Say CHEESEcake (pie)!!!

Howdy hey there, lovely reader!  Welcome to pie #4!  Well, yes, technically pie #5, but don't forget that that last one was a special one, so this is officially pie #4 of the 52 pie challenge.  Is it weird that I whispered the "special" part in my head as I typed it?  Meh, oh well.  Well, a month in and so far we've both stuck it out!  Go us!

This week's pie is probably not the first thing you think of when someone mentions pie, namely because "pie" is rarely found anywhere near its name (title?  What do you call what a pie is?  Would apple pie be its name or title?  hmmmm).  Anyway, this week's recipe, which came from my awesomely funny friend Lydia, was chocolate cheesecake (pie)!  I threw the "pie" in just to make it official, so really its name (title) is chocolate cheesecake.

Not typical, I know, BUT I have solid reasons for including this.  First, I've stated this before: I'm going to have to get creative.  I'm going to be pretty hard pressed to find 52 unique recipes that fall under the "traditional" classification, so creativity is essential to the completion of this quest.  Second, Wikipedia says cheesecake is not a cake, but rather a pie, and if Wikipedia says it, it must be true.  They also say that Boston Cream Pie isn't actually a pie... it's a cake.  Is your mind blown?  Because mine was.  And still is.

Also, I'm totally going to believe that it's a pie, as it required a crust and didn't involve typical cake ingredients, so it counts!

Basically, it was your pretty standard cheesecake recipe, although I stirred melted semi-sweet chocolate into the batter before pouring it into an oreo crust, hence the chocolate part.  Once again, to make my life more difficult, I made the oreo crust, which meant that I had to scoop the cream center out of two rows of oreos before crumbling them up and flattening them out in the dish.  I wasn't sure what to do with the centers, so they went into a bowl where they were later consumed (not entirely by me.  Mostly, but not entirely).  However, I think I might use them in the recipe if I make it again... perhaps melt them and use them as a glaze on top?  Or maybe just leave them as I roll out the crust?  I didn't actually know how to make an oreo crust, I just made it up, so if anyone has ideas, let me know!

Artsy, eh?

Well, the cheesecake was pretty delicious altogether... not too sweet, as I used semi-sweet chocolate, which was nice, I thought.  It could've been overwhelming had it been any sweeter.  The only problems I saw with it were that I used my tart pan instead of my pie pan (I'll explain those differences in a later post), so the cheesecake was a little thin and because of that I think I baked it a little too long... it wasn't nearly as creamy as cheesecake should be.

However, those both being said, I really did love it (woot woot, complimenting myself!), though it's not entirely difficult for me to love cheesecake... it's one of my two favorite pies (right up there with lemon meringue).  My mom used to make mini cheesecakes, and I distinctly remember eating far more than I should have.  Always.  (I had lightning/hungry fingers).  It was also often my choice of birthday cake (to the disappointment of my non-cheesecake-loving sisters), and I was thrilled when my aunt had cheesecake as her wedding cake.  Yeah, it's really not hard for me to enjoy a cheesecake.

Final note on the pie... does anyone know how the best way to roll out a graham cracker (or oreo, I'm not discriminating) crust?  My method of using wax paper to smooth it out is okay, but if there's an easier/better/more efficient way, let me know!

So, that's the basic pie lowdown for the week, but I have a few things to tack on to the end here (all pie/blog related).

First of all, I apologize that it takes me a few days to get a post up.  This is due to a few reasons.  One, my computer is horribly slow and freezes frequently, so it takes quite awhile just to type the blog out.  Two, I like to have a tiny bit of time to process my thoughts and figure out what I'm going to say (I take notes throughout the week on things to include, but still, I want to give my reactions proper thought).  Three, Blogspot and I have butted heads more than a few times when it comes to uploading my pictures.  I usually have to upload them to Flickr, and then here.  A bit of a pain in the tush.  Four, my Netflix rental usually comes on Monday, so I don't always get much writing done then.  True facts.  I'll try to be quicker though (TWSS)!

Next, there are only a few hours left to vote in the poll to the right there... see it?  It's asking for your favorite kind of pie.  Vote if it's still there!  I'll post another poll soon... have any ideas for what you'd like to answer or know more about your fellow readers?  Let me know in a pretty little comment!  Those make me happy :)

Oh, this was kinda funny... the My Life is Average word of the day on Sunday (pie day) was "Slice."  Cute?  I think so.  And if you don't know what MLIA is, check out mylifeisaverage.com.  Basically, it's awesome.  And remember that I sent you there, and then correlate the awesomeness of that site to just how awesome I am.  Oh, come on, you were thinking it!

Also, on a totally unrelated note (unrelated to MLIA, not to pie), each April in Florida, a national pie festival is held, and it's basically three days of all things PIE!  Competitions, samples, souvenirs (yes, souvenirs)... it's all there and I would LOVE to go one day.  Maybe not this year, but someday.  Anyone in?  You know you want to go...

Look at those happy pie-loving folks!

I've had some requests for me to post the recipes I use on here, and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about that.  Part of me is all for sharing and spreading the delicious wealth, but at the same time, they're not my recipes, I'm just using them, so I'm not 100% sure if that would be okay to pass them along.  I would think it would, as once again, people are sending them to me, but I wouldn't want to offend someone by sending their precious recipe into the vast expanse of the internet.  Thoughts on this?  Post it in a comment!  Really, I do love them.  They're like tiny shards of rainbow, just placed in a handy location to make my day a whole lot brighter.  Only nice things though... keep your negative Nancy-isms to yourself.  KIDDING!  Seriously, pros, cons, ups, downs, questions, jokes, rants... post whatever you like!  I want to know what you think, really, I do.  Just as long as it's happy.  Kidding again!  I crack myself up sometimes.

Finally (I really don't intend for these posts to be so long, all sorts of fun things just pop into my head as I'm typing), PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE SEND RECIPES!!!!!!!!!  In just over two month's time, I will completely run out of things to bake, meaning my friends, family, coworkers and I will have nothing delicious to eat, and you will have nothing to read here!  Stop the travesty before it starts!  Send me recipes!  Anything you like, I'm not picky!  Fruit, custard, chocolate, cream, pizza, chicken pot, whatever... SEND IT!!!!  In return, you will get both the satisfaction that you entertained my crazy little quest as well as a shoutout here in the blog!  Your lovely name, posted here!  In something that about 10 people read!  I might even say something nice about you!  What could possibly be more cool?

Absolutely nothing, that's what.

That pie was like eating Canada.

The pie in this post is my first ever "special" pie, making this my first "special" post.  And by special, I mean not one of the 52.  Because it was made in the same week as the lemon one.  And I don't want to hurt its feelings, so I'm calling it "special."  :)

So!  As I said, I made a second pie this week, to celebrate two friends' birthdays (I've decided I'm going to do that when I can... make pies for birthday cakes, that is).  Jordan and Kaitlin are both chocolate lovers, so we decided on a recipe I've been both nervous and excited for (I even sang a song called "Nervous but Excited"... yes?  Get it?  No?  Oh, watch a little SNL.)... chocolate peanut butter pie!

The recipe came from one of my former English professors (one of the most awesome ones too... shoutout!), who made up this recipe based on a pie she used to eat while lunching with her mom at a tea room.  I was really excited about the fact that it was chocolate and peanut butter in the same pie, but I was really nervous about the lack of measurements.

The entire recipe called for mixing everything and adding amounts until it "looked right," a cause for panic since A. I don't know what "looks right" and B. I'm a measurer through and through.  I don't know that I've ever cooked or baked anything from a recipe and not measured.  If it's just me throwing things in a pan, that's fine, but a recipe means directions and I hate guessing on directions!  It's part of the reason Rachael Ray gives me anxiety... I can't just glob a bunch of EVOO in a pan and call it a few tablespoons.  There are measuring cups for a reason, woman!  Gah!

At least this recipe didn't call for much baking, and at least it's nearly impossible to go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate.  Still, I made sure to keep track of every teaspoon that went into this so that I can have an actual recipe in the future.  I'm lame, I know, but I have a hard time "letting loose" when it comes to something other people are going to consume.

So anyhoo, I made the bottom crust (from scratch, of course, no cheating here), and I was ridiculously proud of the fact that I hardly needed the recipe and I whipped it out pretty dang fast... I was a crust-making machine!  I baked it in my new Paula Dean pie dish (!), but I didn't know how long to bake a crust on its own, so I just threw it in and checked on it from time to time.

Be proud, this was a big step for an over-analyzing nerd like me.

I accidentally cooked it a little too long, not where I burned it, but it was much crispier than I would've liked, and also it shrunk so it no longer touched the pretty edges (I was quite sad about this).

Once it cooled, I added a mixture of peanut butter (an entire jar!) and powdered sugar and spread it on the bottom (spread being a relative term, since the crust crumbled at the slightest touch), then added chocolate pudding (mixed with half the milk) and topping it with cool whip and crumbled Reese's cups.

Pretty, eh?

 

The slices were massively tall and super goopy and messy... nearly impossible to get a good picture!  However, it was DELICIOUS!  Everyone's favorite so far (I actually promised the ladies I work with that I would make it again just for them... and I can do that, since it's not one of the 52.  I just can't repeat recipes for the 52... rules!).  It was incredibly rich and creamy, and the peanut butter/powdered sugar mixture tasted just like the inside of a Reese's cup, which was awesome.

The only downside to the pie was that it was almost too rich... it was probably a bit too much peanut butter (gasp!  Who knew such a thing existed?) and needed more pudding to balance it out, but otherwise it was awesome.  That's actually the meaning behind the title of this entry... in the words of my friend Brianne, it was "like eating Canada."  You know, because it was "big, rich, and had universal health care."  That last part was Alison... I have fantastic friends.  Also, we were all pretty much in a food coma afterwards.  A delicious food coma.

And now that I've tried it, I'm making it my goal to recreate Perkins' peanut butter pie, which is to pie what Ricky Gervais is to award show speaches.  Genius.  Oh, yes, experimenting in this case is just fine with me, because I don't have an initial recipe to follow.  I have issues, I know.  It's okay.

Also, you know what?  With this pie, I've started doing something I've never been able to do... compliment my own cooking!  Seriously, I have a really hard time doing that.  I'm sadly an extremely self-depreciating person, and I'm working to get over it.  One of the things that actually got me the most in Julie and Julia was that both women praised their own cooking, proclaiming how great it was on the first bite.  They weren't braggy, but they weren't afraid to be happy with what they did.  I need to do this.  I need to take a bite and say, "Damn!  This is awesome!"  Because it usually is.

Confidence.

I'm working on it.

Thanks, pie, for helping me figure out my life!

A little slice of history

I thought I'd start off this post with a little pie history.  So in my second post I said, "pie really is a strictly American dessert."  Well, once I said that I decided to do a little research into pie's history and see when exactly it came about.  Turns out, I was basically wrong on that American thing.  Pies date back to ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, where dough was filled with nuts, dried fruits, seafood, and meat (beef, lamb and yes, magpie pigeon... yum) and used solely to cook what was inside.  Pies were often given as rewards for conquering an enemy.  The tradition was then passed to England, where meat became the customary filling.  The crust was known as a "coffyn" (cryptic, eh?) and was often thick, tough, and inedible (it just held the juices of the meat inside).

Pies even served as entertainment in England, where live animals (frogs, birds, rabbits) were put into pies and would subsequently pop out when sliced at a dinner banquet, to the immense delight of guests.  Occasionally, little people were also set into pies, and they would emerge and stroll along the tables, reciting poetry.  So basically I think we see where we get the strange idea of popping out of cakes.

Pies did eventually come to America, but the pumpkin pies we so often associate with the pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving weren't likely the case.  It is thought that the pilgrims did enjoy pie, but it was still the customary meat pie from England.  It wasn't until the 1800s that fruits became common in pie, and around that time that the crust became edible (it was also around this time that people stopped calling crust a "coffyn," to the delight of non-morbid pie eaters everywhere).  Pies have since flourished, and much like the original spreading of pie recipes hundreds of years ago, recipes have changed based on region and culture.

There!  A little pie history!  Does life get any better than that?  Well, a slice of pie itself helps, but still.

I thought it was interesting, and I hope you learned something!

So this week's pie was a Shaker Lemon Pie, coming from my sister's fiance, Jerry.  He sent along the actual history that came with the pie, so hooray!  History lesson #2!  I'm going to quote from the recipe here: "This recipe perfectly demonstrates the simplicity, wholesomeness, and ingenuity of the Shakers, who were renowned bakers and responsible for many culinary inventions, including the mechanical apple peeler (my kind of people!), the hand-crank egg beater, and the revolving oven, still used in many bakeries today."  It goes on to say that the resulting pie (which is basically lemon custard but using the whole lemon) "is a sweet-tart filling that is quite toothsome because of the use of the whole lemon, rind and all, which lends the filling the texture of marmalade."

Yes, rind and all.  "Toothsome" is a great word to describe this one.

So basically I sliced four lemons as thin as possible, removed the seeds, and then put them in a bowl with two full cups of sugar.  This mixture sat for almost four hours, and when I got ready to bake it, it had turned into a sugary liquid in which the lemons were tenderized.  I then added four eggs and mixed the whole thing together.

Sound a little odd?  I was extremely apprehensive about this all week, and even more so as I poured this liquidy/eggy/rind-y combination into my pie crust.

However, when I pulled it out of the oven, it smelled and looked amazing.  Golden on top, bubbly, and emitting wafts of lemon, I couldn't imagine it coming out any better.

So, nervous as to what the eggs, sugar, and lemon (that's literally all that went into this) would do when cooked together, I cut a slice and was incredibly surprised to see it almost custard-like (with added rinds, of course).  I was half expecting it to look like quiche... a weird quiche, I might add, but that's honestly what I pictured as soon as I added eggs into it.  Who knew?

Well, the rinds were tender enough, and the initial taste was comparable to lemon meringue, but in a flakier crust and minus the meringue.  However, a few bites later it got interesting.  The rinds themselves made the pie incredibly tart, and overall it was a bit overwhelming.  Part of the problem could have been my negligence of the line in the recipe that called for each slice to be served with un-sweetened whipped cream (oops!), but almost everyone who ate it pulled the remaining rinds out and ate just the custard and crust.

That's not all to say the pie was bad, it was just... different.  I got tons of compliments on the crust, which was nice, but the overall consensus is that a slice was a bit too much, so if I were to bake it again, I should either make small tarts (or use my bite-sized pan), or bake it as directed but without the rinds.

So, Jerry, it wasn't a failure!  It was just not an immediate success... I'll have to tweak it a bit for my tastes.

That's what I love about this idea... I'm not going to immediately love every single recipe according to the directions, but I'm taking notes and getting ideas for how to make them better.  Because of this, I think I'm really going to learn a lot about pies and how to make things my own.

And this lemon pie actually fit in well with the rest of my weekend... a little bitter, a little sweet.  Quick explanation (I know I'm starting to babble).  This Saturday was my first service event as coordinator and it was quite an experience.  We were supposed to go clean up the Illinois River, but the group that we worked with was incredibly disorganized and we wound up cleaning some back country road out in the middle of nowhere.  The morning started off foggy, and we had to drive almost three miles down this dirt road with trees lining both sides.  It was a horror film waiting to happen, I kid you not.  

Just imagine fog...

So the overall event, while entertaining, was not what I had expected, and therefore both bitter and sweet!  Ta-da, tying my life into pie!

Finally, I splurged on a new pie dish this week... the one I'm using, while great, is much larger and shallower than a typical pie dish, and for pudding/cream based pies, I decided I needed something that would make the pies a bit taller and fuller... who wants a thin, flat cream pie?

Not Paula Dean!!!  Hers was the prettiest dish, and therefore the one I had to buy.  And besides, I can't sacrifice the pan.  :)

I'm baking another pie tomorrow... my first extra one!  It's a birthday pie, and a blog will be sure to follow!

Punch 3.14 into a calculator and look at it in the mirror...

Well, hey there!  Week 2 of my quest is over, and my second pie is baked (and almost completely devoured... my scale was not a friendly sight this morning).  This week's pie was white chocolate strawberry, and oh boy, was it ever delicious!

I'll get to the pie story in a second, but first things first -- a few additional rules and tidbits.  And also pictures!  Of last week's pie!  My camera is working, so from here on out, blogs will be accompanied by pictures.

With the bite-sized pies.

Now onto the other stuff before the pie part begins.  First, while this is a 52-pie challenge, that's actually my minimum.  There are probably going to be a few times where I'll bake an additional pie (for a birthday, holiday, fundraiser, what-have-you), and I absolutely CANNOT double up on pies... multiple pies one week doesn't exempt me from one the next.

Second, I'm going to follow other people's recipes for as long as I get them, but I'm sure there will be some times when I don't have a recipe or I have a great idea for one to invent... though I can't take recipes from online sources (or other generic cookbooks), I think I am allowed to invent my own.  This will come as I become more experienced in the craft of pie, but I already have a few ideas (a "Steak-N-Shake" pie is one of them... on a recent milkshake outing at the restaurant, the waitress accidentally put some banana into my chocolate and mocha side-by-side shake, and it was an unusual, though delicious combination that I want to turn into a pie).  But again, that's for later.

Finally, I'm still figuring out how this blog is going to work and what it's going to include... for now, I think the entries will be pretty pie-based (how baking went, things I need to learn, etc.), but give it a little while, and I'm sure the style will change a bit.  It takes time to get settled into the idea of blogging, so it takes time to really find my niche.  So I'll probably ramble quite a bit early on.  My apologies.  If you have ideas for what I should post or things you'd like to hear more/less about, let me know!  I'm taking my fabulous readers' ideas into account here (otherwise I'm just writing for myself, and I have a personal journal for that crap!).

Well, onto the pie!  This white chocolate strawberry recipe came from my friend Kristine, whose grandmother makes it for her on Thanksgiving.  It's Kristine's favorite, and her grandma makes something that each person will like, making this one specially for Kristine.  I think that's super sweet!

Well, the recipe looked easy enough... almost too easy, in fact.  It was a no-baker, using a graham cracker crust and instant pudding mix.  I'll admit, this worried me a bit.  I felt almost as though I would be cheating if I made such a quick and easy pie... part of the point of this is to challenge myself, right?  However, I couldn't change the recipe too much, because that defeats the point of Kristine's story.  I was in a pickle... a pie pickle, and I'm not gonna lie, I stressed about this far more than I should have.  I'm definitely a "sweat-the-small-stuff" kind of gal, and this qualified as small stuff, so I sweated.

The solution?  I decided to use the instant pudding mix (home-made can totally alter the taste, and I wanted this to honor the original recipe), but make my own graham cracker crust instead of purchasing a pre-made one.  Voila!  Besides, a store bought crust comes in an ugly tin pan, and as my dad puts it, "you can't sacrifice the pan!"  Presentation is a big part of pie making, and I think it's a big part of what I'm doing... I want this to be an art.  Especially if I'm going to use these recipes in my pie shop one day!

Go ahead, smack a dork label on me... I deserve it :)

First of all, the shopping experience this time around was a different one... I usually go to Wal-Mart for all of my shopping needs, but I don't like their produce much, so I went to Festival Foods (a local store) instead, thinking that the prices couldn't possibly be that much different.

Wrong.  They were.

I found strawberries, and they looked good (though a tad pricey), and I went off to find the rest of the things I needed (white chocolate pudding mix and graham crackers).  The pudding mix was okay, but the graham crackers seemed outrageously high-priced.  I bought them anyway, and then discovered on a later trip to Wally World that I had not only overpaid more than a dollar for the crackers, but I spent another dollar more on the strawberries!  As I'm on a budget, this was horrible.

I shake my fist at you, Festival!  Or maybe I should be shaking my fist at you, Wal-Mart, for keeping your prices so low that I want to shop amongst your plentiful aisles even when I dispise your business tactics!  GAH!

...Anyway.  So when I started baking yesterday, the only thing I had figured out as far as a crust recipe was, "all you need is graham crackers and butter."  Did I bother googling this?  False.  I did not.  I decided to wing it.  So I grabbed some crackers and melted some butter (I started small and wound up adding 4 times my original amounts of each) and got to work improvising!

First, I tried using my dough cutter to smash the crackers.

Fail.

After picking up my fifth giant chunk of cracker that flew out of the bowl and realizing that I wasn't getting anywhere, I grabbed a hammer, wrapped the crackers in wax paper, and pounded away!

Success!  Though it made quite a racket, and as I had the windows open, I'm sure people were trying to figure out what on earth I could've needed to hammer for five full minutes.

Well, it wasn't until I was relaying this story to others that my friend Alison offered to let me borrow her rolling pin for future cracker smashing endeavors.

I have a rolling pin.

I never once thought to use it.

Ah, well, the hammer was a ton of fun this time around!

So anyway, I had to add melted butter to the grahams and mix it until it felt ready to spread in a pan without crumbling apart.  10 crackers and an entire stick of butter later, I was done with the crust!

I then whipped up the rest of the filling (white chocolate pudding mix, milk, cool whip, and lemon juice) and spread it over a layer of strawberries in the bottom of the pan.

I topped it with a few extra slices for garnish, and TA-DA!!!  Pie!  With some purty flowers, just because.

Now, one thing I discovered while trying to slice the pie is that the butter in the homemade crust adhered to the bottom of my pie pan, and so there were no pretty slices this time around.  This was the closest I got.  On most other plates, it was just a big goopy mess.  However, that doesn't mean it was any less tasty... this one's definitely a keeper!  Maybe more strawberries, but the white chocolate was awesome, and it was sweet without being overpowering. 

I'm learning though... I'm jotting notes on each recipe to improve them for the next one.  While an aluminum pan would make the homemade crust easier in that I could tear the pan away, that would be sacrificing the beauty of a baking dish, so I'm going to have to test out other methods of non-stickness in the future.  Flour under the crust?  A smaller pan might help, just because this one is HUGE and makes pulling smaller slices out difficult.  Also, I think this pie was supposed to be taller, and a smaller pan would make it so.

Learning, learning learning.  So far, though, I'm loving this entire process.  It's been a blast, and I like taking time out once a week for something that's so much fun (and so yummy!).  I can't wait to get going on some of the other recipes I have... I think I'm going to mix it up each week on levels of difficulty (baking one week, no-bake the next, etc.).  So keep sending me recipes!  Email me, call me, facebook me, post a comment here, anything! 

One final note... so with pie making comes LOTS of clean-up... I'm kind of a messy baker, and I tend to use a new dish for each thing, so my dishes really pile up.  Now, my mom could tell you better than anyone that I'm lazy when it comes to cleaning... SUPER lazy.  And now that I'm living on my own, I'm realizing just how much work goes into keeping my apartment presentable... I spent yesterday doing dishes, laundry, vaccuuming, cleaning counter-tops, and just putting things away.  So basically, I appreciate my mom so much more.  Thanks, Mom!!!  I almost fell asleep during the Packers game last night, I was so tired.

That was a random note, but with this whole adult-hood thing, it's just all starting to hit me how much work goes into just living.

That fit into the blog, right?  It's about growth and learning, right?  Well, thanks for putting up with it :)

OH!  Did you do the calculator thing in the title of the blog?  Know what it spells?  PI.E... COOL!

That's all.

:)

An apple a day...

Week 1, Pie 1: My Dad's Apple Pie

Well, it's official... my year of pie has begun!  And so far, it's a success!

Before I delve into my first pie adventure, I feel I should clarify a few things about this challenge.  This is definitely a pie-per-week quest... not just a 52-pies-in-a-year quest.  This means I can't double up one week and then not bake the next.  The purpose of this rule is discipline.  I want to take the time to really research the story behind the pie and let it mean something, and I want to also ensure that even when I'm sick of it (which very well could happen... it's not as tough as if it were to be a pie per day, but still, pies take time), I have to suck it up and bake.  Also, I tend to procrastinate, so this also guarantees that I won't wait until week 50 to make 48 pies.  Which would be horrible, on many levels.

Another thing... I'm trying to learn the stories behind these pies, but I will only post the story behind them with direct permission from the recipe-giver.  That being said, I will still update this blog with each pie (and probably even in-between), providing you with my little anecdotes on what this grand adventure is doing for me (or to me... very different things).

Also, no, I will not be eating these pies on my own.  I am only allowed 1 piece, and the rest goes to family, friends, and co-workers.  I'm not a total glutton, folks.  Also, I have a bridesmaid dress to fit into by November, and I'm going to be cutting it close as is!

Finally, each and every pie will be different.  I can't bake the same thing twice, ever.  So, I may be a little lenient with what qualifies as a pie... a few tarts may slip into the mix.  I don't think that's cheating though, so unless I hear a very good argument otherwise, that's my rule.

Okay, on to the star of the show... PIE!

I decided for my first pie to bake my dad's apple, for many reasons.  First, I felt that this year had to start with my story.  I couldn't imagine kicking off such an endeavor with someone else's; it just wouldn't be right.  Second, my dad has many pie recipes, but I chose apple because it's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of pie.  Apple pie is the pie, right?  It's traditional, popular, and American.  Also, as it's September, it's the perfect way to welcome fall.  It's not my favorite pie (that would be lemon meringue), but it just had to be apple.

Choosing such a popular pie to start is a bit of a lofty goal, because everyone knows apple, and it's probably the only pie that, were anything to go wrong, everyone would be immediately able to tell.  Thankfully, it didn't!  So, hooray for that.

The story: I'm extraordinarily lucky to have two parents who both love to cook and bake.  Because of this, I've been able to learn different recipes, stories, and techniques from both sides of my family, which I think is a pretty cool thing.  My mom does more of the cakes and cookies as far as baking goes, but pie is pretty much my dad's terrain.  My family is also pretty close-knit and we're full of traditions that we do together... some traditional, others totally random, but we do a lot together (some of my friends have even gone so far as to nickname us the Waltons).

Growing up, one of the things that we did together was bake pies.  Once or twice a year, we would clear the kitchen table, roll up our sleeves, and spend an entire weekend afternoon baking.  Someone would be in charge of peeling apples (we had a super sweet machine that would peel them for you... when it was working, which it rarely ever did.  Still, it was cool), another would slice them, someone else would mix dough, and so on.  We always made pies in bulk, too, so it really did take all afternoon.  By the end, we would be covered in flour, and our kitchen would be an absolute mess, but we had wonderful, delicious, home-made pies to eat all week for breakfast.  It was awesome.

Oddly enough though, pie has never been my favorite dessert... I love it like I do any sweet post-dinner (or pre-dinner, or whenever) treat, but I'm much more of a chocolate person, so while I loved those afternoons and I savored the pies that came of them, it was never the thing I would've immediately asked for were the dessert choice given.

That being said, last fall while studying in Spain, pie was one of the things I missed most about home.  Cakes, cookies, pastries... those are all found in abundance in Europe, but pie really is a strictly American dessert.  Thankfully, after weeks of pie-related homesickness, a friend of mine made three apple pies for the Thanksgiving dinner we held for the Americans in our program.  It was glorious.  It was autumn and home together on a plate, and I relished every bite (the Spaniards, on the other hand, weren't big fans of it... weirdos).

So, for the last year I've had a completely new appreciation for pie, and I really don't want to ever be without it again.  That's probably a bit of where this idea came from.  Like I said in the previous post, Waitress and Pushing Daisies were fairly recent pie-related discoveries of mine, and they fed into my mild pie obsession.  Also, I think it should be noted that I declared last May (while figuring out what exactly to do with my life), that I want to open a pie shop.  Which my parents encouraged.  Kind of.  Rock on.  It's still in the back of my mind, but that will be determined by how this year goes.

Okay, sorry for the rambling!  Anyway, that's my apple pie story (as well as an added reason for this endeavor).  Now on to this week's pie-scapades!

So I purchased all of my pie ingredients yesterday, but discovered while transcribing the baking directions this morning that I was lacking in the materials deparment.  I had a pie plate and a rolling pin, but I didn't realize I would need a few other things (dough chopper/slicer thing, wax paper for rolling, aluminum foil, etc.).  So I had to improvise, which worked out fairly well (though a plastic shopping bag in place of wax paper was a bit cumbersome), but I'll definitely be heading back out shopping this week.  Also, I would really love to find that apple-peeling machine...

So I put the whole pie together and successfully got it into the pan with only minor crumbling (and also minor spilling... my pants are covered in flour and apple chunks littered my kitchen floor).  I even cut out little hearts for decoration on top!  Cute.  Once I completed this, I took to dancing around my apartment for five minutes, pumping my fists into the air in triumph, all the while yelling "I made a pie, I made a pie, I made a pie!"  It was quite something, let me tell you.  And that was before it was even in the oven, where all joy could have easily been sucked from my life had it burned.  But it didn't, so more fist pumps and dancing and yelling occurred.  Also, phone calls.  Lots of them.  I left a fair number of voicemails channeling all of my excitement into verbal form.  I'm sure they're quite lovely.

So the pie came out looking almost as picturesque as I could hope for... the crust was golden brown on top, light and flaky, and the apples were cooked thoroughly.  I don't want to toot my own horn, but I was quite pleased with it.  Props to my dad for the recipe, because it's a fantastic fall pie and the perfect one to start the year.  I just need to remember to add more corn starch to the apples in the future... it was a bit runny.  But for a first time out, I'm thoroughly happy.

Oh!  Also, I had extra dough and apples, so I pulled out my bite-sized brownie pan:

 

From the Wilbur chocolates company... it's awesome!  Anyway, I also made mini cup-pies!  They also turned out awesome, and they're quite adorable.  Win win!

I will probably be using that again at some point in the pie-related future.  They're just too cute for words.  I would post a picture, but my stupid camera isn't working.  Again.  I have a lot of words for you, Kodak.

*ahem*

Anyway, some friends came over, we devoured almost all of it, had lively conversation... all good things.   

A Sunday evening with a slice of pie... does life get much better?

:)

Alrighty, I think that's it for now... send along pie recipes with your story!

52 Weeks, 52 Pies

A few months ago, not long after I graduated college and entered the "what do I do now?" stage of panic that comes when zero plans have been made for such a time, I came up with an idea that's probably ridiculous, but may actually (possibly/hopefully) turn into something cool.  I've been trying to find new hobbies to occupy my time while also trying to improve upon myself and learn new things (everything a true liberal arts grad should do, right?). However, many other attempts at this have failed miserably... I have yet to complete a 52 book/year challenge, I haven't bothered picking up my guitar since I got it, and so far my French is dismal, bordering on non-existent.

But this one, this one I really want to test myself with. I want to teach myself discipline, I want to teach myself patience, and I want to discover other people's stories.

What's this idea?

Pie making, of course!

Over the next year, I'm challenging myself with baking. It is my goal to bake one pie per week, from September 6, 2009 to September 6, 2010. I have just recently started a new job, and now that I'm settled in, my year of self-improvement and self-indulgence begins. I plan to chronicle it all here, out in the vast openness of the world wide web, and then decide if a year of pie-baking has done me any good. There's a chance it won't do anything for me, but I'm crossing my fingers that at the very least, I'll be able to have a few recipes under my belt (and maybe I'll even improve my writing skills in the process, but let's not get too crazy).

Why pie?  Well, I'm not entirely sure... I guess it's been on the brain as of late (thank you, delicious set and prop designs of Waitress and Pushing Daisies), and it's something that just about everyone knows, loves, and has a story about.  I had also just finished reading Eat, Pray, Love and Julie & Julia was just entering into pop-culture radar.  So I guess a giant mash-up of the aforementioned movies, books, and tv show, combined with my lack of plans for the year added up to one slightly crazy and delightfully random idea.

Badaboom!

Well, 52 pies is kind of a lot, and I don't know that many recipes. So I'm asking family, friends, family of friends, and friends of family to send me a recipe that means something to them... either one they just love for its taste, one they grew up with, or one that has a great history. By learning the stories behind the pie, I get to bake a pie with history, and not just one I found on marthastewart.com.

So, on my eve of baking my first pie, I am channeling my inner *insert name of someone who spent a year doing something in the name of self-discovery here* and gearing up for a year of absurdity, fun, change, improvement, melt-downs, humor, and most importantly, delicious home-baked goodness-in-a-crust.

To pie!