Today, I sent this text to my husband at work:

“Holy Mother of Pies, Batman! I want to stick my whole FACE in this coconut cream pie!”

While I was texting, I was whipping up meringue with the other hand–you can’t turn off the beaters until it’s done. In between words, I was dipping my spoon–ravenously, I might add–into this pot of leftover filling. It was on my chin, and I didn’t care.

At this point, I knew that I had to let someone know that I’d made the pie. Otherwise, I would sit alone with a big spoon and eat it all until it was gone. I’m serious, I made LOUD yummy noises and said who knows what else to proclaim the deliciousness of that coconut custard filling. You should be jealous as you’re reading this, ’cause I can’t remember when I’ve tasted anything so good. Not kidding. Today was a banner day for Coconut Meringue Pie.

The crust was homemade, and I learned that I need to practice more on pre-baking crusts. You have to do that for chilled pies. I used my pie beans to pre-bake the crust, but the edges got all wonky when I put the foil in there. My sister, Kim, reminded me–that’s why you’re supposed to put the crust in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes before you fill it–so that it’s less likely to be bendy. Also, that gets the butter cold all over again, which makes the crust flakier. Lesson learned. 
Anyhoo, I decided to make a meringue topping instead of doing the whole heavy whipping cream thing. I didn’t have any whipping cream–heavy or otherwise–and I like the fact that meringue can be done in advance–homemade whipped cream has to be done right before you serve the pie. I had egg whites leftover anyway, because the filling called for 3 egg yolks. According to the recipe beside the one I was following (in my Pie cookbook), you can put coconut in the meringue, so I tried it. My meringue wasn’t as tall as I’d hoped, and I think it’s because I was hurrying to get all the ingredients in the bowl. You really are supposed to put one tablespoon of sugar at a time in those egg whites or else they get weighed down. And nobody wants to get weighed down.

Today was a two-pie Wednesday. I made my third Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Pie for my friend, Julia. We worked together at preschool, and she’s my carpool buddy. Our daughters are one grade apart. Together we have handled the drop offs, pick ups, schedule changes, science projects, and extra rehearsals…all with a healthy side of middle school drama. She’s made my days easier as a mom, and she’s just a really nice person. When I dropped off her pie this afternoon, she said that she might hide it in the downstairs fridge, since no one else in her family was home. She deserves the whole thing if she wants it! Thanks for being such a good friend, Julia!Pie number two was a new one–Zapple Pie. It’s got raspberries and apples. I tried raspberries and pears together, so this time, I thought I’d see how the apples worked out. Something else I did differently was to cut the apples into smaller pieces. I’m hoping this will help all of the fruit cook more evenly. Not too much is in this pie; apples, raspberries, flour, sugar, and a bit of cinnamon. I used a store-bought crust for convenience, and I also used my handy crust cutters again–this time stars.

While I waited for the pie to bake, I watched a recording of my favorite cooking show, Barefoot Contessa. I’m just dying to go to that woman’s house and eat some of that beautiful food she makes. Also, I had a piece of yesterday’s Plum Pie with some ice cream. Pretty doggone good on the second day. I forgot to heat it up before I added vanilla ice cream, but it did not seem to hurt the taste one little bit. And that’s saying a lot from a person who does not usually enjoy a cold fruit pie.

So, the Zapple Pie got done baking. It smelled scrumptious, and I bet it will taste good, too. The stars on the crust weren’t perfect, and I’m not so sure what that crust is gonna do on the edges. Maybe the recipient will have some vanilla ice cream on hand…

Before I share who it might be for, I gotta see if it’s still this ugly in the morning. Sometimes, a good night’s sleep really improves a situation. Maybe some of that juice will kinda seep back into those stars. The good news is, if it’s not prettier in the morning, I get to taste it. Yum.

That’s the great thing about stuff that doesn’t turn out like we plan. There’s almost always an upside to the down. I can think of plenty of times when something seemed wrong–or at least not what I thought it should be. Most of the time, it just took a change of perspective to see how things would work out all right.

So in the morning, if the Zapple’s not so “zippety do dah,” my change of perspective will start with a fork. And then maybe an ice cream scoop.

48 pies baked and 8 days to go. Zippety do dah!

And said, “What a good boy am I!”

All right, I’ll let you know that I baked today’s pie, Plum Pie, for several reasons:

1. I had this cute Mary Engelbreit drawing of Little Jack Horner that I wanted to share.

2. I needed to make a two crust fruit pie in order to try out one of my new pie birds.

3. I needed to make a pie that we would keep for ourselves so I could try out my new red pie plate.

4. I needed a pretty pie to be in pictures with me this afternoon. We’re having family pictures done at our house this afternoon, and you might imagine by now that we’re not the type to just stand calmly side by side and smile…

5. I’ve never tried plum pie, and today is the day.

I did a little research, and it turns out that you don’t peel plums before you put them in pie. I didn’t peel them, and I put them in a bowl with sugar, cinnamon, and flour. I confess that I added some extra sugar, because I kept reading about folks saying that their plum pie was tart. I also accidentally added more cinnamon by way of heavy handed measuring. Woops.

I dumped it all (already smelling great, by the way) into a crust (store bought today–too tired) around my little black pie bird. Then I prepared the top crust by marking an X in the center so that it would easily slide over the bird.

It really worked well. Then I crimped the edges and sprinkled a bit of sugar over the top. The recipe called for it to bake at 425 degrees for 40 minutes. The crusts were getting brown quickly, so I took it out with 15 minutes to go and added metal crust protectors. It was done (perhaps a bit brown, depending on your preference) in 40 minutes, and it only bubbled a tiny bit. I think the pie bird did its job for sure–normally fruit pies are a mess!

I was very happy with how the finished pie looked. The next thing I’m curious about is how bakers of days gone by ever got a pretty slice if they had a bird in their pies. Oh well, no matter…I love that bird in there. He shows what we all know to be true:

When things get hot, you gotta let off some steam, or else things are gonna bubble over. And then you’ll have a sticky mess to clean up. I think this pie-making venture is the perfect way for me to keep from “bubbling over.” What are you doing to let off steam?

9 days to go, and 46 pies made!

I started baking early this morning–just after six o’clock. I want to deliver pies after lunch, and I wanted these fruit pies to have time to cool. Yesterday afternoon, I chatted with my mom and one of my sisters about Craisins–you know–the little dried cranberries in a bag. To me, cranberries and apples together sounded good, and they both agreed that it would work in a pie. My sister, Kim, though, inspired me to “plump up” the Craisins with some liquid.

That is how I got the “Jack” in my Cranberry Apple Jack Pie. Even though water would have worked just fine, why wouldn’t I soak them in Jack Daniels if I could? So I did. And that’s part of the reason I had to make two pies. I made the little one for myself to taste. Those berries soaked over night.  These pies are headed to an assisted living place this afternoon, and I don’t want anyone to overdo it on the “Jack.”

Both pies have homemade crusts, which I was thankful to have in the fridge from yesterday. It really only took three, because I used leaf cut outs instead of a full top crust on each pie.

About those leaf cut outs, I got the loveliest gift from two friends over the weekend.

My husband and I took his sister out for her birthday at a local Thai restaurant. We were headed to see a show afterward. While we were waiting for our food, our friend, Jay, saw us and said he had something for me in his car. Turns out, Jay and Ann, two former pie recipients, had gone in together and gotten me a birthday gift! Nice! It was a bag of pie-making goodies: a pretty red pie plate (which I had seen and wished for in the store), a mini-pie pan, and some pastry cutters. It was perfect, and I was so excited to use the mini pan and the cutters today.

I think this pie just looks like fall. I am so pleased with those cut outs. I am thinking of which pie(s) I’ll put them on this Thanksgiving. It’s fun to think about what to bake for the holidays. I wonder if I could make turkey pie?

Does anyone out there have a famous holiday pie? The one that, if it’s not on the table, it’s not Thanksgiving? Let me know so I can practice making it.

45 pies done.

10 days to go.

Sleepy baker might just go back to bed. Yawn…

This afternoon, I kinda went crazy baking pies. I ended up making FOUR pies today. This brings my total up to FORTY THREE pies, and I still have 11 days to go. Yum.

The first pie was my second Key Lime Pie. It was every bit as easy as the first one I made, and I had fun decorating this one. Zesting was still not my favorite baking activity, for the record.

When I saw my friends, Rose and Amy, this morning at church, I decided that today was their day for pie. They’re great ladies, and great friends AND they know how to do all kinds of stuff. So much stuff that they have their own business called “Two Broads Get Around To It.” They’ve done gorgeous painting, detailed cleaning, and beautiful work in our yard. If you need anything at all done, I highly recommend them. But mostly , I just think they’re terrific people. They were the ones who told me about Nellie and Joe’s Key Lime Juice. They are just awesome, and awesomeness deserves pie.

Pie number two was a Chocolate Dream Pie. I found the recipe in a church lady cookbook. My sweet husband helped me stir chocolate filling while I rounded up ingredients and separated egg yolks. That way, the filling didn’t burn. It’s hard to see, but this one not only has whipped cream, but also grated chocolate on top. That was fun, and I was glad I did not grate my fingers.

Pie number three was Pinky Methier’s Coconut Custard Pie. Pinky is a sweet lady at my church, and she gave me the recipe a few years back. I am delighted to have a copy in her own handwriting. Just as I was about to dump the filling into a lovely homemade crust, I remembered that this one forms its own crust, which is why I had to make a fourth pie today. I mean, hey, the crust was already ready, right? Here’s my favorite part of Pinky’s recipe–See how she wrote, “Enjoy :).”

That’s really the point of life isn’t it? Enjoy. Enjoy. It means “to take delight from.” What do you enjoy each day? Today, I enjoyed making pies. It gave me great delight. And I hope others enjoy the finished products.Pie number four really did get going because of that extra crust. It was already prepared, and I really didn’t have room in my fridge or freezer for it, so I baked a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie.It should be noted that today was the first time I used an official “pinch” of salt. Seriously, they have measures for pinch, smidgen, and dash. I used it to humor my husband, who is a religious measurer. I am not, but today, I was.

Anyway, I’ve made the Peanut Butter Pie before, but this time, at the last minute, I added chocolate chips on the top. Again, chocolate, like bacon, makes all things better.

I probably won’t taste any of these pies. The Key Lime was picked up tonight and the others will be delivered tomorrow along with one other new pie I’m trying out.

You’ll have to wait and see what it is, but here’s some foreshadowing.

First things first. I have to show you this gorgeous slice of Key Lime Pie with homemade whipped cream. My hubby said it was his favorite of all the pies I’ve baked so far. I agree. I had two slices after breakfast. It was wonderfully tart and sweet at the same time.  I know I’ll be making another one (or two) of these pies in the near future. Invite yourself over, and I’ll give you a slice.

For today’s pie, I baked a delectable Tomato Pie. I borrowed the recipe from Kim Patrick. She’s a member of our church, and she also happens to be the Clinic Lady at our son’s school. Many a time, she has rescued him with band aids or a place to lie down with a tummy ache. Thanks, Kim!

I first tasted the pie at a church event, and I haven’t forgotten it. I was thrilled when Kim agreed to send me the recipe. Today’s the perfect day for it, because I need a break from sweet pies.

I used a homemade crust–had one in the fridge ready to go. I also tried out this handy crust-roller tool that I borrowed from my friend, Hannah. It really does work great for rolling the crust up the sides of the pie dish.

One surprising thing about the pie is that it’s held together with mayonnaise–no eggs in there. There was an option to add bacon, so of course, I did. This pie was so delicious, I’m gonna post the recipe so that some of y’all can make it. Even my husband, who is not a tomato lover, said that it was really good. Here ya go.

 
Tomato Pie

2 deep dish pie shells-baked slightly
4 firm tomatoes, even green will do.
2 cups of sharp cheese, shredded
1 to 1 ½ cups of Mayonnaise
2 bunches of spring onions, diced

Mix cheese, mayo and onions in bowl. Layer tomatoes in pie shell add cheese mixture to top.
Bake 350 for 20-25 mins.  Good reheated the next day.

Optional- add different cheeses and bacon bits.

I used my favorite fork crimping for this one, and I pre-baked the crust for about 10 minutes at 425 degrees. I got to use my pie beans.

It took about 40 minutes to bake, and of course, it smelled wonderful. I know it will be better once it cools a bit, but I couldn’t resist trying it, so I cut a slice. It was every bit as yummy as I remembered.

I was glad it worked out, because I did something that sometimes will mess stuff up–I used a half recipe. I only had one crust, so I just cut all of the ingredients in half. It worked! I know that on some pies that call for two shells, it simply does not work. Got lucky this time.

So, cheers to the Clinic Lady! I highly recommend this beautiful Tomato Pie. I’m looking forward to having some for breakfast if there’s any to be had.

It’s a gorgeous fall day in Georgia, and my countdown app says only 12 days ’till the big day. So I’m off to enjoy this one. I hope you’ll do the same!

This pie started on September 8, 1995. That’s the night I opened my eyes to see an engagement ring, in one of those little boxes, held out over a Key Lime Pie. Here’s a photo of us taken earlier that day, before the engagement, by Joseph’s Dad from the kitchen window. We’re sitting by the pool, and my face says it all. There was nowhere else I wanted to be. It’s the same today–16 years and 43 days later. He asked me that evening at his parents’ dinner table. He polished silver serving dishes and sent his family to the high school football game. He made chicken. I was wearing navy blue. He played our song on the CD player. But I especially remember the Key Lime Pie. It came from Publix (the grocery store–for you Yankees), and it looked beautiful with that ring over it. I said yes. Without hesitation. Yes.

We called everyone we knew. We planned an August wedding. My mom began testing out Key Lime recipes for the wedding reception, which we decided would be all desserts. We like desserts, and I didn’t anyone at my wedding having to ask, “Is this shellfish?” or “Do you think they have more meatballs in the back?”

My mom made so many Key Lime pies that my family grew weary of them, but we definitely had delicious Key Lime Pie at our wedding reception!

My Joseph loves lime. He likes it in his cocktails, his cookies, his candy, and his pie. So tonight, I made him a Key Lime Pie to let him know that I’d say  yes all over again. A hundred times over.

There were a couple of new experiences for me with this pie, but the main one was ZESTING.

Last year, my mom gave us all these cool grater sets for Christmas.

Mine stayed in the package until today. Hey, don’t judge! They sell grated cheese in the store…but NOT lime zest. So I zested. I think. I just really tried not to put finger zest in that pie. The recipe (from Joe’s Crab Shack in Miami Beach) called for the zest of two limes. I zested. It smelled good. I worked hard. There were tiny green shards in the bowl. Seemed like lots of work for tiny, tiny, amounts of lime zest. Anyway, I did my best.

Next, you had to whip in 3 egg yolks for 5 minutes. That’s a long time to hold a mixer if you haven’t gotten your other ingredients ready. Enter 7-year-old helper.  Max did a great job holding on to the mixer while I hunted down Key Lime juice. The brand is called Nellie and Joe’s Key Lime Juice and it smells fantastic! I also added sweetened condensed milk and blended for almost 10 minutes.

Then you just pour it into a pre-baked graham cracker crust and bake it for only 10 minutes. Seems hard to believe that something so good could happen so fast, but it happens all the time…

My husband and I had only known each other for 2 and a half months when he proposed. Something so good happened so fast!

Right now, the pie is cooling. There’s a homemade whipped cream topping, but I’m not supposed to make that until right before I serve the pie. I think the pie looked pretty without it, but you KNOW I’m gonna add whipped cream. After it cools a bit, it’ll stay in the fridge for several hours or overnight, depending on how long we can stand to wait. Happy Pie, my dear!

13 days to go–38 pies made as of today.

I haven’t had ANY experience with a double boiler. Until tonight.

I got home after taking our son to gymnastics and picking up fried chicken for dinner. I grabbed a random church lady cook book and hoped for something quick. My wish was granted when I found Chocolate Almond Pie on the first page I saw in the first book I picked up. The recipe is by a woman named Lettie. Now THAT is a convincing church lady name.

I knew this pie was meant to be because it called for SIX Hershey bars. Even better, I had them! Right in my pantry–thanks to a coupon and thoughts of s’mores. The recipe called for almond Hershey bars, which I did not have, but I just threw in a couple of small handfuls of slivered almonds and hoped for the best.

To make the filling, I melted SIX Hershey bars and 18 large marshmallows with a half a cup of whole milk in a double boiler. I added 1/2 tsp of almond extract and stirred. And stirred. And stirred. Have you ever tried to melt those FAT marshmallows? Once it was all melty, I threw in the almonds. Not sure if I should have toasted those, but I really don’t think anyone’s going to suffer here.

While that cooled, I whipped 1/2 pint of heavy whipping cream with my mixer. I don’t know how long I whipped it–just until it started to look like whipped cream–probably about 2-3 minutes. Once the chocolate stuff cooled a bit, I added the whipped cream to the mixture. Mixed together, it created a beautiful, swirly, cocoa-colored filling.

I poured it into a chocolate graham cracker crust. The recipe called for a regular one, but how can it hurt to make something more chocolatey. It cannot. No. It cannot. Here’s the pie.

It was REALLY full of filling, and there was still quite a bit left in the bowl. We all tasted some. OK, so I tasted a lot of it. Anyway, I carefully–and I mean really carefully and slowly–walked with that pie over to the fridge. It was super soupy and filled to the brim. I cautioned anyone against opening the fridge for at least an hour. It will chill overnight, and I’ll let you know how the slice goes. My plan though, if it does not slice, is to eat that thing with a spoon right out of the pie plate. The marshmallows and the cream made it wonderfully rich–without it tasting like marshmallow at all. Scrumptious.

I want to show one more pie. It’s a purple pie made of purple yams (I had no idea they existed).I did not make this pie–another fellow did (you can find him if you look up images of purple pie). I’m posting it today in honor of Spirit Day. Spirit Day was started in 2010 by a teenager named Brittany McMillan as a response to LGBT youth who had taken their lives as a result of bullying. The goal of this day–when folks wear purple to show their support–is to help create a world where ALL teens are celebrated and accepted for who they are.

I wore purple today, and I found this purple pie picture to help show my support. I have a teenager now, and believe it or not, I still remember being one. Acceptance is a big deal, yes. But don’t forget the celebration part.

What young person (or old one!) can you celebrate today? You can bet there’s someone close by who really wants–really needs to be celebrated. Don’t miss your chance to be part of their celebration!

“EXCELLENT…” was my proclamation in the kitchen this morning. It came out with an eerie, calm sarcasm that you could smell out loud. Frankly, I was pleased that I didn’t say anything I shouldn’t.

Here’s what provoked me:

I didn’t think I’d said it very loudly, but later, when my husband came down for breakfast, he asked, “So what happened down here–That made you say, ‘Excellent? ‘”

It fell from the top shelf. Fortunately, a lot of flour stayed in the bag and I was already done with it for the day anyway. I got everything cleaned up before anybody even came downstairs. I mean, gee, I was dying to take EVERYTHING out of the bottom of the pantry and clean the floor anyway, right?

I’ll tell you which pie I was baking when this happened, but first, LOOK AT THIS!! My husband had a business trip to Texas earlier this week, and he brought me this wonderful present! Can you believe he found a pie charm to commemorate my 40th and my pie adventure? Sweet, thoughtful guy…You can’t see it in this photo, but the back of the crust says, “Sweet Potato.” Awwww…..

Anyway, today’s pie was a pumpkin pie for Shelley. Shelley’s a friend of the family who’s lived around Conyers for a long time. I was excited about meeting up with Shelley today because she was going to give me a tour of Magnolia House, an assisted living home where the granddad of a friend of hers lives. Her mom also stayed there up until she passed away, and Shelley had nothing but great things to say about the place.

After my visit there this afternoon, I can see why. I shared this thought with Shelley–after hearing about bad stuff all the time–in the paper, on the news–it sure is nice to learn about something so good in our community. The folks there were very kind, and the facility was so homey and well-maintained. Our tour was with a lovely person named Pam, and it didn’t take me long to decide that these folks definitely deserved some pie. I’ll be heading over there next week with enough pies for their staff of 14 to all have some. It’s not easy working with the elderly, but it was clear that these people were doing an excellent job, and they deserve to be thanked.

This pumpkin pie was made in a homemade crust that I’ll call “rustic.” Upon my mother’s recommendation, I used a fork to crimp the edges. It’s not perfect, but I do like the way it looks. My daughter called it a “pumpkin flower pie.” The filling was the simple recipe on the can of pumpkin. I hope it tastes good. It sure did make the house smell like fall. The timing for that smell is perfect–today’s the first really cool day we’ve had.

Shelley visits Magnolia House often. When she does, she gives out what the people there need most: time and care. Thanks for caring, Shelley. And thanks for sharing your afternoon with me!

15 days to go!

Today’s pie blog title is inspired by whatrhymeswith.com, a site that could find zero rhymes for the phrase Chicken Pot Pie, which is what I made for supper this evening. I prepared the pies (they were cute little individual pot pies) at the same time as I prepared the Butterscotch Meringue Pie that we had for dessert.

Anyway, I made up my own phrases to rhyme with Chicken Pot Pie:

Thick and Not Dry

Stickin’ Hot Fly

Pickin’ Tot Die

Frickin’ Snot Sky

Wiccans Got High

Flickin’ Dot Thigh

Tickin’ Cot Guy

In spite of how…er….um…creative these phrases all were, only one described both of the pies I made today:  Thick and Not Dry.

The very first thing I did was to handle the meringue. Today, it would NOT defeat me. I was super careful not to get any egg yolk in the mix, and I prepared the meringue first, so that there would be no chance of any fat on the beaters. So there. Ta da!

Meanwhile, on the stove top nearby, I worked on the filling. Now, I like butterscotch, but I really only have experience with butterscotch chips and butterscotch candy. This filling contained neither. It did include brown sugar, corn starch, a lot of milk (4 cups!) and vanilla. It also had six egg yolks. I had to do this thing (I think it was called tempering) where I put a bit of the hot filling in the egg yolks, stirred a little, and then immediately put the eggs in with the rest of the filling. I think this keeps the eggs from cooking because they are brought closer to the temperature of the filling.So I stirred the filling for a while, and it did nothing. It looked thin. So I started working on the chicken pot pie filling. Well, guess what. Should not have turned my back, because that filling thickened up QUICKLY, and I had to stir fast to prevent burning. There was a little burnt stuff on the bottom, but thankfully, it stayed there and did not ruin the filling. It was a little lumpy, but this did not ultimately affect the flavor of the pie. I dumped it into a pre-baked pie shell (got to use those handy pie beans from my pantry) and heaped that gorgeous meringue on top. Then I baked it for about 15 minutes. This time I was sure to seal the meringue to the crust so that it did not shrink as it cooled. 

The chicken pot pie was super easy. Anyone can make it. Here’s how:

In pot on the stove top, dump two cans of cream of chicken soup, one small bag of frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrots, corn, green beans) and some chicken. My chicken was frozen “Grilled and Ready” chicken chunks, but of course you can use fresh chicken or even canned if you want. I stirred that over low heat for a few minutes and then added 1/2 cup of heavy cream and salt and pepper. That’s it.

While the filling was getting good and hot, I prepared the pie tins. I used mini pie pans–they usually come in a pack of 4 or six pans. By “prepared,” I mean I set them on a cookie sheet. Next, I filled each little pan with the pot pie filling. It was just enough for four very full pies. In order to make a top crust for each pie, I used one refrigerator crust cut into strips with a pizza roller. You could make a lattice top or even leave the crust in a small circle shape for each pie. I brushed each pie with melted butter and added salt and pepper. Very easy. It took about 30 minutes for them to get brown on top at 350 degrees.I thought the Chicken Pot Pie was delicious, and my husband liked it, too. My kids ate some. My son rejected it according to the law of “Hey, what’s in this stuff?”

Oh well, three out of four ain’t bad.

After supper, I cut a piece of the Butterscotch Pie because, well, you guessed it–I just couldn’t wait. And (you’d think I would learn) here’s the result:

Let me tell you people something. That pie was incredibly delicious. We all tasted a bite, and while my family members decided they’d wait a bit to let it cool in the fridge for pretty slices, I declared aloud, “That is everything you want to put in your face.” And it is. I will tell you right now that I am having a second piece while I watch TV later. I don’t care if I get a stomach-ache. Or heartburn. Or a rash. It was that good.

Indeed, thick. And not dry. Clickin’ lot fry. Quicken rot sty …oh, never mind.

16 days to go!