Happy Pi Day, Nerds!

It's a special Pi Day this year, it being 3/14/15, and to round out the nerdiness, this was posted at 9:26. Not exactly "pie" day, but close enough.

Nerds Celebrate Pi Day...Eat Pie

Check it out here, here, and here.

Bite Size Pumpkin Pies

Admit it - you're going to a Halloween party. You've been thinking about your costume for months.  You think you've figured out how to walk that line between cute and slutty, or - if you're a man - between nerdy and lame. (I am on the fence between a 60's style star trek ensign or a grotesque Alien/Prometheus themed costume with my dog bursting out of my fake bloody stomach.) And now you have to figure out what to bring. Here's an idea: bite size pumpkin pies. Before you scroll through the photos and decide these look too time-consuming, I will alert you that I put an easy alternative recipe with store-bought pie crust and canned pumpkin below (even though I refuse to use canned pumpkin).

You really don't need two pie pumpkins for this recipe. One medium pie pumpkin contains about 4 cups of pulp, which is enough to make 2 pies or about 48 bite-size pies. 

First things first; stab the pumpkin or pumpkins all the way through a la Garth when he is stabbing the donut cadaver in Wayne's World. Or not. Bake at 350 for about an hour, until a knife is inserted easily at the top, in the middle, and at the bottom of the pumpkin.   

Cool the pumpkin. The skin will peel off easily. Scrape out the pumpkin innards and discard (or make baked pumpkin seeds, which in my opinion is not worth your time, but whatever).

The cooked pumpkin has a stringy quality somewhat like, but not as pronounced as, spaghetti squash. 

Put 2 cups of cooked pumpkin in a food processor. Add 3/4 cup of sugar and 3 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.

Turn the food processor on, and add 1 cup of half and half.

Break 3 eggs into a bowl.

And beat them lightly, then add to the food processor until the filling is well blended. Don't worry if the filling has a more watery texture than you expected; it will be fine. 

Set aside.  Roll out the tried-and-true pie crust. (A butter crust would also be excellent for these.)

Roll out as much as possible. Make it slightly thinner than for a regular pie, less than 1/8 inch. If you're using store-bought crust, roll it out slightly.

And use a regular glass (that is about 4 inches in diameter or 30% larger than the mini muffins) to cut small crusts.

Butter a mini muffin pan or spray it with Pam, then press the disks into the pan so that the edge of the dough is even with the edge of each little cup. You may have to use additional pieces to cover the areas where the dough breaks. Don't feel bad if they look marred:

 Fill almost to the top with filling.

They will puff up considerably as they bake, but then flatten out a bit once they cool.

They don't look perfect, but they are yummy, fun, and good for a party.

Once they have cooled to room temperature, refrigerate for at least a few hours before serving.  Meanwhile, make spiced whipped cream, because you're fancy like that.

Put 2 cups of heavy whipping cream, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla into the mixer (or you can use a hand mixer or make your man whip vigorously). As it mixes, add a few dashes of pumpkin pie spice and a few additional dashes of cinnamon. Mix on high until it is firm, similar to the texture of Cool Whip or even firmer. Viola! Spiced whipped cream. 

Spread on the pie and enjoy.

Red nails - go Cards!

UPDATE:  I made these again for a Halloween party. This time I used butter crust and bought piping bags. I also added 1/4 cup of half and half to the whipped cream to make it smoother. The pies turned out even better.

I had enough dough and filling to make 2 dozen bite size pies and two mini pies (not pictured). This recipe should yield between 2 and 3 dozen bite size pies. 

If you think making these tiny pies is tedious, the same recipe below can be used to make one deep dish pumpkin pie (although, I will do a separate post on that too). 

Bite Size Pumpkin Pies (with pie pumpkins)

Make this crust.

2 cups cooked pumpkin (pie pumpkins, pierced and baked at 350 for 1 hour)
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup half and half
1/4 teaspoon salt

Combine pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt in food processor.  Blend in eggs and half and half.  Roll out dough to as thin as possible without breaking and cut into 4-inch in diameter disks.  Press into buttered (or sprayed with Pam) muffin tin.  Bake in 400 degree oven until knife comes out clean. (Bake about 40 to 45 minutes.)

Makes at least 2 dozen (and possibly more).  Best served cold.

Bite Size Pumpkin Pies (the easy way)

Individual pie crusts like these 

One 15 ounce can of pumpkin pie filling
3/4 cup sugar

3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup half and half

1/4 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, mix (with a spoon, whisk or hand mixer on low) canned pumpkin, sugar, eggs, half and half and salt until it is a smooth and even texture.  If you have a rolling pin, flour and roll the dough until it is slightly thinner (if not, that's ok) and cut into 4-inch in diameter disks.  Press into buttered (or sprayed with Pam) muffin tin.  Bake in 400 degree oven until knife comes out clean. (Bake about 40 to 45 minutes.)

Makes at least 2 dozen (and possibly more).  Best served cold. 

Spiced Whipped Cream

2 cups heavy whipping cream

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2-3 dashes pumpkin pie spice (to taste)

2 dashes cinnamon 

Mix the ingredients on medium-high speed until it resembles cool whip or the desired whipped-creamy texture.  If you find the whipped cream is too thick for you, add 2 tablespoons to a quarter cup of half and half as it mixes until it reaches the desired texture.  This will smooth out the whipped cream considerably. 

Geeky Pies

13 Deliciously Geeky Pies

A Scottish Pie (that won't be going on my list)

Bite-Size Blueberry Pies

Because you love me but you just don't know it yet, I give you bite-size blueberry pies! I thought I was so clever when I came up with this. Miniaturize something - how original! I thought I was even more clever with my inadvertent alliteration when I listened to Brothers by the Black Keys while making bite-size blueberry pies (followed by a sigh and a moment of deep self-loathing).

I took these pies to Shakespeare in the Park, solving the age-old problem of how to include pie on a picnic menu without making a mess. I may use this recipe for pies that I can ship to friends in other cities as gifts (don't get your hopes up, guys).  

I used my tried-and-true crust recipe, seen here. I wasn't sure how the proportions would turn out, so I made enough dough and enough filling for one pie. I ended up with leftover filling, so my recipe below adjusts the blueberries and other ingredients to the right amount. Fortunately, the additional filling allowed me to try this recipe twice in one week.

First, I brushed the mini cupcake tins with melted butter. 

Next, I rolled out the dough, used a glass to cut it into rounds, and pressed them into the cupcake tins.

Then I made the filling and filled the tins to the edge so that they were full but not overflowing. And I morphed into a wannabe Martha Stewart and made teeny-tiny lattice crusts.

But my Marthaesque perfectionism was thwarted when they came out looking like this! I was convinced they were ruined and was deeply saddened by my mini pie failure!  

Reeling over my first world problems, I was delighted that they came out of the tins looking like this:

The lattice crust pies were yummy - sweet, tart, and flaky - but there was not quite enough filling in them. Obviously, some was lost when the filling overflowed. To prevent this, next time I will use more constarch or switch to tapioca. I may also mash the blueberries a bit so they will not explode, as I'm convinced that has something to do with the filling overflowing.

Two days later, I tried again with the leftover filling, which I did not alter. This time I opted for a single crust on top rather than a lattice crust. I thought this might help with the overflowing problem. This mitigated the problem but had some collateral consequences, seen below. 

I brushed the pies with egg whites, as I did with the lattice pies, but I forgot to sprinkle them with sugar. The sugar on top is important - it adds a sweet crunch, which is nice because these will probably not be served with ice cream.
   

This batch didn't overflow quite as much, but they ended up being a bit soggy on the bottom. 

These reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.

So I had to add a tiny scoop of ice cream...

Sadly, even though I made these creature-sized delights, the creatures just weren't that into it.

Oh well.

Bite-Size Blueberry Pies

Crust seen here.

Filling: 

3 cups of blueberries

2/3 cup of sugar, plus 1 tablespoon of sugar set aside

3 tablespoons cornstarch or quick-cooking tapioca (this is 1/3 more than I used in the pies shown above)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice 

3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1/8 teaspoon salt 

2-3 tablespoons salted butter, half cut into small pieces and half melted

1 egg, separated

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice & rind, and salt. Let stand for 15 minutes. Cut butter and set aside.

Roll out dough to about 1/8 inch or slightly thinner. Cut rounds with a large glass or cookie cutter. Brush pie tins with melted butter, and press dough rounds into the tins. 

Fill the pies until the filling reaches the edge. Do not overfill. Dot each pie with butter, then cover with tiny lattice or single crusts. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 20 minutes or until top crust is light brown and filling is bubbly.

Enjoy!

Pie Street Art

And So It Begins...

I have been talking about starting this blog for about a year now, and because I've made four pies in as many weeks, I think now is the time to do it. Not to mention that I have been unemployed for almost a month (my law firm having been woefully mismanaged, resulting in its insolvency and my sudden, unexpected return to the job market).  

I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Julia. This is me: 

I typically look less cheerful and wear glasses, so here is a picture of me pretending to be a hipster:

(After I took this I drank a PBR and misused the word "irony.")

I'm 27, a lawyer, a big nerd, and an unabashed pie lover. When I'm not talking about food, I am busy spoiling these creatures:

This is my blogger doppelganger: http://www.filing-jointly.com/. See her blog for love of P&P and Colin Firth, membership on the Science Olympiad team and general high school nerdiness, crazy ridiculous long arms, and a tendency to do embarrassing things (I am not, however, married and will probably refrain from including my dating misadventures on this blog).

I have had a running list of blog names for about nine months now, with many clever contributions from family members, particularly my brother. But the idea for "The Zen of Pie" struck me suddenly this weekend while I was at my friend's wedding. I was involved in yet another conversation about apple pie (my worldview having narrowed recently to worrying about unemployment and thinking about pie) when another bridesmaid mentioned that she simply had to make an apple pie recently in order to relax. To her, peeling the apples is therapeutic.  I, too, find peeling apples therapeutic - the way I imagine meditation would help me relax if I could do it without dozing off. This is why I love to bake pie - the process - the beauty in each step that leads to a sweet reward.  

And so it begins...The Zen of Pie.