Bring on the 2011 Pies!

 Here it is, 'With an Eye on the Pie', it's 2011 and the First Pies of the Year are up.  These are Elisa's New Year Personal Apple Pies.  Beautiful and delicious on a cold winters' New Year Eve!  She got the light flaky crust perfected and fed over 50 people their own personal delicious mini apple pie at the stroke of midnight. Definitively the best of the spread.  I can say I saw more than one guest have more than one.  The Year of the Cupcake is over - It's Time For Pie!  Thanks to those pie supporters for keeping the Pie Blogger Motivated and cookin'.  Stay tuned for more winter specialties!

Doing the Gingersnap Dance

Another Thanksgiving, the time has come to turn over a new leaf.  Sweet potato pie with a Gingersnap-Pecan crust.  Here's the thing, the crust is made like a giant cookie, ahead of time.  Then after it cools and hardens, the sweet potato pureé with rum goes in, and you have a great, not too sweet pie.   Then, cool it again, and toast it later, you have an AWESOME pie. 

You can find the ingredients and instructions on the Gourmet magazine site.  It needs nutmeg and about 1/4 c more sugar than what they say.  Another tip - reheat after cooling, and it's just so much more delicious because the crust becomes a bit like a ginger rum cake, dependent on how much rum you happen to put in.  (Be warned, don't overdo that, even if you are a really authentic pirate, because if it doesn't cook through, you will have a poor, soupy consistency.  That's bad.)

Uncle Marcus and Uncle Max tried this right away with vanilla ice cream.  A million kids were present and none of them wanted to try any of the pies that came from any of the guests.  They were only interested in ice cream. 

Do all kids hate pie?  One of my nephews insisted, 'yes.'  So I had only Uncle Marcus to judge, because I don't really think Max would be honest but Marcus would...and it was his kindness or his eating two more pieces, that I decided it was awesome.  Not a pie for kids, though. 

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

Seated before an apple pie in a elegant dining hall, these are the words of the great Carl Sagan.

Carl Edward Sagan was an american astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and made astronomy very popular.   

Was he also a pie chef?

An average apple pie slice cut 90 times ends up being about one atom.  Sagan slices the pie.

"Crumbly, but good." ... I noticed he was missing the vanilla ice cream.  Really necessary with the apple pie in my humble opinion.

So many varieties of apple pie...and now is the time.  Remember your best apple pie ever.

Coming soon: Cosmos Apple Pie!

Jewel Yam Pie

Organic Jewel Yam and Maple Pie

This is my own preparation, and I usually just eyeball the quantities, and attempt to leave butter and white sugar out of it.  This cuts down dramatically on calories, etc.  ...if it's gonna be a pie, you do need a pre-made pie shell, which you can make by many other expert recipes or by buying (lard-free if possible) at the store.  I am using a smaller 9 inch vegetarian pre-made shell made at the local grocery this time.

Gather:

2 big beautiful ruby colored organic Jewel Yams: boiled until soft and the skins peel off easily, and then mashed until very smooth. By hand-masher or fork is fine.
1/3 c plain greek organic yogurt
1/2 c organic vermont maple syrup, less if you like your pie more savory. 
1/3 c golden-brown choice sugar
4 large and local egg whites, whisked into a froth (not as many if you decide leave the yolks in).
1/4 teaspoon natural vanilla

Spice mixture: 1 tablespoon of cinnamon, and a dash of cloves and nutmeg, a pinch of sea salt.
Ginger is a nice addition, as yams and ginger have a centering, balancing and harmonious nature when put together.  Fresh ginger or dried, (a pinch will do) it's up to you.

Preheat your oven and blend all of these ingredients together.  Pour the mix into a standard 9" pie dough, smooth out into the shell and bake for 20 minutes at 400°F.
Remember to then reduce your oven's temperature to 350 and then let this pie bake for 35-50 minutes.  You may need to check on it (fold foil over the pie crust to keep from over-crisping if necessary) and stick a toothpick in, when it comes out clean, you have a Jewel Yam Pie to set up on a wire rack for a few minutes at least before you try to cut into it...  Served hot or cold, and not too sweet...really good for breakfast the next day.  That seems to be a large part of how I rate a pie, anyway: if it's good for breakfast, it's a champion.

To be a good host you can add whipped cream but I like this pie 'casual' and edible anytime.  It's less sugary sweet than other recipes that you will find - light comfort food as we come into Autumn.

Summer Pies

One more peach pie for end of summer!  ...total peaches

Reunion Pies!

This spring we had a gathering of cousins in Maryland, and maybe it's a family trait, but at all of our events were supplemented by pie.  Not all were homemade, but all were tasty and worth bloggin' about.

Here we have an old-fashioned apple pie and a crumble top fruit pie, for dessert at the pool party!

This one is a Blueberry Pie that came from Butler's Orchard, Germantown.  We mainly had this for breakfast.  I liked this one the best, perfect for Raven's Pie (only 3 more months until football season!)

Strawberry Rhubarb - heavy on the Rhubarb is okay with my folks - very popular and hard to photograph quick enough.

On Memorial Day, a friend brought over Soviet Lemon Pie, which I would have called a cake or a tart.  I include it on the Pie Blog because it was so odd - the secret ingredient was Ensure.  I can't say it was really very good but we had a fun time discussing it over watermelon vodka shots.

The 2010 Spring Guest Pie

Springtime brought yummy fruit and friends to the house this past month, and here is my favorite 2010 Guest Pie!  Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble was delicious.  I think this is my favorite pie of all time, and my Dad's favorite too.  Much Thanks to the guest chef, C-n-G!