Um, wow, so I'm kind of a fail. Things got so crazy at work after my last post that I honestly forgot all about the blog. Which isn't a good thing. Sorry!
So, yeah, I've completed the Year of Pie!!! How crazy is that? I managed to follow through and bake one pie each week for a year. That's not a bad accomplishment, in my opinion.
It's been quite a year too! Sometimes the project was frustrating (when I didn't have time to get a pie done and had to scramble to put something together, when I didn't have the money for expensive pies, or when they were complete failures), but overall, it was an extremely rewarding project! First of all, I accomplished something that even my family didn't think I'd follow through on (I'm notorious for quitting things I get bored with). Second, I've become a pretty good baker (possibly to the point where it could be a career choice for me). Third, I came out of the project with a lot of recipes and stories under my belt, which was one of my primary goals to begin with.
I learned stories from other folks about the recipes they gave me... some were their grandmothers' recipes, some were favorite birthday treats; and I made up my own stories as I went along... both with baking sucesses and failures.
One of the things I'm most excited about now, though, is just how much I've come to love baking. Pies, cookies, cupcakes... I'm in love with it! The baking aisle is my favorite in the store, and I'm constantly perusing websites and magazines for new recipes. When I'm bored, I whip something up... it's become almost second-nature to me. Granted, I've gained a lot of weight, but baking has become a passion of mine, and I think that's a pretty cool thing.
So to those of you who stuck with this blog and read, THANK YOU!!! And to those who ate all of my pies (even the disgusting ones), THANK YOU!!! To those who sent recipes and didn't complain when I butchered them, THANK YOU!!! You all mean more to me than I can say... this project wouldn't have been a smashing success without you!
Unfortunately, it's been awhile since my last post, and I can only remember 2 of the pies I baked... Key Lime Cheesecake and Cherry Pie.
The Key Lime Cheesecake was kind of a disgusting fail, but I don't think it was my fault. First of all, the crust was accidentally awesome... I added a cup of sugar to my graham cracker crumbs rather than the tablespoon it called for (oops!), and it wound up being super crispy, but almost cookie-like in taste, so that was pretty delicious.
The cheesecake itself was uber tart and left a horrible aftertaste. We all picked around the pie and ate just the crust after a few bites. Blech! I actually gave a slice to one of my co-workers and just stared at her, waiting to see the aftertaste reaction, and boy, was it a goodie! She started out going, "this isn't bad!" and then after a few more chews, her entire face fell and she almost gagged. It was hilariously fantastic.
And like I said, my final pie was Cherry Pie. I apparently missed fresh cherry season (oops!), so I had to use frozen ones. The pie turned out looking beautiful... I made a lattice top that was just gorgeous. Unfortunately, the cherries had almost no flavor... I thought that apart from the crust, it was pretty blah. Which was disappointing for my final pie. But that's the beauty of this project... some pies were awesome and some weren't. You just never knew what you were going to get!
So that's all I can remember as of now... if I think of the others, I'll come back with the stories. Maybe.
So thanks for reading, eating, and being downright awesome!
Much love, and much pie :)
Laura
