grape pie?!

why, i never!

but jill & co. did.

Life-Is-Suffering Pie

Welcome Steffen, a new Nothing-In-The-House correspondent who sent me this pie anecdote from his home in the Hudson River Valley (HRV) of New York. Steffen told me once that he was into "19th century pies," or perhaps the quote was "old-timey pies." Look forward to more pie posts from him.


Pie made for 84 and 85 year old hosts on the banks of the St. Lawrence seaway this weekend. Fortune (Schoharie Spy/Empire cross) and Black Twig apples. Black Twig being high on my list of good apple names. Tasty too. Fortune apples behave in a pie. Butter/Flour crust, kept it simple because elders can tell when Pie Is Adulterated. This pie was titled life-is-suffering pie for Moira, who is in that mode currently.
It's officially pie season from hereon out, so you'll be on my radar.

Personal Pecan Pies: Mini Tarts with a Heart

The Durham Food and Drink Club gathered for another bi-monthly potluck installment, this one with the theme of "Tiny Foods," which I like to call "PERSONAL CUPS." I made these personal pecan pies with a heart in the middle of the tart. Recipe adapted from Bake or Break.

PERSONAL PECAN PIES

Ingredients:
-3 eggs, beaten
-1/2 cup sugar
-1 cup light corn syrup
-1/4 cup butter, melted
-1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
-1 cup pecans, chopped
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-Pastry for one double-crust pie (recipe at right)

Using the mouth of a glass, cut mini-pie crust to fit in muffin tins. Press into greased and floured muffin tins. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together eggs, sugar, corn syrup, butter, and flour. Add pecans, vanilla, and salt. Pour into unbaked pie shells. Cut heart-shape with a heart cookie-cutter and place on top of filling. Bake for about 15 minutes or until done. Yields about 2 dozen mini pies.


They took their place at the table with other delicious tiny tarts, itty-bitty biscuits with pimento cheese, petit pizzas, stuffed cherry tomatoes, mini falafel(!), baby beers sipped from miniature mugs, whipped cream beat with a wee whisk, and so many other personal cups. WE FELT LIKE GIANTS!

One-Pie Pumpkin Pie

This can posed for me in the Rokeby back kitchen

Generally I am an advocate of using whole, local, and fresh foods. Baking from scratch. So I hope it doesn't seem blasphemous to confess that when it comes to pumpkin pie, I am all about canned purée. You should know that I arrived at this conclusion after many trials with both fresh and canned pumpkin. But when it comes down to it, I found that using fresh purée is overly laborious for its results--it's watery, and just doesn't taste as good! Even Martha Stewart says so. If you do insist on using fresh ingredients, though, I would opt for delicata or butternut squash over a pie pumpkin. The squashes have a more delicate flavor (hence the name),and are less watery, and stringy.

In the realm of the canned pumpkin, I DO have a definite favorite. One-Pie. Okay, so maybe it's only for the label and the fact that it's made in Maine. But seriously, it's real cute. And the recipe on the back isn't too bad either:

ONE-PIE NEW ENGLAND PUMPKIN PIE

Ingredients:
1 can ONE-PIE Pumpkin
1 tbsp. Cornstarch
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Ginger
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 tbsp. Butter (Melted)
1 1/2 cups Milk or 1-12 oz. can Evaporated Milk
1 cup Sugar
1/8 cup Molasses
2 Eggs (beaten)
+ Nothing-in-the-House Crust (recipe at right)

Directions:
Sift sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, ginger, & nutmeg together. Mix this with contents of one can ONE-PIE Pumpkin. Add eggs, beaten, melted butter, molasses, & milk. Add a dash of lemon juice (if desired). Line a 9-inch pie plate with crust, pour in contents. Preheat oven & bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Then reduce temp. to 350 & continue to bake for 50 minutes.

This isn't necessarily my go-to pumpkin pie recipe, but I do like it for the molasses and the ginger.
ONE-PIE!

Competitive Pie

I've been baking pies since I was a wee lass, but it was only this fall that I took my skills to the next level: competitive pie.

The place I work had a late summer BBQ. Part of the festivities included a dessert contest. Unfortunately that meant decadent chocolate cake was to be judged against delicious berry-filled pies. I was up to the challenge.

And so I toiled away to bake a berry-peach pie:

Before Baking

After Baking

I hopped on the bus, and then the train, my pie covered in tinfoil, hoping I wouldn't ruin the lovely lattice work.

The pie arrived in tact, and I awaited the big moment. The high-ups at the library made the decision (I balked at this: pie is a food of the people, not the Man!).

Honorable mentions were called, then third place. And then second.

Second place it was! Missing first place by a nose, I lost to a chocolate rum cake.
Later, an older man came over and told me I was robbed. Mine was the only dessert without a crumb left behind. People voted with their forks, he said. Indeed!

A few weeks later I went to a more professional pie contest in a park on a beautiful October day.

There were hundreds of pies! And for a hefty $3 per slice, you could take a taste.
There were also pony rides for the tots. A wholesome and depressing thing.

The best pie I tasted was not even in the competition. Hoosier Mama pie company povided some of the best apple pie I have ever tasted.

All in all, its been a great fall for pies here in the Windy City!

Pear Tarte Tatin

Apple pies, apple tarts, apple butter, apple cider... it's been all apples all the time these days. At the end of fall when you are apple bottomed-out (ha) but have perfected your apple-dessert skills, turn to the pear. When Lora and Joe invited me to a last-minute dinner at their Chicken Bridge house last night with the folks from the Blind Tiger String Band, I remembered seeing a plethora of on-sale pears at the co-op, and found this recipe for a pear version of tarte tatin from the Gourmet Cookbook:

CARMELIZED UPSIDE-DOWN PEAR TART

4 large firm yet ripe Bosc pears
1/2 stick unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Nothing-in-the-House Pie Crust Recipe (at right), using all all-purpose flour

Peel, halve, and core pears (with a melon-baller). Heat butter in a 9- to 10-inch cast-iron skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then stir in sugar (sugar will not be dissolved). Arrange pears, cut sides up, in skillet with wide parts facing out. Sprinkle pears with cinnamon and cook undisturbed, until sugar turns a deep golden caramel. (This can take 15- 25 minutes, depending on pears, skillets, and stove.) Cool pears completely in skillet.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 425°F.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round and trim to a 9 1/2- to 10 1/2-inch round. Arrange pastry over caramelized pears, tucking edge around pears inside rim of skillet. Bake tart until pastry is golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 5 minutes.

Invert a rimmed serving plate (slightly larger than skillet) over skillet and, using pot holders to hold skillet and plate tightly together, invert tart onto plate. Serve tart warm with vanilla whipped cream.
Though I was nervous about the flip, this recipe was delicious! The pear-carmelization was particularly tasty considering the minimal effort. We enjoyed it after an excellent porch-dinner of field peas, chicken and vegetables, corn bread, and Farmer's Daughter tomato chutney, sauerkraut, and green tomato pickles.

Then we headed to the Nightlight to watch them play some great Kentucky fiddle tunes!

I Northern Spy with My Little Apple of My Eye-Phone Pie

Picture taken by an I-phone taking a picture of an I-phone taking a picture of an I-phone taking a picture of a Northern Spy Apple of My Eye Pie

Northern Spies are my favorite baking apple. I picked up a few of them at Hardeman's Orchard in Red Hook, NY for this pie made for last weekend's Saturday night dinner in the Rokeby back kitchen. I used this basic recipe:

APPLE PIE:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

For filling, combine:
8 good size apples, cored and cut into 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch pieces.
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (I used syrup tapped last year by Marina and Lou from Rokeby maples)
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
3 tablespoon corn starch
I added a dash of vanilla extract, as M&L had some homemade with vodka and fresh vanilla beans.

Using the crust recipe at left, roll out crust and place in greased and floured pie dish. Spoon in filling and top with top crust, fluting edges and adding a crust design (EYE!). Brush on an egg wash (Shoving Leopard Farm fresh egg!) and sprinkle turbinado sugar on top. Put the pie in the oven, 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 35 to 40 minutes longer. Filling will bubble and crust will be golden brown when finished. Apple of my eye!
Plate lickers in the PEZ!

Pumpkin Whoopie Inspiration: Maple-Cream Cheese Variation

Last Sunday I got home from brunch and the grocery store, all set to make pumpkin (actually butternut squash--the store had no pumpkin puree yet!) cupcakes for a pumpkin-carving party. But after peeking here and seeing Michelle's pumpkin whoopie pies, I had to divert my plans! I didn't have marshmallow on hand (and am not so much a fun of marshmallow creme in general), so I made a maple-cream cheese filling instead.
I used Michelle's recipe below for the cakes, and used this recipe for the filling:

MAPLE CREAM CHEESE FILLING
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 Tblsp. maple syrup

1. In a food processor, beat the butter until it is smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.
2. Add the confectioners' sugar and maple syrup and beat until smooth. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the refrigerator. Let the filling soften at room temperature before using.

A hit amongst the jack o' lanterns and at the WXYC new DJ filing party the next day!

p.s. if you've never experienced the whoopie or need some background check out this post and the linked NY Times article from last year.