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The 12 Pies of Christmas: 6 Geese-A-Laying Custard Pie

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Today’s Pie is Egg Custard Pie. It’s not made from goose eggs, but it was still fun to bake. I just used regular old eggs–FIVE eggs in this little pie, to be exact. It was quick to prepare, so if it tastes good, I’m sure I’ll bake one again.

I mixed together eggs, sugar, butter, vanilla, a dash of salt and scalded milk (which is pretty much just warm milk, but every recipe I found called for it in this pie).

It was such a liquidy batter that I decided to pour it into the crust right in the oven, and somehow, I did not spill a drop. Whew.

I wasn’t able to fit all of the filling into the crust. I did not want it to spill over, so I was conservative and left a bit in the bowl. Boy, I had to push that oven rack back in VERY SLOWLY.

 

 

 

 

The last thing to do before baking it was to sprinkle nutmeg on the top. It baked for about 40 minutes, and it was a bit jiggly when I took it out. I waited for it to cool before anyone has a taste.

This afternoon, we attended a Santa photo session to benefit Rockdale County’s food bank. Anyone who brought food could have a free photo with Santa. I was so proud of my daughter and her friend who agreed to be elves for the event. There was a good turnout, and lots of food was collected for needy folks in our community.

When we got home, I cut the pie and had a bite.

The slice came out perfectly, and the texture did seem custardy. I’ve never tasted this kind of pie before, and it turns out that egg custard pie really does taste like…well, eggs.

A couple of family members had bites. My husband wasn’t a huge fan. His face reminded me of a child’s face when opening a present that they hate, but they know they have to be polite. It was sort of a pain-with-raised-eyebrows kind of look. You know the look–my parents are looking, so I’d better smile and say thank you?

My brother-in-law said it seemed right to him. He’d had it before, and said it was very similar. So I guess I didn’t screw it up?

I think I’m filing Egg Custard Pie under the category of “Pies That Turned Out Just Right But That Doesn’t Mean I’m Making Them Again.”

I think next time, I’ll choose a recipe that has more sugar or less egg. Who knows…it sure is a pretty piece of pie, though.

Tomorrow, Seven Swans a Swimming! In the mean time, anyone want some Egg Custard Pie?

The 12 Pies of Christmas: Five…OK, One Golden Ring

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Today marked my kids’ last day of school for this semester–now two weeks off. Hooray! It was also our oldest daughter’s last art class, so I baked a Chocolate Cherry Ring O Bling Pie for her and her classmates.

I modified a recipe from my favorite PIE cookbook for Chocolate Chip Pie. This time, however, I used heavy cream instead of milk and added some cherry baking morsels to the batter. Those cherry  chips are yummy. I’ve only seen them around during the holidays, and I’ve tried them in chocolate chip cookies. So tasty.

I gotta admit, turning this Christmas tune into pie has already been pretty challenging, and it’s only the fifth day! Some friends and family members have listened to my brainstorming and offered fun ideas. For the five golden rings, one person suggested I bake a pie containing Goldschlager, a thin liquor that actually has thin gold leaf floating in it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a pie with booze in it, but this one was for kids, so I bagged that idea.

While shopping in a craft store that also carried some baking items, I came across edible gold glitter sugar crystals. I’d found my solution.

I prepared the yummy chocolate cherry chip dough and poured it into a regular refrigerated crust. Just before I baked it, I sprinkled a ring of that sparkly gold sugar around the outer edge of the top of the pie. So pretty!

Now, it’s kinda hard to see in the photo, but even after it was baked, you could still see that shiny “Bling Ring” around the edge of the pie.I did not get to taste the pie, but my daughter reported that everyone loved it and that one student reported that I must have

Magic Pie Hands.

Wouldn’t that be awesome? Magic Pie Hands. Just think of the fun I could have. Or the damage I could do. Or the yummy pies I could give to everyone!

OK, so there weren’t really FIVE golden rings on today’s pie, but there was one tasty “Bling Ring.”

As it turns out, I sort of grew up with the 12 Days of Christmas:

My family had a set of awesome 12 Days of Christmas dishes. Each family member had a certain day, and the number 12 worked out perfectly for us. My Dad and Mom were numbers 1 and 2. My older brothers were 3 and 4. My older sister was the coveted FIVE GOLDEN RINGS, next came another sister for number 6, and I was the 7 swans a swimming. What was even cooler was that there were just enough plates left for when each of the five of us got married. All the spouses used up the rest of the plates up to my husband–the twelfth day.

My Mom and Dad didn’t plan to have five kids, but my Mom has said again and again that she’d do it all over again–wouldn’t change a thing. She’s 70 now, and still does a great job at serving a table full of family.

I’m very thankful to eat off of plate number 7.

A lot of good memories come from the times spent around my parents’ dining room table. In my family, we are hearty eaters, long talkers, and loud laughers. We leaned our chairs back, balled up our napkins, and passed A LOT of bowls of vegetables around.

We’ve been told more than a few times to get our elbows off the table and chew with our mouths closed and to QUIT singing at the table.We  sat pouting until we ate our assigned amounts of rutabagas or black-eyed peas.

We listened as my Dad prayed the same blessing thousands of times:

Heavenly Father
Accept our thanks
For these and all the blessings
Amen

 

I want this for my kids. I pray we’ll be able to stay home long enough and put down our iPhones long enough and just sit down together at the table for a while. Sure, it’s a challenge, but it’s worth it. I’m so glad my Mom and Dad made it happen for us.

 

12 Pies of Christmas: Not Four Calling Birds, FOR Calling Birds

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I thought for quite a while about today’s pie. Calling birds (really “Colly Birds”–it’s true! Look it up!) didn’t present an immediate idea for flavors. So I started thinking about calling.

Who ya gonna call?

Well, Ghostbusters are cool, but they have nothing to do with pie, as far as I know.

Who else gets called? Hmmmm…..

9-1-1

Yep. They get called every day in our county. In your county. All over our country. Day and night they wait for calls. And while the news is quick to point it out when they’re slow to respond, the truth is this: The people on the other end of those phones have helped save a lot of lives.

So tonight, those “calling birds” got pies. Little bitty pies with stars!

For the 4th Pie of Christmas, I baked Mini Apple Star Pies in a muffin tin. I’d seen the idea online, but I had to do a lot of guessing because it was new to me.

First, I experimented with biscuit cutters and mugs and glasses to get the right size crust for the muffin tin. I think I might have chosen one that was a bit taller if I’d wanted a top crust or a closed pie.

I planned to put little stars on the top instead of top crusts, so these little crusts worked out fine.

I made sure the filling had small pieces of apple so they would fit snugly into the mini shells. It also included sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and fresh lemon juice. Yep–fresh squeezed! Don’t know what came over me…

Anyway, the pies baked longer than I expected–it took about 25 minutes(I’d planned 15) for them to look done. I wanted to make sure the pies would lift easily out of the tin, and they did! My daughter made a cute thank you card, and we were ready to go.

I loaded up my kids and we headed over to the emergency communications center in our county. If you decide to do this in your area, please know that I called ahead to be sure that our visit was allowed. We had to wait for a big electric fence to open after using the call box.

It was about 15 minutes away from our home, and I was surprised to learn that only about 5 or 6 folks are working at one time. We did not enter the main room so as not to interrupt their important work. A very kind gentlemen received the treats and thanked us for our kindness.

We only stayed long enough to shake his hand and thank him for his hard work. A quick “Merry Christmas,” and we were on our way.On the way home, I talked with the kids about how thankful we are. We’ve never had to call these good people at the emergency dispatch station. But every day, every night, someone does. Even on Christmas Eve–when we’re at church or partying with family and friends. Even when we’re at school or work. We’re so thankful for these workers, and for the many others who are ready to help others–on special days and every day of the year.

When we got home from our “calling birds” visit, we put this pie in the oven:

I used the rest of the apple filling and the crust to make this tasty pie for them.

On this Fourth Day of Christmas, take time to remember the blessing of being safe and sound.

And who do you call when you need help? Whoever it is, be sure to thank them this holiday season!

Three French What?

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What? Not what you imagined?

Yeah, me neither. I delved into day three of the 12 Pies of Christmas with visions of a gorgeous French Silk Pie. I thought about lofty, precise artworks portraying perfectly plump hens with red and gold ribbons–or something.

But no. Things just didn’t turn out that way.

Early in the day, I set out to pre-bake a crust so that it would have plenty of time to cool. I usually cheat on crust-cooling time, and sometimes things get melty. I was proud of myself for thinking ahead. Plenty of time, I said to my over-confident self.

I cheerfully crimped a beautiful crust, put it in the oven on exactly the right rack. At exactly the right temperature. And for exactly the right number of golden-brown minutes. Sigh. I am a fabulous holiday planner.

Don’t count your French hens before they hatch.

The oven let out its happy beeeeeeep. I sauntered over in my cheery red apron, ready to withdraw step one of a culinary masterpiece. Until….

This thing came out of the oven.

What the flippin’ French chicken is that?!! The bawkity bawk crust fell. Zut alors!

I was ticked. So I just left that French flop on the counter for a while and pouted through the afternoon doing other stuff. The kids had to be driven from holiday practice to Christmas party to this or that. I got home around eight. And there it still was.

I thought about starting over. I thought about giving up. I thought about throwing it in the yard. And then I thought about this:

For the last few weeks I’ve watched friends and family in a dither about Christmas and/or whatever else they celebrate in the last days of the year.

My cards should already be mailed.

It looks like they won’t be in town for the party on time after all…

I just couldn’t find the stuff I wanted to make the tree look right.

We completely forgot to put the Santa out front.

I can’t believe the office party is the same night as that church thing!

And it goes on and on. We’ve all got ideas about what SHOULD be happening to make the holidays perfect. Because we (or someone else) put pressure on ourselves. Because it’s always been done that way. Because we feel guilty. Because we have to be in control.

Some things are gonna turn out like they always have–like they “should.” But you can bet some aren’t.

So what?

It’s still Christmas. It’s still Hannukah. It’s still time for love and peace and being thankful for another year on this big round ball.

So start a new tradition if you need to, but don’t freak out if every old one doesn’t come through. Agreed?

Ok, since you agree, I can tell you that French Silk Pie now looks like THIS in our house:

I think it has everything it needs. Chocolate, a flag(not very French-looking), a bird of some kind.

Voila!

And it tastes good, too.

Give yourself and your family a gift this holiday season.Lighten up. Let it go. Celebrate what matters and don’t sweat the small stuff.

The 12 Pies of Christmas: Turtle Pie!

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I’ll start today’s entry with this precious set of “Turtle Doves” that my 13-year-old drew especially for today. Love that kid!

If you’d like to know some fun holiday trivia, I found this link that gives one interesting viewpoint about the symbolism of the beloved Christmas carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas.

http://www.brownielocks.com/twelvedaysofchristmas.html

I found it all pretty cool–I especially loved the part about turtle doves and how they “mate for life.” I, for one, am a huge fan of this romantic notion, and I fully intend to keep the bird I’ve got till we both fly the coop, so to speak.

Anyway, today I made a Turtle Pie using a recipe by Emeril. In my opinion, he’s always been more of a chef than a baker, so I was relieved when I found his recipe pretty easy to follow.

But what is it with these Food Network types where they’ve gotta be whippin’ cream all the time. Really? Four cups of heavy whipping cream? Geeeez….

I’m all for giving a guy a chance, so I whipped. And whipped. And whipped for about 7 minutes with the mixer. Whew. Doesn’t anyone believe in Cool Whip anymore? I was whipped from all that whippin’.

Anyhoo, I put that cream in the fridge (I’d added sugar and vanilla to yum it up a bit) and got busy on the pie. I used a store-bought graham cracker crust. The recipe said to bake it for five minutes first, so I did.

Next, I mixed up the following for the filling: cream cheese, peanut butter, peanuts, confectioners sugar, and half of that super WHIPPED cream. I had to fold in the cream, because if you don’t, it goes flat.

I dumped all of that deliciousness into the graham cracker crust and zig-zagged some Hershey’s syrup on the top. OK, so Emeril doesn’t use Hershey’s syrup, but I’d already whipped for him, so don’t judge me.

Lastly, I used my favorite pastry bag (small Ziploc bag with a corner cut off) to pipe on more of that whippety-do-dah cream I had. Lemme tell you something–

4 CUPS OF HEAVY WHIPPING CREAM MAKES A LOT OF CREAM.

I seriously could flock all of the bushes in my front flower bed with this stuff.

The end result was this gorgeous looking pie. The number two was in honor of the second day of the 12 Pies of Christmas.

My kids and I tried a slice this evening. It was VERY rich and VERY delicious. I think the slice might look better after it chills overnight, but here’s how it looked after an hour and a half. A yummy success was declared by all. It stuffed us, every one!

The 12 Pies of Christmas: A Partridge in a Pear Pie

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Twelve days ’till Christmas!

I, much like my children, cannot wait for Christmas day. So to celebrate this wonderful season and fill the days with fun, today begins

THE 12 PIES OF CHRISTMAS!

Woot!

Now, this guy is not a partridge by any means, but he’s cute, and he plays an important role in today’s Christmas pie, Pear Pie with Streusel and Caramel Sauce. I found the recipe when I was researching the 12 Days of Christmas online.

Historically, the 12 Days of Christmas begins on December 25, but there’s no way I’m waiting until then. Soon after that, people are thinking about diets and stuff, and I’m gonna need help eating all these pies!

The pear part of the pie was pretty basic. I used a store-bought crust because I had one. The pie ingredients included pears, of course, mixed with sugar, flour, salt and cinnamon. Easy enough.

I decided to add the “partridge” because he helps keep the pie from getting too juicy, and more importantly, because the First Day of Christmas Pie MUST include a partridge.

The topping for the pie was a crumbly, struesel stuff made of butter, flour, and brown sugar. I mixed it up with a fork and sprinkled it over the fruit filling. The pie baked for an hour and only cooled for about 10 minutes before me and my “true love” dug in. It seemed fitting to share the first piece with him–he makes every day feel like Christmas!

 

It only took a few minutes to make the caramel sauce on the stove top. It had brown sugar, heavy whipping cream, butter, and a little water.

Now, the slice didn’t really look very slicy, but when I poured that caramel sauce on top and had a bite, it didn’t matter. Many, many thanks for whoever created this recipe–I would have never thought of adding that sauce. So tasty!

It was the perfect after-lunch treat for me and the hubby on a chilly, gray afternoon.

What a delicious way to count down the 12 Days of Christmas!

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s pie, and

find a way to celebrate today–whether you’ve got a real partridge or not!

Pieography: Why Bananaganache Sums It Up.

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Alright everyone, I’m entering a pie contest.

http://wherewomencook.com/pieography/

I’ve decided to enter my Bananaganache Pie. The crazy thing is, they require a recipe. Even though I’ve made up bunches of them, I’ve never written one down. Chalk up another one for new experiences!

Recipe for Bananaganache Pie:

Ingredients:

2-3 bananas

4 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

6 oz. whipped topping

whipped topping for garnish

1 box of instant banana cream pudding prepared (requires 2 cups of milk)

1 9 inch pie crust (see homemade crust recipe below)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 ounce semi-sweet baking chocolate

1/2 cup half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sweet and Flaky Crust

1/3 cup very cold shortening

3 cups of flour

12 tablespoons of very cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup icy cold water

1 1/2-2 tablespoons of granulated sugar

In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt and pulse about 10 times to combine. Add butter and shortening to processor bowl and pulse until butter is in pea-sized pieces. While processor is running, slowly add ice water. Dough will form a ball.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3o minutes. This makes enough for a top and a bottom crust, and you will only need half for this recipe. The remaining half may be stored for 2 or 3 days wrapped tightly in the fridge.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out one half of the dough onto a floured surface into a circle to fit a nine-inch pie plate.   Transfer the crust into the pie plate and crimp the outside crust. To pre-bake the crust, line it with foil that is tall enough to hold in pie weights (I use dried beans) and fill with weights. Bake the pie shell on a lower rack for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the foil (pie beans inside of it) and place the crust back on the lower rack of the oven. Continue to bake for another 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Remove pie crust from oven and let cool completely on a rack.

Pie filling:

Now for the filling.  In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, whipped topping and banana cream pudding with a mixer on low speed. Set aside.

To prepare chocolate gananche, use a double boiler on the stove top. (This means to simmer some water in a saucepan and put a bowl over it to melt stuff. You use a double boiler when you don’t want chocolate to get burned.) In the bowl, combine half and half, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Stir until melted over medium heat. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about five minutes.

Spread chocolate ganache over the bottom of the pre-baked pie crust. Slice bananas and arrange half of them on top of the chocolate layer. Next, cover bananas with pie filling. Arrange remaining banana slices on top of filling in a decorative pattern.

Garnish with whipped topping.Grate the baking chocolate and sprinkle on top of the pie.

Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.

So…why Bananaganache?

I’ve baked a lot of pies in the last couple of months–well over 70. It started with a crazy birthday challenge I gave myself–my goal was to bake a pie every day during the 40 days that led up to my 40th birthday. That’s how my blog got started. I did it–and then some. During those 40 days, I baked 63 pies. I used a lot of recipes to make the pies. Some from pie cookbooks, some from “church-lady” cookbooks, some that friends and family shared.

But Bananaganache was the first one I made that was all my idea. The pie is a delicious reflection of my life.

Take the crust, for instance…sweet and flaky. It sums me up perfectly. Even though I call the crust “flaky,” it’s really quite reliable. I always wanted to see myself as zany, unpredictable, and spontaneous, but deep down what I really need for life to be peaceful is sweetness and reliability.  This recipe is both sweet and reliable–if I take the time to follow the plan.

Bananas in this pie were completely a result of resourcefulness. We had them in the kitchen. They needed to be used. Same with the pudding and cream cheese. I was determined to make the pie out of stuff I already had.

I grew up in a family with five children –I was the youngest. My father and particularly my mother were masters of resourcefulness. They used what they had and were grateful for it. And if they didn’t have what they needed, they found another way. I’m thankful to have gotten just a little bit of that from them. Just ask my kids about “Iron Chef Pantry” nights.

The chocolate gananche is in the pie because everything is better with chocolate. It reminds me that under every experience–sweet and not so sweet–is a layer of something richer. Something unexpected. Sometimes it takes some time to get to the richer layer of life, but if we are patient, there can be a sweet reward waiting.

Lastly, a word about the toppings. That last bit of decoration really makes the pie for me. Sure, you could serve it without the stuff on top, but why? Pretty much every thing I’ve been through in the first forty years of my life has been about ONE choice–how I’m going to react to what happens.

I pray for more and more days of seeing my life like a perfectly topped, delicious treat with scrumptious, sweet layers–not just stuff I had around that ended up all together.

That’s my plan for the next 40 years. Take what you’ve got around each day, and make it into something delicious that you can share!

Gone Away is the Bluebird

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It’s Christmas time!

Our family loves this time of year. It’s only December 3rd, and our decorations are up, lots of gifts are wrapped, and we’ve begun the crazy calendar corral of trying to get kids and grownups to holiday activities. And nothing means Christmas like PIE!

We’ve got two different Christmas parties this weekend, so I made two different pies. The first pie was a Blackpeary Pie. The second was Cherry Ganache Deluxe Pie.

Look at these gorgeous blackberries I found at the grocery store this week. What a beautiful fruit! I added a few pears I had–just to keep things crazy. I had several homemade crusts ready in the fridge, so that’s what I used for today’s pies. I really do love the taste and texture of them.

I definitely had to make pies with a top crust so that I could use my favorite Christmas tree crust cutter. So festive. It makes perfect holes through which that pretty fruit can peek!

The Blackpeary was pretty simple. I just added sugar and flour and filled the crust. I then added butter and sugar on top to make sure it browned nicely.

I remembered my crust shields during the first 25 minutes of baking, so no burnt crusts. Hooray!

The second pie of the day got a bit more complicated, but not in a bad way. To make a pie with ganache on the bottom of the crust, you need to use a double boiler. I started out with white chocolate chips, half and half, and vanilla. Well, the ganache became “deluxe” when I realized that I had added way too much liquid. Woops.

So I had to add semi-sweet chocolate chips. Lots of them. And for some reason, it made the ganache really delicious. It also made A LOT of ganache. Therefore, while I was getting pie ingredients ready and waiting for the first pie to bake, I found some other uses for the deluxe ganache. Chocolate graham crackers. OK, those were pretty tasty. But there was still a lot left. Hmmmm…..

MARSHMALLOWS!

I used some lollipop sticks I’d gotten at the craft store and stabbed a bunch of yummy, fluffy marshmallows. The result was very tasty and tons of fun, especially after I found the Christmas sprinkles.

I filled the bottom of the second crust with the delicious chocolate stuff, and there was STILL more, so I called my kids down for a yummy snack that we’re gonna also pretend was healthy–since fruit was involved.

Finally, the Blackpeary Pie came out of the oven and the Cherry Ganache Deluxe pie went in. I was very happy with the way both pies turned out. My trusty pie birds did their jobs, so there was very little fruit that misbehaved or bubbled over. Thanks, birdies!

As for that old bluebird being “gone away,” we’re not in a winter wonderland yet down here in Georgia. Every now and then we get some snow in December, but we’re more likely to have a New Year’s or Valentine’s snow than a Christmas one.

All the same, winter’s on its way. It’s time to give thanks for warm houses, warm socks, and a fire in the fireplace–and to remember those who don’t have those luxuries.

I was so happy to receive invitations to three different Christmas get -togethers that encouraged guests to bring food or children’s toys to help our local Emergency Relief Organization. What a great way to remind people that if they’ve got the time and the means to party this holiday season, then they’ve got what it takes to share with others. It doesn’t take much to make a difference–a few cans of food, small toys, or a warm blanket. Find opportunities for your family to share with others during this Christmas season.

Just like that chocolate ganache–most of us have more stuff than we know what to do with. Keep looking for ways to share it, to use it up, to give to others and make life sweeter!

Here to stay is a new bird! He sings a love song, as we go along…

Thanksgiving…at least 72 points…

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Our Thanksgiving was lovely. We had the usual menu: turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole, dressing, and some other yummy stuff. For dessert, my husband requested Key Lime Pie. So I made him this star-topped key lime pie. He’s a star. And he deserves whatever pie he wants.

 

 

It was delicious, but we were all so full we could barely eat it. What a day of bounty, abundance, plenty. We had a good time with family around the table. Look at these cool place cards our daughter made:

I like the idea of place cards. Besides fulfilling my OCD needs of knowing where everyone will be, I like the message they send.

Here you go. 
Here’s your spot.
It’s only for you.
You are special.
No one can fill this spot except for you!
 

If only we’d try hard to make others feel this way all the time when they’re with us.

It is a good day to be thankful. Today, we did not work hard. We did not waste time worrying. We had enough. We took time to work on a puzzle, to laugh together, to read the paper, and to watch a parade. We took time to be still.

Still.

Still.

Still.

“Now stand still and see this great thing which the Lord will do in front of your eyes.”

1 Samuel 12:16

That verse is about some folks who did something dumb and were about to get in trouble for it. Which isn’t too far off from some days I’ve seen. But that’s not what it really meant to me today.

Today, on a day of Thanksgiving, my heart just saw these words:

Now stand still and see.

OK. I will. Seems to me that so much beauty and wonder is going on all around us. We just won’t stand still long enough to see. To pay attention. To listen. To keep from doing something dumb. To enjoy. To see a great thing.

My husband and I ended the day with a game of Scrabble. We played with our 7-year-old son, who had been waiting–seriously, for hours–to play the game with us. It just took us a while to get still enough to play it with him. Here’s the Thanksgiving board I spelled out before we played.

When we went around the Thanksgiving table to tell things we were thankful for, my daughter said, “this beautiful fall we’ve had.”

My son said, “BACON.”

I have to agree wholeheartedly with both of them.

And I am thankful for stillness.

Stand still.

Still.

Lollipop, lollipop–Oh lolly, lolly, lolly–LOLLIPOP!

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I decided to make some teeny tiny pies on sticks. Lollipop Pies. If there’s anything cuter than that, I don’t know what it is. I stole the idea from a cooking channel show about pie. What a fun project for a cool fall evening!

I had some homemade crust in the fridge from the other night, so I rolled it out to cut some small circles.I love a little biscuit cutter. It reminds me of the tiny biscuits that my mom used to put on top of her pork chop pie. The biscuits were pretty much my favorite part of that casserole. They were gooey on the bottom and crusty on top. Perfect.

I whipped up a small batch of filling from some berries I had on hand. I just added some sugar and a tad of cornstarch. After reading about these little pies online, I followed the advice of many by only putting a couple of berries in each pie.

Next, I set about doing the cutest little crimping ever. I just used one of the lollipop sticks as a crimper. I found the sticks at Hobby Lobby. Don’t forget to put a stick inside the pop BEFORE you start crimping. Almost forgot mine. Also, crimp carefully–that fruit juice really wants to escape.

Lastly, I brushed them all with egg wash, sprinkled them with sugar and baked them for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

At the same time, I baked up the leftovers into this precious little Double Angel Pie. I had exactly enough crust left to hold this berry filling and to make two tiny angels for the top.

Made me think of the time my good friend, Becky, and I stomped grapes at the Biltmore Winery. Good times. Making a fool of myself with good friends is a favorite pastime. 🙂

These little angels weren’t stomping anything, but they looked sweet on the little pie.

Back to Lollipop Pies:

Not bad for a first attempt! They are so cute! I am going to run a few more tests to figure out what other tiny fillings I can stuff into that small crust. I’m thinking chocolate or pumpkin…We’ll see. Anyway, lots of fun. I dipped one into some whipped cream. Yum.

I’ll keep you posted on more tiny pies, and Thanksgiving’s only a week away, so you KNOW they’ll be some pie action around here.