Pie Project

For one year, I set a goal of making a pie a week in order to improve my pie making skills. This list here is a the running summary I kept of the pies made and my successes/ failures.

Apricot Crostada – My own thing, a take on Ina Garten’s recipe. My recipe posted to the main blog August 22, 2008.

Peach Pie – A fresh peach pie with Okanagan peaches, made just the way I like it. For instructions on how to make a peach pie my preferred way, see the post on July 31, 2008.

Raspberry Pie – Lee Bailey. One of the best pie recipes in the history of the world. Recipe posted July 21st 2008.

Orange Sour Cream Raisin Pie – Donna Hay. Nice soft raisin in custard texture. The finished product in no way resembled the picture. Very sweet. It was OK, but I don’t know if that’s because (as it turns out) I don’t really like raisin pie. Nice orange-y aroma.

Lemon Meringue Pie – Another attempt to turn out a perfect lemon meringue pie. I’ve got the filling and the pastry down cold, but the meringue is still! another story (dang it).

Banana Cream Pie – Another one to please my aunt before she went home to Wales.

Coconut Cream Pie – Emeril Lagasse. A third time to try making it, and just as good as ever. Really good version, exactly what you want coconut cream pie to be.

Apple Pie – Just a classic version with a bit of cinnamon, sugar, and butter. I used a combination of Spartan and Cox’s Orange Pippins, which were very nice. I also tried making individual pies in small aluminum tins, which made the sides go soggy– very strange.

Apple Turnovers with Sour Cream Pastry – Dorie Greenspan. Pretty good, but I have to admit that I get tired of the thick sour cream pastry after the first turnover.

Banana Cream Pie – Nick Malghieri. A second try, and I fell in love with it on the second go. You really, really need to try this recipe, as it is everything a banana cream pie should be.

Pumpkin Pie – Best of Everything cookbook. Great taste, seasoning, texture, etc. Only drawback was the extra amount of work this recipe demands, such as cooking the filling on top of the stove before baking it and then refrigerating it. I’m going to keep looking for the ultimate pumpkin pie, but I think this recipe comes very close to being it. It would be it, if it wasn’t so insanely demanding compared to other pumpkin pie recipes.

Banana Cream Pie – Nick Malghieri. Delicate banana flavour, loose custard holding together the banana slices, flaky pastry holding the custard, banana, and whipped cream together– soooo good. Highly recommended recipe, so the recipe was posted on May 19, 2008.

Pear Pie – Flavoured with some cinnamon and made with a lattice crust, just because I couldn’t resist, I think a lattice top is pretty. I didn’t have any of it, so I don’t know how good it was, but it looked and smelt delicious.

Maple Oatmeal Pie – Better Homes and Gardens. The pie didn’t set, which I should have recognized it wouldn’t when I compared this recipe to a standard pecan pie recipe (too few eggs per liquid, not enough cooking time). Its new name is Granola Pie, because that’s what it really resembles. The flavour is good but the whole not-setting thing means I won’t make it again.

Apple Raspberry Pie – A combination recommended by one of my pie cookbooks. I don’t recommend it. Apple and blackberry is way more satisfying.

Raspberry Chiffon Pie – I took the idea from America’s Test Kitchen to layer the chiffon with a raw and cooked berry filling. It certainly added a much needed hit of flavour but left me wondering what the point was of the chiffon. Next time I’ll just make a regular raspberry pie.

Orange Cream Pie – Attempt #2– the meringue turned out perfectly, the pie didn’t set. One day I will get everything to work on the same day.

Orange Cream Pie – Barbara Swell. Fresh and light and satisfying. The pie crust will make or break this, so it has to be homemade. I posted the recipe to the main page on April 6, 2008.

Blueberry Pie – I’ve finished developing my own recipe, which I posted on March 30 2008. Not very sweet, just plain blueberry flavour, just the way I like it.

Chicken Pie – Chicken and vegetable pie flavoured with parsley and tarragon. My own off the top of my head recipe, pretty good but I need to work on my technique.

Key Lime Pie – My sister’s recipe. Creamy lime with a slight tang, in a graham cracker crust. Really good– I loved it. The recipe was posted to the blog on March 15 2008. Highly recommended.

Butter Tarts – A re-test of the butter tart recipe I have identified as being the best ever. Still to die for good.

Shoofly Pie – Killer Pies. It was OK, perfectly edible, but not a pie I intend to make again. The flavour is perfectly pleasing, but not heavenly, which is what I am aiming for as I build a pie repertoire.

Blueberry Pie – My own recipe, discussed in the March 1st post. Everything was perfect, except for the fact I didn’t put in enough cornstarch to counteract the leakage from frozen berries. 3/4 cup of sugar to 4 1/2 cups of berries is the perfect amount of sweetener.

Sweet Potato Pie – Paula Deen. Pretty good. I’m not sure about the meringue. I like whipped cream best with a squash pie. Mildly recommended.

Apple Sour Cream – Another try on my version of Carole Bloom’s recipe. It took forever to cook and I need to investigate whether it is due to my oven or the type of apples I like to use.

Normandy Tart – Always good.

Lemon Cream Meringue Pie – Nick Malghieri. Second go-round on this pie. It has great taste but I mucked up the meringue and it was hideous in looks and in the amount of leakage produced.

Congress Tarts – My mum’s recipe. Almond cake, raspberry jam, and a pastry shell makes a wonderful combination. The recipe was posted Feb 10 2008.

Coconut Cream Pie – Emeril Lagasse. A second try at this recipe, and it confirmed that this is a great pie. I think it’s the fact that this pie uses coconut milk as well as coconut that elevates it.

Maple Syrup Pie – “Killer Pies”. Good maple flavour, easy to make. It is very sweet and needs whipped cream– or maybe coffee, if you drink coffee– to cut some of the sweetness. Recommended, with the recipe posted February 2 2009.

Buttermilk Raisin Pie – Carole Bloom. Yuck.

Butter Tarts – Another try, and finally success. Really buttery and wonderful, so I posted the recipe to the main blog on January 21st 2008. Highly recommended.

Coconut Cream Pie – Emeril Lagasse. Very good. He says that two hours is enough to set the pie — mine was still oozy after two and a half, but no one seemed to care. Recommended.

Butter Tarts – I tried a couple of variations but this will be an ongoing project until I come up with something better than what you can buy in the coffee shop.

Apple-Raisin Galette – Tried mixed apples with the raisins. Listen to the cookbook writers, and now to me, and don’t try to bake with Macintosh apples. Experimented and discovered that flaky pie pastry works just fine for a galette-style fruit pie; tried making the “Joy of Cooking”‘s cockaigne pie pastry but thought it indistinguishable from the pastry I normally make.

Lemon Tart – Flo Braker. A thin, delicate tart with just the right balance of sour and sweet. The lemon curd has a pleasing creaminess. Recommended.

Chocolate Nut Pie – A variation on a pecan pie, with salted nuts and chocolate chips instead of pecans. A strong sweet/salty combination that my pie tasters loved. I personally found it too sweet. Strongly recommended for those who like sweet pies.

Apple Raisin Turnovers – My own “recipe”. I discovered that I prefer flaky pastry to puff pastry for turnovers and confirmed that I don’t like Granny Smiths for baking in an apple pie sort of setting. However, apples and raisins are a classic combination for me.

Banana Walnut – Tamsin Day-Lewis. Unusual, and edible, but not an “I love you” pie. Not a comfort pie, more a weird pie. Not recommended unless you are insanely in love with banana, cream cheese, and walnuts.

Osgood - Marion Cunningham/ Fannie Farmer cookbook. Sweet and rich. If you like walnuts and raisins, this is a good pie to make, and easy to do. Mildly recommended.

Apple Sour Cream – Carole Bloom. The streusel topping was an unexpected success, as was the sour cream filling. I made this with Golden Delicious apples instead of the Granny Smiths she recommends, because I prefer it when apples keep their shape in the pie, so I used less sugar than she recommends as well. I also did a plain cinnamon sugar topping instead of the walnut topping of the recipe (too expensive). Everyone seemed to love this pie. I will definitely make this again. The recipe was posted to the main page on November 15th 2007. Recommended.
Lemon Cream Meringue – Nick Malghieri. Nice lemon flavour, not too intense, and I liked his recommendation to do a swiss meringue to stop shrinkage. Easy to make and light and pleasing to eat. The only caveat is that you need to make the cream the same day you assemble the pie in order for it to set properly. He says you can do it the day before – you can’t, if you want it to spread in the pie shell. It got good reviews from the taste testers. I’ll make it again. Recommended.

Pear Turnovers – Sour cream pastry with a filling of spiced pears. A success, and a freezer full of turnovers I now need to get rid of.

Apple Pie - Try #2. Way better, but I seem to have lost my touch. It turned out OK, but wasn’t enough to wipe out last week’s failure. This pie needed more sugar, more spices, and a lighter hand with the pastry. I guess it’s a good thing I am practicing pie making this year.

Apple Pie – I burnt it. But it wasn’t my fault!

Apricot/ Normandy Tart – my mum’s recipe. This tart has never not turned out, is dead simple to make, and does not want any accompaniment. It’s highly recommended which is why I posted the recipe to the main blog in October 2007.

Banana Cream Pie – Dorie Greenspan. The spices and brown sugar in the custard go well with the banana. If you like banana cream pie, then this is a good recipe to try out. If you’re not a fan of cream pies, this is not the pie to convert you. Neutral recommendation.

Cherry Cream Pie – James McNair recipe. Pink, sweet, junk-food like, without much flavour. My guinea pigs thought it was edible. My friend’s husband would have been willing to eat more, I think, but the disgust the rest of us expressed with the pie put him off taking any home with him. Not recommended.

Treacle Tart – BBC Food site recipe. Intensely sweet, and the strong lemon/golden syrup flavour was slightly unpleasant. You could eat it in small slices, but the crowd of people who tried it were unenthusiastic. Not recommended.

Coconut Cream Pie – Nick Malghieri recipe. Custard was curd-like rather than creamy and the fresh coconut was gritty rather than chewy. My dad, who ate it, said it he liked it, but he didn’t go back for seconds. Not recommended.