The things I've learned...

When it comes to pie baking, I'm learning a few things.

I've learned never to wear black when baking.  Flour is remarkably annoying to get out of clothing.  Sure, it seems easy at first, but there's always a spot missed somewhere.

I've learned that fruit should be thawed and as well drained as possible before it goes into a pie crust.  Unless you want to be drinking fruit syrup from a straw as you eat your now soggy pie, get the juices out as best you can!  Not that drinking fruit syrup isn't fun...

I've learned that when in doubt, it's always best to have extra ingredients at hand.  At least 25% of the pies I've baked this year have been incredibly close calls, and some have even been disastrous because I was using up the last of the flour I had or the only can of sweetened condensed milk.  Leaving little room for error is a fantastically stupid move.

I've learned that very few people will ever turn down a chocolate pie, but lemon is a much tougher sell.  Or perhaps it's just my lemon pies that are so sketchy.

I've learned that pie should never be rushed.  Far too often I've given myself less than the bare minimum amount of time needed to bake a good pie, and there's definitely a difference in quality.  Even a good pie, if baked quickly, won't be great.  To sound 100% cliche, it's the ones that are given extra patience and yes, love, that are the tastiest and most memorable.

I've learned that the right pie pan plays a huge role in the pie's outcome.  I started this project with 1 pan, I now have 5 because of this.

I've learned that in many cases, the easier recipe is often just as good as the more intense ones.  No need to attempt anything fancy, especially as an amateur.  I've also learned that in many cases, it's okay to pick and choose from different recipes and combine them to create the pie you want.

I've learned that a pie is nothing, nothing without a good crust.  It's absolutely essential.  If the crust is bad, no matter how good the filling, it will go down as just an "okay" pie at best.

I've learned that pie is best shared.  It's so cool to me that people have favorites and stories about the pie-tasting experience.  That's what this is all about for me.

This list could go on for quite awhile, but here's one final tidbit (and lo and behold!  It's also a segue into the pie!):

I've learned that I can't expect perfection the first time I make a pie.  This is especially true with instructions like, "Over medium heat, cook and stir rapidly until chocolate melts and mixture thickens. Remove from heat."  How thick?  Who knows!  How long should I cook it?  No idea!  Best of luck to you!

Way back in my first post, I mentioned the movie Waitress as one of my inspirations for this project.  So I decided to pay homage to the movie by baking some of the pies Keri Russell makes.  The first one being "Falling in Love Chocolate Mousse Pie."

The recipe seemed simple enough... a chocolate pudding made with sweetened condensed milk and water instead of regular milk combined with whipped cream and chilled in a pie crust.  I set about making the pudding on the stovetop, and here's where the vague instructions came in.

I stirred until the pudding mixtures started to thicken, then removed it and let it chill for awhile.  Not knowing how thick it should've been on the stove, I assumed (like the instructions said) that it would turn into pudding as it cooled.  But no dice.

Nope, the mixture stayed soupy even after I folded the cream into it, and after cooling the sucker for 4 hours, it hadn't gotten any better.  So into the freezer it went.

The frozen version of this pie is still pretty tasty, but has a slightly gritty texture.  As Brianne put it though, it tasted just like a milkshake that had been re-frozen.  So if you like re-frozen milkshakes, this is the pie for you!

I guess I still have some things to learn.