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.

#25: Peach Pie

As you would probably guess, the hardest thing about this Peach Pie is peeling and slicing the fruit...which, in the end, wasn't so bad -- if you know how to do it.  Here's a great how-to from Saveur (both video and written instructions).

Once the peaches are peeled and sliced, the pie comes together in a snap.

And the final result?  Well, let's just say I didn't take a picture of the pie just out of the oven.  By the time I did remember...there was barely any pie left.

#24: Strawberry Cream Cheese

This Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie recipe came from "The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook" and helped me deal with some stray pecans and strawberries that I had on hand.  :o)

Actually this was a pretty simple recipe that made it possible for the little one to get involved.

Plus I loved the used of pecans in the crust. It gave the simple flavors a little extra WOW!

#23: Honey Pecan

It's hard to believe that I'd get tired of fruit pie but here I am.  So this week I decided to do a pecan pie variation...mainly because I have a ton of pecan in my fridge.

This Honey Pecan Pie recipe is simple.  You basically replace the corn syrup with honey.

For those of you afraid of corn syrup (why?!)...this is a good pie for you -- if you love the taste of honey as it dominates the pie.

Those of you who love good ol' pecan pie...you should probably stay away from this variation because the honey overwhelms the pie.  (Maybe I need to use a different honey.  I think it was orange or clover blossom from a local bee keeper.)

#22: Rhubarb Pie

After baking all those Strawberry Rhubarb Pies, I realized that I over-bought rhubarb.  So I decided to do a straight Rhubarb Pie.

This time, though, I decided to try a ''vintage'' recipe from ''The Old-Fashioned Cookbook''.  There's nothing like an old-school recipe to satisfy the sweet tooth.  And this didn't disappoint.  I found the sweetness of this pie more to my liking.

Butter vs. Lard

So there was another pie thunderdome at work.  This time it was a fat fight -- lard vs. butter.

It's kind of hard to have a taste test when you have an ingredient that's neither vegetarian or kosher.

For those willing to go in blind, though, lard was the winner. There's definitely a flavor difference that's almost savory.

However, if you were to go strickly on consumption, the butter pie went first.  Again, though, those findings could be considered skewed based on diet limitations.

#21: Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

My Dad's favorite pie was Strawberry Rhubarb.  It was a love that my sister and I just didn't understand. Rhubarb doesn't grow like crazy in So Cal so it was just this weird fruit (vegetable?).

I wish I had thought to ask him about it while he was still alive but I'm going to guess that, growing up in Indiana, it was readily available for dessert, especially in post-depression America.

Well, it finally took this pie project for me to connect with my father via his favorite pie.

Ultimately, this pie is a little tart for my liking.  (I blame my sweet tooth.)  However, as I ate it -- served in a bowl of milk (as my Dad liked it) -- I couldn't help but think of him and smile.

#20: Sweet Cherry Pie

Maybe this is a West Coast thing but I've never seen fresh tart cherries in the market.

That said, I decided to do this Sweet Cherry Pie recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

For the most part, the hardest thing about this recipe is pitting the cherries and that's mainly because you want to make sure you remove the pit.  (No one wants to be know for baking a pie that caused emergency dental work.)

The end result was delicious.  A great pie for a when company comes over.  You definitely won't have any leftovers.