Ever the apex of comfort, we love how this darling apple pie truly wears its heart on its sleeve. The rustic imperfections of a home-baked pie only add to the appeal, especially with efforts made so lovingly -- and rightfully so, to blogger/baker Whitney in Chicago, who put this together for her boyfriend on their anniversary. Because really, what could possibly be more comforting than gooey apple pie?
Although everyone enjoys a white-tablecloth dinner celebration now and then, we'd like to know what you prefer: a relaxed, home-cooked meal or dinner at the nearest fancy restaurant? Argue your case in the comments. We might be tempted to kick off our shoes and indulge in a night in, if presented with options as visually appealing as this one.
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If you've spent any time wandering around the farmers market or produce section of your grocery store lately, you know we're smack dab in the middle of peach season. And creative bakers, like Deb from Smitten Kitchen, are stocking up. With the pound-and-a-half of farm-fresh New Jersey peaches she had in her refrigerator, Deb made this pretty peach and crème fraîche pie with a streusel crust, adapted loosely from a Martha Stewart recipe.
As if the description alone weren't already making our mouth water, Deb took our favorite kind of pie picture. Not only does the missing piece give us a glimpse of perfect peaches laced with crème fraîche, the fact that someone already took a piece throws that whole looks-too good-to-eat notion right out the window.
Perhaps at some point in the distant past, it was possible for a person under the age of 50 to whip up a mock apple pie, hold the irony. Now in an age wherein slowstainable locaheirganic produce is de rigueur in many circles (not mine, but then again, I pour cherry soda all over unsuspecting hams and eat brains from a can) it seems almost viciously retrograde to dump lemony simple syrup on top of a pile of mushed-up crackers and pass it off as fruit.
So don't do that. Just enjoy it for its bizarrely satisfying damp cracker heft. Use, I dunno, heirloom leaf lard in the crust or send a tithe to Michael Pollan if you feel you need to, but really, this pie is in no need of apology. Get the Ritz Mock Apple Pie recipe after the jump.
'Pie' Angela Boggiano Mitchell Beazley -- 2009 (paperback) Buy it at Amazon
Fans of savory pies need no longer fear getting hung up at Heathrow security due to the suspicious scent of smuggled Stargazy pie and Cornish pasties emanating from their person. Angela Boggiano's pastry-centric paen to traditional British fare allows the rest of the globe to tuck into cold Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and hand-held Grimbsy Town Soccer Pies in the comfort of their very own homes.
There's a serviceable nod to the dessert end of the spectrum, but the meat and fish based recipes are the sweet spot.
Takeaway tips: Pastry crust isn't difficult to make, so long as you follow the author's three golden rules:
1. Handle it lightly.
2. Keep it cool.
3. Bake it in a hot oven.
Quality of pictures: Seductive and instructive
We tested: Melton Mowbray Pork Pies and Eccles Cakes Recipes were thorough, easy to follow and quite approachable for home cooks and fledgling pie makers. The U.S. edition translates all measurements into non-metric quantities. Our one quibble was a single digit omitted from the Eccles Cakes baking temperature (50F? Really?) but we took our best guess, and both pies turned out as pictured and previously sampled while we were in their native land.
Worth the investment: Yes, for Anglophiles, ex-pats, lovers of lard and the gluten averse -- she includes recipes for wheat-free pastry.
It's March 14 - 3/14 - which, as all you Mathletes know, means it's Pi Day! Yes, once again the celebration of the ratio of a circle's circumference to it's diameter is upon us. Let's all give it up for 3.14159265...!
For those of us without the extra gig of memory in our brains for the big pi-reciting contest, we can always bake a pi pie, such as the lovely cherry example above from Megpi at Flickr (note that a few numbers are backwards). Do a Google image search for "pi pie" to see many, many more.
Pie-making is a true expression of a cook's love: of ingredients, of process, of feeding hungry people something good to eat. For cooks, the pie is the hug, but how about a pie you can hug? We're way ahead of state fair blue-ribbon season, but in one shopfront at the venerable etsy they believe in being prepared for contests beyond pie-baking and pie-eating. Buggabug's shop features not just a menu but a feast of patterns for creating your own huggable food easily and inexpensively from felt.
If you take a cup of tea with your pie, Martha Stewart shows you how to make adorable teacup pincussions. If your pie of choice is cherry, Martha has her take on that as well. So does Better Homes and Gardens, where embroiderers can try your hand at this cherry redwork pillow (free log-in required). Finally, yarn expressionists can try this cherry pie slice at craftbits.
All of these projects are simple to intermediate to accomplish. And if your favorite way of pie crafting is the old-fashioned one -- rolling out dough and lining a tin with it, tossing fruit with sugar and spices, artfully layering a top crust over the filling, and putting the whole thing into a hot oven -- then slashfood can help you with that. Though we're not averse to the crafts of cooking, our heart is still with the craft of cooking.
The term squash covers a whole host of scrumptious fruits - yes, they are fruits.
They are grouped basically into summer squash and winter squash. Summer squash is harvested as an immature fruit, and winter squash is harvested in the fall or winter when it has ripened. Zucchini is probably the most commonly used summer squash, and winter squashes include everyone's favorites: butternut, buttercup, acorn, pumpkin, and spaghetti squash. The skin of a winter squash is hard, and requires cooking.
Squash can be a great, healthier alternative to potato or pasta in many recipes. Here are eight great ways to serve up squash, starting with one you don't have to cook:
These recipes are varied enough that you could make them all for one giant meal and have a squash feast! If there's someone in your life you have to lie to about there being squash in what they're eating, spaghetti squash with pasta sauce is usually a safe bet. Or, you can totally get away with soup - picky eaters often don't pay attention to the broth, just the stuff floating in there. Good luck and happy squashing!
Pie doughs are usually either flaky or mealy. Mealy dough is more compact and crisper, while flaky dough is, well, flakier. Both are tender. Mealy crusts are preferred for wet fillings, especially if you're going to fill the pie without partially baking the crust beforehand (blind baking). For mealy crusts, mix the fat longer so that the mixture looks like a course cornmeal before the liquid is added.
Flaky crusts can be used for wet fillings, but should be blind baked first. If you're doing a cream pie, bake the crust first then coat it with chocolate or cocoa butter to help prevent sogginess. You get flakiness by mixing the fat for less time, leaving it in bigger chunks. This creates layers of fat when the dough is rolled out, and a flaky texture in the finished product. Just keep in mind that this type of dough needs a little more hydration.
15oz pastry (or all purpose flour) .75 oz sugar 1.5 tsp salt 11 oz butter, cold and cut into cubes/chunks 4.5 oz cold water
Mix the flour, sugar and salt to evenly distribute everything. Cut in the cold butter with a fork, your finger, a pastry knife or the paddle attachment on a mixer. mix until you get the desired size chunks of butter. Add the cold water just until incorporated. Rest the dough in the fridge for at least four hours to allow for proper hydration of the flour. Then you can roll out as usual.
Pâte À Foncer is considered the French version of a basic pie dough, but with an extra fine texture. It translates as "lining dough", and can be used for sweet or savory pies or tarts. Another characteristic is that is made with room temperature butter for a finer and crisper crumb.
12 oz room softened butter 1.5 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 1 egg yolk 3.25 oz milk 15.75 pastry flour (or all purpose)
Soften the butter with the paddle attachment (mix even if it's already room temp). Mix in the salt, sugar, yolk,and milk, then add the flour just until incorporated. Try to get everything mixed in, but stop as soon as everything is gathered into the dough. Refigerate for at least 4 hours.
Blind baking is a common practice in the baking world. The definition is to partially or fully bake a pie or tart crust before adding the filling. Since a pie of tart dough has a tendency to warp during cooking, it must be weighted down so that it can retain its shape.
To blind bake, simply line the pie dish or tart pan with whatever dough you're using. Preheat the oven, usually to 325 or 350. Lay a coffee filter or similar type of paper over the lined pan and fill it with some kind of material that will not burn or weigh the dough down too much. Dried beans are the preferred method in most bakeries as they are inexpensive, don't burn easily, and are heavy enough to hold the dough down without crushing it. Also, beans are able to fill all of the corners. I'm not sure how well rice would work, but it might be worth a try.
Blind baking is generally used for pies with wet fillings to give the crust a head start and avoid undercooked crust. I like to blind bake at home just to shorten the final baking time. If the crust has a head start, it won't take the pie quite as long to bake once the filling is in it. Also if the pie is cream or chiffon filled you'd have to bake the pie shell in advance anyway as the filling shouldn't be cooked any further.
At least once a summer, my mom makes a pie for no particular reason. When my sister was living at home, she'd do her best to plan the pie seed and continue to talk about blueberry pie or blackberry galette until my mom could resist temptation no longer. She'll pull out the rolling pin she bought used when my parents first got married (it has a wonderfully butter, seasoned surface) and make a sincerely transcendent dessert.
If you live in the Portland (Oregon, not Maine) area, you have good reason to pull out your rolling pin this weekend. The first-ever Portland Pie-Off is taking place at the Washington Park picnic site (near the playground) this Saturday (August 30th) at 3 pm. There are eight categories to enter and 12 categories from which prizes will be awarded (there is a $5 entrance fee). So pull out your pie plates and get out the flour, cause it's pie baking time!
Even if you don't live in the Portland area, let this contest serve as inspiration to you to bake up a pie before the summer is over. Take a picture and add it to the Slashfood Flickr pool. Be it blueberry, blackberry, cherry or apple, there's nothing quite like a good slice of pie.
...Well, almost. The corporation has officially switched all of its cooking oils to trans-fat free in its U.S. and Canadian restaurants, but many of the premade products - like pies and cookies - still contain the artery-clogging ingredient.
You probably remember hearing about this - or even thinking it had already happened- because Mickie D's announced the plan awhile ago. In fact, while they were drumming up press, Wendy's, KFC and Taco Bell all made the switch to trans fat-free cooking oil.
So, thanks, McD's. Now Americans and Canadians have another way to rationalize our insane consumption of fried foods.
On the Today show, Epicurious.com Editor Tanya Steel shows Hota Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford how to make a simple key lime pie.
Even if you can make a key lime pie in your sleep, it's a fun video (even though they say to use pre-squeezed key lime juice if you can't find limes - eek! That's like using lemon juice instead of real lemons in lemon squares!) The taste just can't compare.
Well, the video is fine until good ol' Kathie Lee ruins the moment by first commenting on the amount of calories in the condensed can of milk (Steel smartly replies "Yeah, but who's counting calories?") and then likens the ingredient to colostrum (and Kotb remarks, "Buzzkill.")
Cook much, Kathie Lee? Yeesh - don't invite her over when you're making key lime pie. She'll totally ruin your appetite.
Bourbon balls not your thing? Try a Derby Pie instead, a fudge-sweet chocolate and nut confection invented at Prospect, Kentucky's Melrose Inn. Traditionally served around Derby time, the treat typically calls for walnuts or pecans and a splash of Kentucky bourbon. The Inn's former owners, the Kerns, have been trying to protect its rights to the name "Derby Pie" by filing various lawsuits over the years - even Bon Appetit was no match for the Kerns, losing the right to print recipes using the name in 1987. So if you're looking for a good recipe you may need to try searching "chocolate chess pie" or "Kentucky bourbon pie" or "Thoroughbred pie" instead.
Epicurious has a nice-looking one, for a "chocolate pecan chess pie." I'm planning on making two a little later, to take to a Derby party this afternoon. Now, all I need is a giant hat...
Lisa, over at My Own Sweet Thyme, has a lovely post with a recipe about her aunt's "brownie pie" - supposedly her aunt once worked for the Kerns and was afraid of being sued!
Raisins get no respect. The lowliest member of the dried fruit totem pole, raisins have none of the exotic allure of dried mangoes or pineapple, none of the so-good-I-could-sneak-it-into-the-movie-theater-instead-of-candy appeal of dried cherries. Raisins, with their grade school lunchbox associations, get left at the bottom of the bag of trail mix, picked out of the sticky buns. Only prunes have a worse rep, but ever since they changed their name to 'dried plums,' they've hardly given us the time of day.
While I can't be bothered with the beef jerky-tough little raisins from the cardboard canister, I do adore the juicy fire raisin from Trader Joe's, the plump specimens baked into oatmeal raisin cookies. In fact, raisins are underutilized in baking; as soaking in a wet batter and being cooked in an oven tends to soften them, even the cheapest raisins will suit the purpose. In honor of National Raisin Day today, try one of the recipes from Sun-Maid's website - the old-fashioned raisin pie looks irresistibly sticky-sweet. I'm still looking to replicate a raisin cake I ate frequently in Argentina - it was a rather flat yellow sheet cake studded with sugar-swollen brown and golden raisins. If anyone has a similar recipe, please give me a shout.
Pie-making is a true expression of a cook's love: of ingredients, of process, of feeding hungry people something good to eat. For cooks, the pie is the hug, but how about a pie you can hug? We're way ahead of state fair blue-ribbon season, but in one shopfront at the venerable 
Bourbon balls not your thing? Try a Derby Pie instead, a fudge-sweet chocolate and nut confection invented at Prospect, Kentucky's Melrose Inn. Traditionally served around Derby time, the treat typically calls for walnuts or pecans and a splash of Kentucky bourbon. The Inn's former owners, the Kerns, have been trying to protect its rights to the name "Derby Pie" by filing various lawsuits over the years - even Bon Appetit was no match for the Kerns, losing the right to print recipes using the name in 1987. So if you're looking for a good recipe you may need to try searching "chocolate chess pie" or "Kentucky bourbon pie" or "Thoroughbred pie" instead. 
Raisins get no respect. The lowliest member of the dried fruit totem pole, raisins have none of the exotic allure of dried mangoes or pineapple, none of the so-good-I-could-sneak-it-into-the-movie-theater-instead-of-candy appeal of dried cherries. Raisins, with their grade school lunchbox associations, get left at the bottom of the bag of trail mix, picked out of the sticky buns. Only prunes have a worse rep, but ever since they changed their name to 'dried plums,' they've hardly given us the time of day. 
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