity. Be prepared for wrinkled fingers and passing waves of anger.

IMG_5204The crust used for this recipe is a cornmeal crust. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, cornmeal is paired with green tomatoes in Ken’s other recipe as well. It makes sense. When I think of green tomatoes, the first thing I think of is (no, not pie) delicious battered-in-cornmeal-and-fried green tomatoes with remoulade, such as some that I ate in New Orleans not a month ago. Yummmm. Clearly green tomatoes and cornmeal are just meant to be.

Cornmeal crusts mean that I get out these handy gadgets (thanks, Grandma Bonnie!) and place them on the outer rim of the crust before baking to protect from overbrowning. The rest of the pie does just fine without a shield, although you’ll probably still notice a little deeper of a color than you’ll get with a standard pastry. IMG_5206

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I really enjoy pictures of pie from this angle, looking right inside, as if you were about to reach in with a fork and just wedge off a little bite, making sure it contained both crust and filling. IMG_5208

We were able to share this pie with many friends, including some Canadians who were not surprised at all by the contents of the filling and remarked that this was the way their family had always made mincemeat–with green tomatoes! IMG_5209

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A Christmas Milestone

15 Friday Feb 2013

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Christmas, christmas eve, cloves, cranberry, DIY, funeral pie, holiday, ken haedrich, lemon, orange, walnuts

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?

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Strep Throat Pie

12 Saturday May 2012

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

marshmallows, walnuts

Most pie stories have happy endings. And then some of them end with you getting strep throat and missing out on the last three days of your Spring Break vacation and not getting to taste (or actually even finish making) the pie you made the day before you got sick.

*Sigh.* But we won’t focus on these sad things.

A few days after the events shown here, my relations decided that they hadn’t had enough pie. So the same crew mentioned in the above post, plus my cousin Alyssa (who is also an accomplished baker, though she is more of a cupcake girl) made a couple more pies. One of them was the Angus Barn Chocolate Chess Pie that I first made back in February. Let it be noted that this is the first repeat pie I have made since beginning this project. The combination of extreme deliciousness, easily accessible ingredients, and relatively short time until consumption made this an easy choice for a pie we all wanted to eat RIGHT away.

Phone conversation with my uncle at about 5:30 pm: “Oh hi, Uncle Alan. Yes, I’ve got all your kids over here at Nana’s. Have they eaten dinner? Well…er….I actually just fed them all pie and ice cream….yeah…Is there any left over for you? Of course! Come on over.”

The other pie we made was called the Ultimate Rocky Road Pie and needed to be refrigerated for quite some time before it could be eaten. It basically ended up being a massive mess of marshmallows, melted chocolate, and walnuts. We spent some time dipping the nuts and marshmallows into the remaining chocolate scrapings, like fondue. And that’s as close as I came to tasting this pie.

If you’ve never gotten strep throat before, don’t. It’s not a good time. You basically feel like you’re choking on your own uvula and swallowing nearly brings on tears. So I spent the last couple days of vacation lying in my friend Maggie’s bed instead of helping her set up her new apartment, writing her messages on my phone and trying to eat the soft fried tofu she lovingly prepared for me.

My cousin Daniel just got an iPod touch, and so, as you would expect when your 12-year-old cousin gets an iPod touch, you start to get lots of text messages (mainly consisting of rows and rows of emoticons). But he also sent me this picture to show me that the pie had not been forgotten in the freezer. (Although the layer of broiled marshmallow fluff had never been added…ah well. Naked Rocky Road.)

“Hey Jess sorry your not feeling good:( it really stinks you guys can’t come over for lunch…I will take your advice and stay away from strep throat a ya and it turns out that only nana can come to lunch cause everyone else is sick to, so we will have a fun time eating 16peoples worth of food and I’ll tell you how the pie is to.”

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 (That’s for you, Daniel.)

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