Winter- my favorite is Kentucky Derby pie, basically pecan pie with chocolate chips (and maybe a dash of bourbon). Summer- Key lime pie. Every time I make a pecan pie, I use my mother’s recipe, and think of the joy of baking around family holidays and being in the kitchen with her.
I love pie- but I am now gluten free. However, for thanksgiving or Christmas my wonderful niece makes lots of little individual pies— and makes sure I end up with a box of little GF pies: blueberry, pumpkin, apple, key lime, and sometimes others. Those pies always make me feel loved! And they can be frozen, so I don’t eat them all at once!
Growing up in a family that made the best pie crust on earth, my favorite pie was hot, cold or warm, with special attention to the crust. Next in line in my favorite list was chocolate cream, strawberry rhubarb custard, and lemon custard.
When my autoimmune condition made becoming gluten-free a necessity, the biggest miss was those wonderful crusts cradling fabulous filling. Fortunately, my creative husband found a gluten-free recipe that’s close enough to my memory of the great crusts of old, that I can enjoy “pies” again.
Here’s a fun poem I wrote in appreciation of our now-annual “Apple Pi” that I posted in my SubStack yesterday:
My grandmother's lemon meringue with just the right amount of brown on the meringue... then again there is the strawberry cream cheese cake pie I had on days as a teenager... then it was Sharon's gluten free blueberry pie. Each flavor and texture nurturing a different phase of living.
My "adopted" niece wanted her grandmother's pies for her wedding reception. Her grandmother makes wonderful pies, and coordinated a massive pie-making endeavor by the family. First we made a bunch of gluten-free pies, then cleared those away to make wheat-crust pies. I can't remember all of the flavors. Working in an AirBnB kitchen w/unfamiliar ovens was a challenge, but we still had much fun cutting up fruit and making pies together!
Oh Susan, what a great memory….and that’s love making all those pies for the wedding. I love that is what your adopted niece wanted. AND making them all in an AirBnB!!!
You totally cracked me up with this one…thanks bill. Euchre is kind of a thing in the Midwest for sure. We’ll agree to meet for a piece of pie and all is well.
I’m not really a fruit pie lover, although my mom and dad made (she made the crust and filling and he peeled and sliced the apples) a delicious apple pie. But I do love a pizza pie! In fact tomorrow I’ll be eating pizza on “pi day.”
I love Dutch apple with the crumbly top crust. My daughter used to tell me she liked the one from the pie shop better. Ha! Mine was like apple crisp. Now she makes it like I do.
It’s so funny how our children “come around” to things we did or taughter…later. But rolled their eyes at the time. I remember getting a phone call when my daughter was graduating from college to thank me for teaching her to iron a shirt….she was doing interviews and so were her friends…and she was ironing everyone’s shirts because no one knew how to do it. :-)
Not exactly a pie story, but close. Years ago I stopped at a local diner and ordered cheesecake and coffee. The cheesecake they served was prepared in a pie pan, and the waitress had apparently been told to warm all the pies in the microwave. Yep, I ate warm cheesecake, mostly with a spoon, it was still delicious, and I didn’t have the heart to say a word.
My daughter is a pie maker. She has a degree in mathematics, but as she was finishing her degree, she realized that she really wanted to explore pie making. And I have definitely loved and benefitted from her Pi knowledge and her pie baking! Her dreams of having a pie shop were sidelined in 2020, but her passion and creativity in pie making are still welling up from deep within her. She has perfected pie crusts and can crank them out in no time. She had created and recreated all types of fillings for those flaky crusts! She creates pies for weddings, birthdays, showers, and most of all, charities. I can’t seem to show you pictures but I will share some of my favorite flavors.
Bourbon pecan, cherry pistachio, caramel apple, lingonberry, blueberry peach, Mexican chocolate…I could go on and on!!!
Oh my…these sound like AMAZING pies. I know…for the time being, substack does have function for sharing photos directly. But you can link to a website. So if there is a website that shows her beautiful and original creations, please share :-)
My grandmother's (Mama-Lou) pecan pie and peach cobbler, both nut and fruit grown on her Texas property. I so miss her and her baking!
Winter- my favorite is Kentucky Derby pie, basically pecan pie with chocolate chips (and maybe a dash of bourbon). Summer- Key lime pie. Every time I make a pecan pie, I use my mother’s recipe, and think of the joy of baking around family holidays and being in the kitchen with her.
I love pie- but I am now gluten free. However, for thanksgiving or Christmas my wonderful niece makes lots of little individual pies— and makes sure I end up with a box of little GF pies: blueberry, pumpkin, apple, key lime, and sometimes others. Those pies always make me feel loved! And they can be frozen, so I don’t eat them all at once!
Growing up in a family that made the best pie crust on earth, my favorite pie was hot, cold or warm, with special attention to the crust. Next in line in my favorite list was chocolate cream, strawberry rhubarb custard, and lemon custard.
When my autoimmune condition made becoming gluten-free a necessity, the biggest miss was those wonderful crusts cradling fabulous filling. Fortunately, my creative husband found a gluten-free recipe that’s close enough to my memory of the great crusts of old, that I can enjoy “pies” again.
Here’s a fun poem I wrote in appreciation of our now-annual “Apple Pi” that I posted in my SubStack yesterday:
Pi Day Punny
Upon learning it was Pi Day today,
my husband, a former
pastry chef, popped in the kitchen to say:
“To celebrate Pi Day, out of those fresh apples,
I’ll make a flaky french pastry”
Delighted, I replied:
“As long as you make it with flour
gluten-free
and you serve it at the hour
of afternoon tea...
galette it be!”
M.A. Hastings
March 14, 2021
:)
My grandmother's lemon meringue with just the right amount of brown on the meringue... then again there is the strawberry cream cheese cake pie I had on days as a teenager... then it was Sharon's gluten free blueberry pie. Each flavor and texture nurturing a different phase of living.
My aunt used to make a mean apple pie with Granny Smith apples. Thanks for bringing back that memory!
And I am hearing AndI McDowelll’s character “Dorothy “ in the movie Michael. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uQYBGCESGzY
I forgot about the pie song in that movie. And I seem to remember “Michael” was an angel that women thought smelled like fresh baked cookies :P-)
My favorite John Travolta film. He is an Angel, Smells like cookies and he dances! What could be more perfect
My "adopted" niece wanted her grandmother's pies for her wedding reception. Her grandmother makes wonderful pies, and coordinated a massive pie-making endeavor by the family. First we made a bunch of gluten-free pies, then cleared those away to make wheat-crust pies. I can't remember all of the flavors. Working in an AirBnB kitchen w/unfamiliar ovens was a challenge, but we still had much fun cutting up fruit and making pies together!
Oh Susan, what a great memory….and that’s love making all those pies for the wedding. I love that is what your adopted niece wanted. AND making them all in an AirBnB!!!
Gravenstein apples from Sebastapol, CA
made into a delicious traditional pastry rustic crust pie by Mom
... and Dad performing a heartfelt consideration to all
making an extra trip
... just to straighten-up the edges
I fully agree with your pie point of view and forgive you for your euchre comment.
You totally cracked me up with this one…thanks bill. Euchre is kind of a thing in the Midwest for sure. We’ll agree to meet for a piece of pie and all is well.
I’m not really a fruit pie lover, although my mom and dad made (she made the crust and filling and he peeled and sliced the apples) a delicious apple pie. But I do love a pizza pie! In fact tomorrow I’ll be eating pizza on “pi day.”
Pizza pie is a wonderful thing too! Have a great Pi Day!
I love Dutch apple with the crumbly top crust. My daughter used to tell me she liked the one from the pie shop better. Ha! Mine was like apple crisp. Now she makes it like I do.
It’s so funny how our children “come around” to things we did or taughter…later. But rolled their eyes at the time. I remember getting a phone call when my daughter was graduating from college to thank me for teaching her to iron a shirt….she was doing interviews and so were her friends…and she was ironing everyone’s shirts because no one knew how to do it. :-)
Not exactly a pie story, but close. Years ago I stopped at a local diner and ordered cheesecake and coffee. The cheesecake they served was prepared in a pie pan, and the waitress had apparently been told to warm all the pies in the microwave. Yep, I ate warm cheesecake, mostly with a spoon, it was still delicious, and I didn’t have the heart to say a word.
You are a good hearted soul my friend. This is one of my favorite pie stories :-)
The today it is the pecan ie my son baked. He owns a bakery.
As a young woman it was a peach cobbler made by the methodist preacher’s wife.
My daughter is a pie maker. She has a degree in mathematics, but as she was finishing her degree, she realized that she really wanted to explore pie making. And I have definitely loved and benefitted from her Pi knowledge and her pie baking! Her dreams of having a pie shop were sidelined in 2020, but her passion and creativity in pie making are still welling up from deep within her. She has perfected pie crusts and can crank them out in no time. She had created and recreated all types of fillings for those flaky crusts! She creates pies for weddings, birthdays, showers, and most of all, charities. I can’t seem to show you pictures but I will share some of my favorite flavors.
Bourbon pecan, cherry pistachio, caramel apple, lingonberry, blueberry peach, Mexican chocolate…I could go on and on!!!
Now I’m hungry.
Oh my…these sound like AMAZING pies. I know…for the time being, substack does have function for sharing photos directly. But you can link to a website. So if there is a website that shows her beautiful and original creations, please share :-)