Week #15 December 6 - 12

After a few lackluster weeks of pies, I felt pressure to step up my game this week. This pressure came squarely from me. I made two new pies this week.

The first, was an apple pie, with a cheddar cheese crust. Eating apple pie with a slice of cheddar cheese is popular in New England, and I thought that this might be an interesting recipe. Here is the one I used.



The pie turned out alright. The crust was good, but unfortunately the filling wasn't stellar. There was too much juice, and the apples didn't cook enough.

Onto pie #2, the chocolate pie for the week, rum-walnut chocolate-chip.

Here is the recipe:

Rum-walnut chocolate-chip pie
Total time: About 1 hour
Servings: 10 to 12

Note: Adapted from Cold Springs Tavern. If using a homemade pie shell, blind bake the crust (lined first with foil and weights, then with weights removed) just until set, about 10 to 15 minutes. For store-bought pie crust, par-bake the pie shell just until set, using the instructions on the package.

3 eggs
2 tablespoons rum, preferably Puerto Rican white rum
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
Scant 1/2 cup (2 ounces) flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 (12 ounce) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1 1/2 sticks ( 3/4 cups) butter
1 par-baked pie shell

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs with the rum and vanilla. Whisk in the sugar and brown sugar until incorporated, then whisk in the flour. Fold in the walnuts and half of the chocolate chips until evenly incorporated.

2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining chocolate chips until melted and combined.

3. Fold the melted butter and chocolate mixture into the large bowl with the rest of the filling. Pour the filling into the par-baked pie shell. Place the pie in the oven and bake just until the pie sets (it will jiggle just slightly when tapped), 30 to 45 minutes.

4. Remove and cool completely before serving.


I redeemed myself with this bad boy.



A co-worker gave me the recipe. It had somewhat of a brownie consistency, but was slightly more fudge-like. The walnuts were good, but I couldn't really taste the rum. Overall though, it was pretty solid all-around.

Week #14 November 29 - December 5

So it seems that more people are actually reading this thing. I hope you all are enjoying it, and that you find some of my recipes and commentary useful. Now, onto the show.

Having read the NY Times article I posted last week, I was very interested in making the Butter Pie. I had some cranberries left over, and I decided to give it a shot. It was relatively easy to make and bake.



Boy, was this pie sweet. I cooked it for the time allotted, and even an extra 5 minutes because I thought it needed it. But for some reason it didn't cook all the way through. I was hoping that the center would have a gel-like consistancy, similar to that of a pecan pie, but it was a little runnier than I would have liked. It also tasted very sugary, which I know some people enjoy, but not my cup of tea.

Earlier this week, I decided to make a different chocolate pie each week for the month of December. I'm not the biggest chocolate fan, but we are leaving fall behind, and winter pies are upon us. This is a pie that comes from my fiance's family. The recipe goes back a long time, and I've had her dad's version. It's out of this world. Almost too rich for me. I figured, why not give it a shot. Here is the recipe:

French Chocolate Pie

1/2 pound of butter ( 2 sticks margerine)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 squares bitter choc melted
2 tspn vanilla
1 tspn instant coffee
4 eggs
1 pie crust (frozen store crust works)
cup of whiping cream (cool whip works)
choc bar for topping


1) soften butter and cream with sugar

2) add choc, vanilla,and coffee

3) add eggs ONE AT A TIME beating 5 MIN. between each egg

4) pour into (cooked) pie crust

5) cover with wipping cream and chill for at least 4 hours

6) shave choc bar with peeler for decoration on top


I didn't cover with whip cream, but rather let people put as much as they wanted on it. The flavor was the same as I remember, but the texture wasn't. I felt like it was somewhat grainy, which makes me think I didn't beat it long enough, or perhaps should have used less sugar. But who knows. I gave it my best shot.



I also wanted to show one of the tools that makes pie baking much easier, my pie weights. These can be bought for under $10, and help when you try to blind-bake pies. This is when you bake the crust prior to adding filling. What's nice about using the weights is that they conduct heat to the top of the crust, and help even out the baking.

Pie Article

Here is a great article in the New York Times from last week about Pies.

Week #13 - Off

Happy Thanksgiving!! I had a nice time in Michigan with Sandy and her family. No new pies this week. I decided to take the week off, and make pies that I had already done. Chocolate Peanut Butter and Pumpkin were in order. We also had Apple, Pecan, and Minced meat. A great time was had by all.

Week #12 November 15 - 21

I wasn't sure what type of pie I was going to make going into this week. I was looking at the calendar, and I realized it was the middle of November. I always tell people that I'm trying to make more seasonal pies, which is why I'm not making lemon meringue in the cold weather. That being said, I decided to make a sweet-potato pie for this week. Here is the recipe.

And I know I said that I would remember to take pictures, but I forgot again. At least I have a picture of the filling.



As for the taste of the pie, it was alright. To be honest, I felt like I couldn't taste the sweet potatoes enough. I've said it before, I don't have a sweet tooth. Sweet potatoes have a lot of natural flavors that I felt like didn't come out quite as much as I would have enjoyed. They seemed to be too overpowered by the spices. Also, I felt like it tasted a lot like pumpkin pie.

After making the apple pear pie a few times this fall, it is going to be tough for a regular apple to compete in my mind. But, I had extra apples laying around, and I'm a firm believer that to be a good cook, athlete, student, etc, you need to get the basics down. Well, apple pie is about as basic as it gets. I know I don't have a picture, but the top crust baked very nicely, and had a cracked, weathered look to it. This is still one of my favorites. I used a recipe that my friend Victoria mailed to me. Thanks, Ror.

Week #11 November 8 - 14

It has become commonplace for me to make two pies per week. Even though it is more work, it's good to refine my skills in the culinary art that is pie-baking. Also, because there is a stampede when I bring in the pies to work each week, two are basically needed to feed the natives. For my new pie this week, I made an oatmeal pie. I'm a big fan of oatmeal, and just wondered if there would happen to be an oatmeal pie. When I saw that there was, I figured it would be a good pie to make.

Described on some recipes as the "poor man's pecan pie", I can't really comment if it was a poor man's pecan pie because I don't really enjoy pecans. But what I can comment on is that it was a great pie and definitely a keeper. It had a nice cinnamon flavor, and was custardy inside. This can be from the corn syrup I used. Here is the recipe.

The other pie I made was the apple-cranberry pie that I made last week. This week I took the ambitious step of trying a lattice crust. Overall it turned out well. I can't say it was the best looking pie, but I'm confident that with more practice, I'll get better at the lattice crust.

Speaking of crust, I also tried using half Crisco instead of butter in one of my crusts. Turned out well. I'll give more feedback when I try more variations of the crust.

Lastly, a friend of mine, Jenna, that happens to be a phenomenal chef has been posting about her experience as a camp cook. Here are a few of her rules that I think most people should think about when eating/cooking/dealing with food. I noticed this week that my pies aren't made quickly. I think that's a good thing, and something to remember. Good, wholesome food takes time to prepare.

Here is the excerpt:

- Food should be homemade, as much as possible. We will know exactly what goes in it (ingredients we can pronounce!) and equally important, we will be a crucial part of the process. This connects us physically and spiritually to our work and gives one a sense of humble pride in work well done.

- Food should be whole and fresh. It’s no nutritional secret that the more fresh and the closer to whole our foods are, the greater the benefit to our health. Included in this I wanted to reduce the amount of sugary offerings (bug juice, some desserts, etc.)

-Operating sustainably. We composted some items already, but the kitchen had a lot of room for improvement in terms of producing food that could be composted as well as controlling leftovers and waste overall. In addition, it was important that we think about global sustainability in terms of choices and purchases, so cooking less meat and choosing a natural foods distributor.

PS - I forgot to take pictures of my pies this week.

Week #10 November 1 - 7

I bought way too many cranberries this week, and being as it was my 10th week, I decided to double down and make two new pies.

Pie #1 was an apple cranberry. Here is the recipe. This was a great pie. It was my first time cooking with cranberries, and it gave the pie some tartness, without too much bite.

Pie #2 was called a Nantucket Cranberry Pie. Because I'm a fan of most things New England, I decided this would be my second pie. This pie didn't call for a crust, but I decided to put one on. It was good, but I think it felt more like a cake than an actual pie. I also added some orange zest, to balance out the tartness in the cranberries.

Week #9 October 25 - 31

One of my favorite cooking websites is called www.chow.com. I've gotten at least a dozen solid recipes off of their "Basics" cooking section. This week, I searched for a pumpkin pie, and lo and behold, they a recipe for it.

A very basic, but overall decent pie. I didn't have ground cloves, so I sprinkled ground ginger instead.

Served it with fresh whipped cream, of course.



And on another note, Phil and I went to Honeypie in Milwaukee last week. Ended our meals with some decent pie.



I had the mixed berry on the left. It was decent, but tasted too much like a nutra-grain bar for my liking. I like a double crust opposed to a crumble top.

Week #8 October 18 - 24

This week I made two pies because it was my last week at my current office after being there for nine months. An advantage or some would say disadvantage of my job is that I travel through rotations in different areas of the country. I'm currently in Milwaukee, WI. It's a real great city, but I've been missing my Sandy a lot.

Back to the story, I made a cinnamon chocolate angel food pie as my new pie of the week. I was looking for a pie with cinnamon and chocolate. Here is the recipe.

What made this different from other pies that I had made was that there was a layer of meringue on the bottom. I'm yet to make a pie with meringue on top, so needless to say I wasn't exactly thrilled about trying this out. I couldn't get it thick enough, but decided to try baking it in the oven for the time it called for. It basically exploded. But, it did go down. Then I added the other layers.



I actually didn't get a piece, because it went too quickly. But, all of my coworkers really enjoyed it. The other pie I made was the spiced apple and pear. Another hit. Made me feel good that people appreciate it so much.

Week #7 October 11 - 17

There has been a few weeks break in the blog. However, I have still been making my pies. I tried to switch it up during week 7 and make a savory pie. I decided on a tomato pie. Overall, it was pretty decent, but I felt like it was lacking something. Here is the recipe.




This picture is before the cheese/mayo mixture is put on top. The bacon gives it some body and flavor. But I think that in general, this pie needs to be eaten with something, perhaps a soup or salad.



More to come soon.

Week #6 October 4 - October 10

Where I work, we have a weekly potluck lunch each Thursday. People that are interested sign up to make lunch for others that take part. This past week it was my turn. I made two soups: apple, cheddar, onion (veg) and pasta, chickpea, and sausage. Both turned out great. I also made two pies: the chocolate peanut butter and mixed berry.

Holding true to my promise to myself, I made the crusts for both pies. I found a recipe on chow.com, which is a great resource for recipes and food topics on the web.



The dough was easy enough to make. And I blind baked the crust. Because I was already making a custard/chocolate style pie, I wanted to make a fruit pie. I decided on mixed berry, because I was in Aldi, and saw some frozen mixed berries.



Overall, a success. Everyone enjoyed. I served it with fresh whipped cream. I'll post the recipe when I find it. One thing that I noticed was that the filling was more liquidy than I would have liked.

Week #5 September 27 - October 3

I have a co-worker that recently put in his two week notice. A good guy, that will be missed from my department. I believed him when he said it was the hardest decision he had to make in a while. Regardless, I asked him what his favorite pie was that I could make for his last day. He gave me a few options, and the best one for me to make was a key lime.

Normally, I would wait until next spring to make a key lime. It is easily one of my favorite pies. I've made it before, but always the easy cool whip version. Not this time. My first time making the true egg yolk, real whip cream version. The one thing I couldn't get was true key limes. I intend to make this pie again with true key limes. Here is the recipe I used.

But it was my first attempt at a homemade crust. For this pie, I made a graham cracker crust.



Instead of fresh key lime juice, I used bottled lime juice. Not ideal. But it's the way it is. True key lime pies are actually a custardy yellow, due to the egg yolks that get beaten with the sweetened condensed milk. What is nice with this version is the fact that there are layers of key lime goodness, with whip cream on top. With the cool whip version, it is all combined into one.

So I made the pie on Thursday night, which has become the typical night I make pies. But my co-worker wasn't to be at work on Friday. I'm not sure the whole story, because I was away recruiting on Wednesday and Thursday. All I know if that his last day ended up being Tuesday. So as silly as it sounds, I wasn't as excited to make it, knowing that he wouldn't be able to try it. My co-workers all enjoyed it. Here is a picture of the finished product.

Week #4 September 20 - 26

I lied. I still had one pre-make crust, and didn't want it to go to waste. So I used it on my pie this week. I am in a job where I am constantly rotated throughout the country performing different rotations. Although exciting, it has thrown my fiance Sandy and I a hurdle in terms of our relationship. I've been lucky enough to be located by her for the last eight months, and was told that I would be leaving at the end of this week. So last week, I wanted to make her a special pie, because she might not be able to sample them for a while. I chose to make a chocolate peanut butter pie for her, because it is her favorite dessert combo.

I am trying to use more "whole" ingredients in my cooking. Not only in pies, but also in life. Who needs high fructose corn syrup in your bread? Not me, that's who. So many of the recipes for chocolate peanut butter pie involve cool whip. I had to search a little before coming upon this winner.

This called for the crust being blind baked. This means that the crust is baked prior to having a filling added. It helps cook the crust, and make it not soggy. What was nice with this recipe was that it called or peanuts being pressed into the bottom, for some additional texture and flavor.



Overall the pie turned out to be a big surprise. I didn't expect to like it that much. I'm not a huge fan of the pb & c combo. But the pie wasn't as rich as I thought it would be, and was actually pretty light. It also had more of a peanut butter taste as opposed to chocolate.

Week #3 September 13 - 19

I still have an abundance of apples, so I knew going into this week that I wanted to make a pie that would use some of these apples. Just by chance, I thought about making an apple and pear pie. A google search later, and I had a recipe to use.

I was invited to a friend's family's house on the ocean this weekend. I made the pie knowing it would be my friends' first experience with this yearlong pursuit of mine. I was slightly nervous, but they all seemed to really enjoy it. Everyone was supportive of my endeavour. My friend John has become quite the photographer, and took some nice pictures (of both the pie as well as our weekend in general).



The spiced apple and pear pie was very appropriate for the weekend. On the one hand, there were the pears, a nice summer fruit. Not to be outdone, the apples, the perennial king of fall were also in there. Just like this past weekend was beautiful and warm, everyone knew fall was just around the bend.



In the past, I had almost always been using a pre-made crust. This will be one of the last times that I do. I know they are easier, but they just aren't as good. My friend Victoria was very adamant about making sure I make my own crust in the future. And to please her, as well as myself, going forward I plan on it.

Week #2 September 6 - 12

This week I decided to take turn, and make a pie that I had never made before. Although I should probably get used to making new pies. I've made plenty of chocolate pudding pies. But I wanted a variation, so I made a chocolate banana pie. Here is the recipe I used. Note that I did not use pecans.

It depends who you ask to determine how it turned out. I thought it was sweet. Sandy (fiance) really enjoyed it. As did my parents. My roommate Kenny enjoyed it as well.



There is a layer of cream cheese sweetened with confectionery sugar, that really gives it some sweetness. Also, the directions say the pie should sit for a day before serving. I would say that it should sit for two days before serving. We found it tasted better eating it two days after making.

Week #1 August 29 - Sept 5

Fall has arrived earlier than expected in upstate NY. During Labor Day weekend, Sandy and I went apple picking. We got some great Mac and Gala apples. I decided to make my first pie an Apple Pie. Probably the most famous of all pies. I used my moms recipe, which I will put below eventually. Along with pictures.



The pie came out alright. The crust was slightly burnt. Using a new oven. And I couldn't find my apple peeler, so I left the skins on. This gave the pieces of apple a slight but noticable more texture and not as easy to chew.

What is this all about?

Last year, there was a show on MTV called "The Buried Life". I liked this show because it talked about setting goals. This is something that I haven't done enough of lately. I recently made up my "Life List" or "Bucket List". One of the items was to make a pie a week for a year. 52 weeks. 52 different pies. Last weekend Sandy and I went apple picking, and I decided to make a pie. I figured, this is a good a time as any to start working towards this goal.

A few rules and limitations I've set for myself:

1) A different pie each week.

2) This doesn't mean that I can't make a variation. For example, if I make a peach pie. I can also make a peach and blueberry pie. But I couldn't make another peach pie, different recipe.

3) I can make pies that aren't necessarily for dessert. I plan on trying some more dinner type pies throughout this experience.

I'm not sure why I like pie. I'm not a big fan of dessert, I don't really have a sweet tooth at all. But there is something about pies that just are different. I like that there is a crust, and I feel like pies just have a more homemade quality than other desserts.

This will be a work in progress. Enjoy!

Post #1

Let's test this puppy