Last friday, we went out with friends for a wonderful meal, and came back home to enjoy a pecan pie. While baking, I rushed the end by putting the heat up a bit, since we were running late, and burnt the top. After a delicate operation removing the top layer of pecans, it turned out quite tasty! The bowl of burnt pecans was even enjoyed by our friend (she also enjoys burnt toast…perhaps it was fate)! Looking forward to more pie and friends!
Ok, I admit, I missed last weeks pie. All of our plans for the week fell through and as much as I enjoy making pie, it takes a while to eat a whole one, even with company, so I skipped the week. I think I need to invest in some smaller pie plates for more manageably portioned pies. Better for my wallet and waistline! I have plenty o wonderful people coming around this weekend though so I have some plans growing!
Sorry for the poor quality of this picture, my real camera had no battery, so phone pic it is!!
Week 1 was a scrumptious pear and raspberry pie shared with some wonderful friends on Friday night! Also made some flautas which were delicious and very simple!
This pie taught me that my oven is definitely not as hot as it says. An extra half hour in there and it was still slightly undercooked. A lesson for next time!!
The Beginning.
I feel that I need to give a bit of background for anyone who is interested. I have always loved food. I love eating. I love restaurants, and grocery stores, and farmer’s markets, and my kitchen. I love creating things, especially if they are useful, and it is a bonus if they are beautiful! This makes for quite the collection of crafty items and, more recently, a growing collection of kitchen utensils.
This past summer (2010) I was at work and business was a little slow, so I began daydreaming. My daydream involved baking a pie from scratch. Once before in my life I made a pie (some sort of key lime pudding thing, very tasty) and I simply loved the magic of making a crust, which turned out buttery and flaky, just as it should, as well as the mixing and blending and, finally, the eating! My daydream took me back all those years, and then flew forward to my day off, which would be filled with flour and butter and crisco and a new pie plate and, best of all, the scrumptious result of all my labors, a pie!
my doodle from work that day:
So, I asked my boyfriend what kind of pie he would want, and the prompt reply was ‘Strawberry Rhubarb,’ so that is what I searched the web for. The recipe I ended up with was a mix of a few, and honestly, I do not remember where I got it, or I would share, but regardless, the pie was wonderful! We brought it over to a friends house for dinner and it was enjoyed by all.
After this experience, I realized there are a few fundamental utensils I needed if I was to pursue pies. Firstly, cutting in butter with two knives is a pain in the behind, so I got a proper pastry cutter. Secondly, dipping paper towel into egg and brushing it on the pie is actually a great method if you don’t have a brush, but I like to shop, so buy one I did!
After this, I didn’t bake another pie until Thanksgiving. This was mostly due to work and a wonderful month-long trip to New Zealand, so I can’t really complain, but I hope to never go so long again. I was very excited for this pie, because I had purchased a great Pie recipe book, as well as pie-crust cutters in the shape of autumn leaves, and was very pleased with the maple-pumpkin pie that resulted from my day of baking. *Note the adorable pie-plate from Anthropologie!
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I made extra crust, and cut out the shapes with an eye to use the cutout crust as top for my next pie. The following week I made an apple pie, which was yummy, but the cutouts allowed too much air inside and dried out the filling a bit.
Alright, you are all caught up now! Wish me luck on my quest to make a pie a week this year!
