Let Them Eat Pie!

Do you remember the phrase supposedly spoken by Marie Antoinette …Let them eat Cake…I say, Let Them Eat Pie!  Let us all eat Pie! 

 Today I want to talk about Pies!!!

 

 

I love pies…..there is nothing greater than a pie cooling on an open window sill, with a frilly curtain fluttering in the breeze.

 

 

Oh, wait…that is the dreamer in me….and the Norman Rockwell view of life!

 

We can’t all have butterflies….though I love butterflies! Wish my window looked like that! 

 

 

Reality is…there are screens on most windows and if there are no bug issues, a pretty little bird might fly to your window and tweet his song or do other ordinary “things”. 

Better keep the pie on the counter…it is pretty on a counter too! 😉

There are all kinds of Pies and perhaps it is because we are more health conscious, but it seems to me not a whole lot of people make pies anymore!

Pies used to be more prominent after Sunday Dinners and Poets have written prose about pies!

Perhaps you will remember some of the children’s rhymes about pies,

Below are a few of them:

• Little Jack Horner….eating his Christmas Pie
• Sing a Song of Sixpense…four and twenty black birds baked in a pie
• Georgie Porgie …pudding and pie    
• Simple Simon…met a pie man
• The Queen of Hearts….she made some tarts!

 

And did you know that birds are actually baked in a pie? Well, usually only one black bird, … I suppose the bird could be any color, but I have only seen black birds with yellow beaks wide open, such as the picture below illustrates. 

This bird is called a Pie Bird and is used to prevent pie filling from boiling up and leaking through the crust by allowing steam to escape from inside the pie.  Older ovens had more problems with uniform heating, and the pie bird prevented boil-over in pie baking.  Pie Birds are making a comeback…this trend has been particularly noticeable in recent times, due to their increasing popularity as gifts and collectors’ items. 

Have you heard of Baking Beads?… (see above and no, they are not to be worn while you bake pies) ;).

Blind Baking? No blindfolds here… and Docking? Has nothing to do with boat docks or docking a dog’s tail… 😉

Blind Baking refers to baking the single crust pie before adding a filling and this can be  done by using the Baking Beads….or beans!  I keep a jar of pinto beans (clearly labeled) to be used for Blind Baking.  

If you have ever had a pie crust puff up in places you don’t want it to puff up…you need to Blind Bake your crust.  You can also partially blind bake a crust.  Just bake it long enough to get a firm texture on the bottom and then put in your filling.  This works great for Pumpkin Pies.

Docking is simply pricking the crust with a fork…which my Mother always did…however, some custard based fillings will seep through the holes and cause the crust to get soggy.  

Another thing to note is most cream pies call for the eggs to be separated and instead of wondering what to do with the left over egg whites….you make meringue! If a cream pie calls for 3 eggs, the meringue will call for 3 egg whites! 

UNLIKE hot dogs numbering 10 and hot dog buns numbering 8!  I just hate that don’t you? 🙂

Speaking of separating eggs, a friend of mine from Seattle sent me a “you tube” instruction for an easy way to separate the egg from the white. I had seen it demonstrated before, but I have not tried it. Thanks Sonja! (Click on the link below to see the video)

www.youtube.com/embed/iAp8pEaWB1Y

There are so many types and kinds of pies and to elaborate just a bit on Raisin Pie,…. some of you may not know this,… but there are several recipes with variations on Raisin Pie…Raisin Cream Pie, Raisin Meringue Pie and Raisin Tartlets which are little pies. 

I am going to give you some of the recipes handed down to me by my Grandmothers’ (both sides of the family) and perhaps you might want to bake a pie of your choice if you don’t already have a favorite.

I still make pies and the Captain loves to eat them!  If you think you would like to make a pie, I have quite a few recipes following this post.  Or if you like, you can visit the Pie category to see if there is a pie calling your name and if so…let’s get baking!

 Me