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Crusts

Fresh Peach Pie: The Best Summer Fruit Pie

No point in beating around the bush: This is my favorite summer pie. I know I put it in the headline, but I just needed to say it again right here. I do love the other gifts summer brings us: heaping baskets of berries, and stone fruits like apricots and plums. But no fruit is quite as grand in a pie as peaches. I’m talking about peaches the way Mother Nature intended: untouched by the heat of an oven. The thic
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Teensy Pies: Adorable and Irresistible

I finally got mini pies into my repertoire! It took some experimenting, but I’m delighted with the result. Aren’t they adorable?   I’ve been making lots of bigger pies for years–the standard, round 9- and 10-inch ones, and even a few big rectangular “slab pies.” But all the while, I’ve been watching my fellow bakers churn out cute little individual pies. They’
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When One Pie Isn’t Enough: Make a “Slab” Pie

In honor of National Pie Day–and everyone who loves pie–I made a really big version of my Signature Tart Cherry Pie.  Making a “slab pie” is a great thing to do when you’re baking for a big crowd and one 9- or 10-inch pie just won’t be enough. Bringing one slab pie is like bringing two regular round pies; for each slab pie, you use double the dough and double the fil
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Making Pie Dough in the Food Processor: Yes, You Can!

I’ve seen the light: You can make great pie dough in the food processor. Anyone who’s baked with me will [gasp!] to hear of my conversion. As long as I’ve been making pie, I’ve preached the wisdom of making dough completely by hand, avoiding the Cuisinart. But I’ve discovered a recipe and method that come out terrific–consistently–in the food processor. So I’ve got
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Key Lime Pie With A Snappy Little Twist

Okay, I’ll say it right here and now: I resisted Key lime pie. I don’t know why. I was oddly biased against it. Maybe it was a couple of nasty slices I had the misfortune to try; slices with an oddly artificial lime taste. I dunno. But whatever the reason, I chose not to put Key lime pie on my menu. You can come trounce me now. Call me closed-minded. Call me insensitive to pie lovers everywhere,
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CurvyMama’s Best Pie Dough (or: Why You Should Learn to Love Lard)

Let the pig fat rock your world. That’s my most heartfelt advice for pie bakers. When I waded into the world of piemaking, I did it ever-so-gently, to get over my sheer terror of rolling dough. I tried a half-Crisco, half-butter recipe, since Crisco makes dough easier to handle. When I stopped hyperventilating and got more comfortable with making dough, I graduated to an all-butter crust. I wanted to&
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Summer Pie: Golden and Red Plums

It was an ambush. There I was, walking innocently through my neighborhood market, when these folksy little boxes of miniature plums winked at me. They were tiny and round; some were deep red and some were a mellow yellow. They had been brought in that morning from a local farm. I couldn’t say no. Clearly, there would have to be pie within a few hours. I hurried home with the new objects of my affection, wa
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Terrific Gluten-Free Pie Dough Recipe!

You might have read late last week about my wonderful private tutoring session in gluten-free piemaking. I’ve updated my blog post now with a link to Kate McDermott’s recipe and methodology. This is a truly wonderful pie dough. It’s not just “good for a gluten-free” pastry, like that’s a lesser standard. It’s good by any standard. Take a look at my post, which links to Kate&#
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Making Pies By ‘Feel’

“I want you to be pie makers, not recipe followers.” That’s how Kate McDermott opened the first of two Washington, D.C., pie making workshops today. As you probably already know from reading in this space, Kate agreed to leave behind her scenic little pie cottage on Washington state’s Olympic Peninsula to give two workshops here in my kitchen. She’s blogging about them in her Art of the
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My Very Own Pie Workshop

I’m lucky to have Kate McDermott, piemaker extraordinaire and mistress of the Art of Pie blog, as my guest in Washington D.C., this weekend. She’s giving two workshops in my kitchen to a handful of lucky bakers. But yesterday, as we got ready for all the action to begin, I got a great fringe benefit: a one-on-one tutorial from Kate in gluten-free piemaking.
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