She Blinded Me With [Pie] Science

I saw this article and discovered a couple interesting tidbits.

• Washes:  I've done a cream wash and an egg wash but haven't tried a combo egg/cream wash for the ultimate browned crust.
• Butter:  It's good to get a scientific opinion on the fat debate...at least when it comes to flakiness. However, I do think lard provides a little extra when it comes to flavor.  Maybe...like the wash, I should try a combo lard/butter crust.
• Fat Chunks:  Speaking of crust, I guess combo is a running theme here with the suggestion of having a mixture of chunk sizes...from almond to pea size for optimal flakiness and texture.

Lastly, here's the hardest suggestion...waiting.  Letting the pie cool before serving gives the filling time to thicken and be less running.

#30: Mixed Berry Pie

Not sure if I'm just in a creative tailspin or if I just need to clean out my fridge (post-Mom visit...probably the latter. She loves to buy way more food than we can consume) but I decided to take my stray berries -- which, alone, wasn't enough for a pie -- and create a Mixed Berry Pie.

Simple enough and it came out great.

I decided to not post a finished picture, this week, though, because it basically looked like a blueberry pie...yes, everything was purple.

Again, though, still tasty and the main objective was accomplished...my fridge is less cluttered.

#29: Lemon Wonder Pie

Pie!  Pie!  Pie!  I've been racking my brain to figure out what I should do next.  Something different that I haven't done yet.

So I decided to look through some of my old cookbooks and in "The Complete Western Cookbook:  The Gourmet's Guide to the Land Beyond the Pecos" by Betty Johnson (from 1964) I found a recipe for Lemon Wonder Pie.  What an amazing name!  I've got to do that pie.

Of course, as you can probably tell from the pictures, as I started working on the pie something started to feel very familiar about it.  Really familiar...like I've already made this pie.

DOH!

Okay, to be fair.  I have not made this pie before but I would consider it a cousin to the Buttermilk Pie that I made a few weeks ago.  You're just swapping the buttermilk for lemon juice and milk.

Still delicious.  Just not different.  Back to the drawing boards.

#28: Chocolate Pecan Pie

My Mom loves pecan pie.  Just loves them.  So when I made that honey pecan pie, she insisted that another pecan pie be made for her when she came to visit us.

In order to avoid repeating myself, though, I decided to do another pecan pie variation -- Chocolate Pecan Pie.

HO-LEE COW!

This is like a brownie/pie love child with it's crisp nuts and crust coupled with the gooey, chocolate filling.

Finishing The Edges

At the start of this project, when it came to finishing pie edges on a double crust, I did what I think most of you do -- I pressed the top and bottom together and then folded under the dough.

However, looking at various pie recipes online, I noticed that it appeared that some people have done something opposite.  Call it an optical illusion but I decided to try folding the crust over rather than under.

I think this visually makes the pie more interesting and keeps the excess dough on top of the pie where it can crisp nicely.

Any who...just a little something I thought I'd share with you.  I still fold under single crust pies and, when I get bored of this, I may return to folding under my double crust pies.  But let me know what you think.

#27: Blueberry Pie

So I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for prices to get low enough for Blueberry Pie to not end up being a million dollar pie.  It looks like the time is finally here.

As I've come to discover with most fruit pies, the hardest part is the fruit prep...but with blueberries there's no chopping or blanching or peeling.  Just wash and go.  YUM!

Just remember to let the pie rest after baking in order to let the filling set.

#26: Buttermilk Pie

Tackling another "staple" pie.  I've actually been eyeing this Buttermilk Pie recipe for a while and it truly doesn't disappoint.

I always get a little daunted when I encounter recipes that required "technique"...yes, I'm talking about whipping egg whites.  But, I think as I do more of it...I'm getting less spooked by it.  (And that's a good thing.)

When it comes to flavor, the buttermilk provides a tartness that brings out the lemon juice so it's less "eggy" in flavor.