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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

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’

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

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

“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

It’s easy to be afraid of making pie crust. I know. I am a recovering crust-o-phobe. I have been a passionate baker all my life, happy as long as I have my hands in some combination of flour, butter and sugar. But there was something about pie crust that made me steer clear. What spooked me?

Any good pie has to start with a great crust. Recipes are as simple as they come: flour, salt, icewater and fat. But which fat you use depends on what you’re after, and what you’re willing to put up with.