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Posts with tag pie

Derby Pie

derby pieBourbon 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!

Baking ideas for National Raisin Day

raisin pieRaisins 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.

Food Festivals: I want Maple Cotton Candy

Kids pose with a stuffed asparagus at the Stockton asparagus festivalIt's my final semester of college, and I'm taking Literature of the Great Depression to finish my English major. I think that my professor often feels badly, though, about assigning texts that are just so darn depressing, so she often opens class with a cheerful question like, "What's your favorite type of pie?" or "What's your favorite breakfast?" Recently, she asked us what our favorite thing about Spring is, and I knew instantly that mine is the delicious new food and produce that Spring brings. Clearly, there's no better way to celebrate these bright new ingredients than with entire festivals dedicated to them! This weekend, we have homages to asparagus, seafood, beer, more seafood, seafood and (my favorite) maple.

Read on after the jump to see where to go for the party, and meanwhile check out these lovely photos from last week's Great American Pie Festival.

Gallery: Great American Pie Festival



Continue reading Food Festivals: I want Maple Cotton Candy

Food Festivals: BBQ and Pie

Pouring a glass of wineIt doesn't get any better than this. If I had magical powers and could transport myself to any food festival in the country this weekend, I don't think I'd be able to decide where to go! We've got BBQ in Missouri and Pies in Florida, and starting next Wednesday (4/23), Texas is the place to be with festivals in both Houston and Dallas.

Read on for details about all of these yummy events, and check out the gallery from last weekend's Scottsdale Culinary Festival!

Continue reading Food Festivals: BBQ and Pie

Pork Pie Cake

pork pie cakeMy husband and I were watching Who Wants to Be a Millionaire the other day and there was a question that stuck with me. What type of hat is named for it's distinctive shape? The answer turned out to be a pork pie hat. I had never heard of such a thing and couldn't figure out what made it "distinctive" enough to be named after pork or even pie. Once I looked it up online (what did we do before Google? Lived in oblivion, I suppose), I recognized it right away. I now understand the correlation between the hat and shape of a particular meat pie but I still couldn't get the silly name out of my head. So, naturally, I decided to make a cake.

I started by taking a 6 inch round, cutting it in half and standing each on its side with the bottoms together to make the body. I used my smallest mixing bowl for the head, some mini-cupcakes for a nose and feet and a pyrex ramiken for the pie. The entire thing needed a little carving here and there. The edges of his back were rounded out some, the head cut off a bit to make the neck shorter and the bottoms of the feet flattened so they would snug up next to him better. I inserted a toothpick to help hold his nose in place and went to work making him pink. It takes longer than you think to cover a pig in hot pink buttercream icing using a star tip. If I did it again, I'd probably just ice it and flatten it out to make it easier but I do like the texture contrast between the pig and the smooth fondant of the accessories.

More piggy after the jump.

Gallery: Pork Pie Cake


Continue reading Pork Pie Cake

Tip of the Day: Keep the meringue attatched to the side of your pie

Don't you just hate when the meringue shrinks from the sides of a pie? Here's how to change that.

Continue reading Tip of the Day: Keep the meringue attatched to the side of your pie

Slashfood Ate (8): Pi Day roundup


No. that isn't a typo in the title. Yesterday was March 14th, which, in abbreviated form, is 3.14 (feel free to add the 1592653589793238... if you so desire), better known to us non-mathematicians simply as Pi.

As is usually the tradition here at Slashfood, we are willing to turn just about any circumstance into something to celebrate, so why should Pi Day be any exception? Fortunately for us, the blogosphere was full of others who jumped on this bandwagon as well. In fact, Kitchen Parade collected submissions all week, resulting in dozens of mouth-watering pie recipes all linked up on one page.

So without further ado, following are my top eight favorites, which I will be putting on my "need to make" list. (Corresponding photos can be found in the gallery at the bottom of the page after the jump.)

Continue reading Slashfood Ate (8): Pi Day roundup

Apple pie-cake



Did this just happen? Did Gretchen Noelle over at Canela & Comino seriously just post a recipe on Slashfood's Flickr account that combines two of the world's best known food groups, cake and pie? (Er - and fruit, too).

You'd better believe she did. This pake (cie?) melds the sweet, juicy fruit filling of a pie with a crust that mixes the slight crumbly nature of a pie crust and the soft, buttery notes of cake.

Upon closer inspection, the recipe was taken from Baking From My Home to Yours, and is officially titled the "Russian Grandmothers Apple Pie-Cake."

Gretchen suggests substituting cranberries for raisins if you're not a huge raisin fan. Some walnuts or pecans might be a nice addition, too. I might also add a dash of nutmeg to the filling, just because it tends to bring out the best flavors in dishes like this. Otherwise...muah *kisses fingertips*.

Oh! And check out the recipe here.

Food Porn Daily: Pinata apple

pinata apple
In every house my family lived in during my childhood, my mother always hung a painting of a bowl of fruit, a book and a half eaten apple in the dining room. Because of that, I've always loved the still life. This image, taken by Jazzijava, leaped out at me because it possesses the same kind of serenity that I always saw in our painting. How could you not find the perfect white of the apples against the coolness of the counter top and the well-used rolling pin appealing?

Don't forget to head over to the Slashfood Flickr group and upload your pictures. We want to see your sliced apples and pastry-covered rolling pins.

High altitude cooking

Cover of I never thought High Altitude Cooking would be my problem. I always looked at the "for high altitude" adjustments in cookbooks and smiled a pitying smile for the poor schmucks living like mountain goats in funny, square-shaped states like Colorado and Utah.

Well, now I'm about to leave Chapel Hill, NC (elevation 486 feet) for half a year in Santa Fe, NM (elevation 7,000 feet), which means that without some tweaking, my pasta will remain raw and my cakes will sag like busted trampolines. Naturally, I'm a little freaked out.

My mom bought me this cookbook, Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes by Susan G. Purdy, which includes recipes like Mile-High Lemon Meringue Pie and Paradise Peak Chocolate Soufflé. I haven't used it yet, but I'm still safely at sea level. According to Pie in the Sky, 34 out of 50 states have towns or cities at elevations greater than 2,500 feet, so apparently High Altitude Cooking is a common condition. Does anyone have experience with high altitude cooking or baking? Tips?

All we're saying is, give polenta a chance



In my humble blogger-y opinion, polenta (it's made from dried cornmeal and can be made from scratch or purchased pre-made, often in log form) is a highly unappreciated food. It's pretty simple to make and use, and its mild flavor makes it a natural accompaniment to many recipes.

Hence, why I was thrilled to stumble upon Joe's Three-Cheese Polenta Pie in our Slashfood Flickr group.

In this case, Joe uses the polenta as a thick, hearty shell for his delectable three-cheese pie. The finished product comes out similar to a quiche or a cheesecake, and Joe tops it with a marinara sauce, though you could douse it with just about any hearty sauce (I might even top it with a little basil pesto).

Check out the recipe, which utilizes polenta made from scratch, so roll up your sleeves and get to work! And once you see the awesomeness and adaptability that is polenta, you'll want to get started on all of the other polen-tastic recipes our readers have shared.

Save your pie!

Pie saver image from Baking BitesPie is one of America's favorite desserts. It is uniquely of our country. But there is one big problem: the sides dry out in storage. Well now we have an ingenious new gadget to save your pies.

The Pie Gate is a new creation that protects the sides of a pie once it has been cut and put into storage. It's hinged design allows it to fold out and adjust to the pie no matter how many pieces have been cut.

It also helps with keeping the shape of the pie. The sides of thePie Gate will keep soft pies from oozing. And it helps keep the fruit in fruit pies where it belongs. For pie lovers, this tool may be a great new addition to your collection. If you do have a leftover pie (Heaven forbid), the Pie Gate will make sure the outer sides are just as fresh as the inside.

[via Baking Bites]

The Ultimate Thanksgiving: Bon Appetit in 60 seconds

Vegan apple pie delivered directly to your door

vegan apple pieLast weekend I found myself in a pastry shop. It wasn't a planned outing, it just happens that a friend of mine lives right behind one of the oldest Italian bakeries in Philly and when we pulled up to her house, the scent was overwhelmingly appealing. So we wandered in and ended up spending more than $20 dollars on baked goods. While we were in the bakery, my friend Scott made the comment that he always buys his holiday desserts. Pointing at the cases all around us, he said, "Because really, why would you bother to bake when there's so much good stuff in the world."

If you think like Scott and want to buy your holiday desserts this year instead of making them, you should check out this amazing-looking vegan apple pie that Sundance Catalog is selling this year (they don't normally sell food, so it must be outrageously good for them to have added it in with their offerings). Just make sure to order it no later than November 15th if you want it for Thanksgiving.

South Africa whips up world's largest pumpkin pie

bigpumpieI've never given much thought as to whether South Africans celebrate Thanksgiving. However, when I read that a team of bakers created what they're calling the the world's largest pumpkin pie last weekend, I'm beginning to think folks in Pretoria might just have their own version Thanksgiving.

The 1.15 ton treat took two days to make and bake and measured some 3 feet deep. It's worth noting that the pie's other dimensions were 28 feet long and 7 feet wide. While I'm all for the South Africans trying to break a record set by a group of U.S. farmers two years ago (pictured), someone needs to tell the South Africans that pies are round. If the dimensions I read are not a typo, the mammoth pumpkin pastry qualifies as a loaf with a crust, but not a pie. A ton of the orange gourd was used to make the "pie." As of press time, there's been no reports of how many pounds of Cool Whip were used to top the purported pie.



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Tip of the Day

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