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I am a devoted avocado lover. But I admit that I was thrown for a loop when pie sister Beth Howard asked me to make an avocado pie for her. Avocado pie? Like a sweet avocado pie?  Yup.

Can you detect the difference between butter that has 84 percent butterfat and one that has 91 percent butterfat? What do you think of the taste of cultured butter compared with sweet cream butter? These are the kinds of questions I pressed on my ever-patient colleagues in the newsroom during yesterday’s butter smackdown. And just like they always do, they came through with flying colors. This smart, observant

In CurvyMama’s quest for the yummiest pie ever, she vowed to use the fruit-scarce winter months to perfect creamy custardy sorts of pies. As spring takes hold, she’s here to declare that she’s pretty darn satisfied with the results. The latest happiness emanates from this banana cream pie. The combination of crisp, flaky crust, just-barely-ripe bananas and a creamy custard makes me swoon. But becaus

CurvyMama’s pretty happy with her fine self at the moment. After months of dissatisfaction and tinkering, she’s come up with a kick-ass coconut cream pie. I always like it when I get to the happy place with a pie; that place where you pretty much know that you’ve got The Recipe. But it was especially important to me to get to that place with coconut cream. There was something of a genetic imperative

Flash back to childhood: a luscious fat slice of banana cream pie and a fork. Mmm. Okay, so that wasn’t your childhood? Well, it wasn’t mine, either. My mom always kept our house stocked with homemade cookies, cakes or bars. But she didn’t touch pies. Do you have a similar story to tell? Do you need to fill that void with comforting, homemade pie every month? Join CurvyMama’s Pie-of-the-Month

Yes, I bake things other than pie. Do I sound defensive? Sorry. This could be hard to wrap your head around, but I have spent far more of my life baking non-pie things than pies. Cookies, bars and cakes are my heritage, my cherished memories, my soft blanket on a chilly evening.

CurvyMama couldn’t very well hold her head up proudly as a pie baker if she didn’t bake anything for National Pie Day. Luckily, there was no chance of this happening, since this most delicious of holidays coincided with the delivery of pies to my beloved Pie-of-the-Month-Club members. The selection this month is Aztec Chocolate Chess, my bewitching blend of fudgy, brownie-like filling with notes of cinnam

CurvyMama comes bearing tidings of great joy! We have officially entered the Wedding Pie business! The invitation to step into wedding-pie territory comes from across the country, where my dear old friend Joline is celebrating the soon-to-be wedding of her son-in-law’s mother, Barbara Vining, and her longtime partner, Niis Bue. After 18 years together, the two women were among the first in line to get thei

Thanksgiving minus 3: A morning of sipping coffee and listening to jazz while rolling out dough. Lots of dough.

    CurvyMama’s Thanksgiving pie preparations began at the Bethesda Central Farm Market, where I picked up a half-bushel of local apples from Twin Springs Fruit Farm. I picked up some Winesaps and Staymans, along with a hefty portion of SunCrisps, which I’ve only recently discovered, and are drop-dead delicious in pies.