Funeral Pie

I've made so many pies on this journey it's hard to say which one is my favorite.  But if you asked me today, i'd say its this Funeral Pie.  I came upon the recipe in Hoosier Mama Book of Pie.  Funeral Pies got their name from the Pennsylvania Amish.  The Indiana Amish refer to this pie as a wedding pie.  While there may be disagreement over the name, there is no mistaking how delicious this pie really is.  This pie is everything you want in a wintery dessert:  spice, fruit, and a little splash of rum.  

  

bon appétit, 

Kelsey

Sweet Cream Pie

For Christmas, my mom made up the cutest package of pie baking essentials, including pie print tea towels, a new pie dish and carrier, and a pie recipe book {which was long overdue.  I guess bye, Pinterest, hello Hoosier Mama Pies}.  And while I eventually want to start testing my own recipes, this book provided a great start to get creative with different recipes, including numerous suggestions for substitutes.  I knew I wanted to continue to perfect the pie crust this week {check out last week's post about the class I took}, so I kept the filling simple {a quick stir of heavy cream, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, and flour}.  While the pie was a bit too sweet for me {I shouldn't be surprised with those ingredients}, the {almost perfect} flaky crust made up for it!

P.S.  While i'm usually a "peeker" at Christmas {I hate being surprised--I'd rather know what I get months ahead of time} my mom completely surprised me and gifted me this camera.  I only shot the final pic of this pie with my new camera, but I look forward to much better quality pictures for the blog in future posts {and not just pictures of the LCD screen}!

bon appétit,

Kelsey

Perfecting The Pie {Crust}

I headed north {Boston to be exact} to celebrate the holidays at home.  Before this pie baking journey began, my mom asked if I wanted to take a baking class at King Arthur Flour in Vermont while I was home.  I quickly jumped on the opportunity, and when the December class schedule was posted, I was ecstatic to see "Easy as Pie," which fit in perfectly to our jam-packed schedule.  The class' main focus was perfecting the pie crust {which, lets be honest, I'm not even close to perfecting even after eighteen pies}.  I learned new tips and tricks that have definitely progressed my pie-dough-making skills {I knew pie dough was tricky, but there really are so many intricate details of how the dough should look, feel, the size of the butter, the strings of gluten, etc, it was all a bit overwhelming.  Walking away with just a few tricks to help my pie crusts was a win in my book}.  We baked two different pies {A traditional Pumpkin Pie and an Apple, Pear, Cranberry Pie with a Double Crust}.  My mom took the class, too, so we left with four {4!!!} pies, which were all devoured by the end of my visit.

Recipe c/o King Arthur Flour

bon appétit,
Kelsey