Red and Yellow Heaven

Finally, the time has come. Time to make my favorite pie. In my eyes, this pie is and always will be the best pie the world has ever had the privilege to hold. I am of course talking of the banana cream pie. This is actually a variation of the banana cream pie, I am adding strawberries as well. Luckily, my favorite book when it comes to baking pies, A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies, had a recipe that provided the necessary instructions. I began by gathering my materials.

"1 Pie crust

5 Egg Yolks

1  cup of evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups of milk

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp of Sugar

1/4 cup of corn starch

1/8 tsp of salt

1 vanilla bean

2 bananas

8 fresh strawberries" (English 87)

The beginning of baking this may seem extremely similar to the vanilla cream pie that I made, but that is because it is essentially the same recipe, you just add bananas and strawberries. That being said, I extracted the yolks from the eggs, 

Me extracting the yolks from the eggs

and stirred the sugar, corn starch, and salt together. Then I mixed them together with the milk and the evaporated milk, and added the vanilla bean. I cooked that until it was thick, and while this was happening, I baked the pie crust. Afterwards, I sliced up the bananas and the strawberries, and layered it in the pie crust in a checker pattern (English 87) along with the cream mixture. 

Me layering the strawberries and bananas.

I did that until the pie was full of bananas, strawberries, and cream.

Finished pie

I believe that this is the end of my journey. It has been a fun one and I have learned a lot about baking along the way. I couldn't have done it without the help of  A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies by Ashley English. This pie was by far my favorite, not just to eat, but to make as well. Layering the strawberries and bananas was the best part. what is your favorite part of making a pie, or baking in general?

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.

Cheese Please

          For my fourth pie, I decided I wanted something a little cheesy. I wanted something sweet, but a little bit of shower at the same time. That is why I chose to make a lemon cheesecake pie. I chose to follow directions once again from A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of  Home Baked Pies. 
          I began by gathering my materials which consisted of

• "16 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 cup of lemon juice
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup kosher salt
• 1 pie crust" (English 132).

         I then mixed the food together in a mixer until the mixture was smooth (English 132)

Me mixing the mixture

         While I was doing this, I baked the pie crust until golden brown at 330 degrees. once the mixture was stirred, I poured it into the crust, and baked it for 40 mins.

Me pouring the mixture into the pie crust

Me putting the unbaked pie into the oven. 

 After the pie was done baking, I let it cool, and then chilled it for about four hours. The pie turned out to be really good. I am actually eating a piece of it while I am writing this. It could have been better though, I personally think that the lemon flavor could be a little more present. When cooking this, I used lemon juice from a bottle. When you are baking with fruit juices, do you prefer to use juice you squeezed yourself, or manufactured juice?

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.

Creamy Delight

All pies have their own unique beauty, but in my eyes, none compare to the glory of my favorite type of pie, the cream pie. This time, it is a vanilla cream pie. Still taking guidance from the renowned scripture, A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies By Ashley English, I dove into this project with delight. The recipe called for these materials: 

• "1 Pie crust
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 1  cup of evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp of Sugar
• 1/4 cup of corn starch
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1 vanilla bean" (English 85).

I started by mixing the sugar corn starch and salt together, then I separated the egg yolks from the egg whites, and mixed the two together along with some evaporated milk. Then, following instructions from a different page, I pre-baked my pie crust. First for about 25 mins with foil and a pie weight. The book said that instead of using specialized pie weights, I could just fill a pot a quarter of the way full and place it on top (English 82), Then for 10 minutes without anything on top. While that was in the oven, I split open the vanilla bean, and scraped its insides into the mixture of eggs and such. I then cooked that until thick.

Me stirring said mixture

When the crust was ready and the mixture was thickened to a cream, I poured the mixture into the crust

Mixture and crust separated

Finished product

Afterwards, the pie was complete. This pie is a great stepping stone for other pies in the creamy genre. It is the base of almost all cream pies. I will probably make another cream pie because like I said before, this is my favorite kind of pie. When I made this pie my dad had previously baked the crust, and it was sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. When you make a pie, do you prefer to make your own crust, or buy a pre-made crust from the store?

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.

The Apple of my Pie

          As wonderful and extravagant as pies can be, there must be a base. Something that other pies can always look to for guidance. A pomey rock for all pastries to lean on. I am of course talking of the apple pie. The next stop on my pie baking journey would be here, where I would bake the best apple pie this earth has ever witnessed. I still took guidance from the amazing book "A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies".

          I started by gathering the materials required for birthing perfection.

• "Pie Crust (I just bought a pre-baked crust from the store because I didn't feel like going through the trouble of baking one again)
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 3 lbs baking apples (Golden Delicious)
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/3 tsp ground cinnnamon
• 1 egg" (English 25)

          I started by peeling and slicing each apple into eights, and tossing them in a bowl with sugar and lemon juice. 

Apples in a bowl with sugar

           I then put that mixture in a pan and cooked them until the sugar had dissolved, and the juices from the apples had come out (English 25). 

Me cooking and stirring the apples.

          Afterwards, strained the juices from the apples, and caramelized the juices. Then, I put the juice back in the bowl with the apples and added cinnamon. afterwards, I pressed the dough into a pie pan, poured the apple mix into the pan on top of the dough, and covered the mixture with another layer of dough, and sealed it. I then made vent slits in the dough, and added my own personal touch.

Pie before it was baked, signed by yours truly.

     I then refrigerated the pie for about 15 mins before putting it in the oven for 50 mins.

         Finally, it was done. Perfection incarnate birthed into our world by a lowly pie baking trainee.

Finished pie

         Perfection incarnate of course was not a description of this pie, but a name given to it by a very confusing pie trainee. The pie was not without its flaws, but it still tasted good. My only complaint was the apple chunks were a bit thick. Is there a way that I can make the apple slices thinner without cutting them? 

         The second stop on my quest to be the best pie maker the world has ever seen is in the past. Maybe next time I will birth the greatest, most delicious pie ever, but we will not know until then.

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.

Baking a Pie Crust

           Pie. Just the sound of that word can cause mouths to water the second it reaches their ears. I have always loved pies and my family has as well. I have not been the best cook throughout my life whether that be because of my lack of interest until recently, or because I haven't had much practice. Either way, I figured since I loved pie so much and wanted to work on my cooking skills, for this project I would learn to bake different kinds of pies. To do this I have chosen the book "A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies". This book illustrates how to bake all different types of pies, from strawberry crumble, to caramelized onion and cheese. This book not only gives instructions, but also provides backgrounds about when and where to bake these pies.

           Since I am so new to the art of pie making, I thought I would start with some basics. The foundation of the savory goodness that is a pie. The crust. 

• "2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• chilled and cubed 3/5 cups ice water" (English 21).

Me with the ingredients called for

After I had gathered all of the ingredients, I compiled them as it told me to do, and then preheated the oven for 350 degrees. I then put the uncooked crust in the oven. (Usually you wouldn't bake the crust before you bake the pie, but since I am not baking a pie, I baked the crust). I left it in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 mins (English 21), then took it out. 

Me taking the pie crust out of the oven

The crust turned out okay, but it did end up a little dry. If I had baked the crust for a shorter amount of time, would the pie not have turned out as dry?

The first step of my Pie baking journey is complete, and I cannot wait to continue my quest to be the pie baking master.

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.