Double-Pie Birthday Edition: Chocolate Cream and Strawberry Rhubarb!

Yesterday, in honor of Suzanne's birthday, I made two pies: a chocolate cream pie with a whipped cream topping, and a strawberry rhubarb pie with a closed top.

For info about the making of, keep reading below.

Peach-Strawberry Pie with Lattice Top

This was the same recipe(s) as last week's Peach Pie, only with about a cup of sliced strawberries substituted in for peaches. By and large it was a success, though in some ways slightly disappointing after last week's peachy perfection.

Comments and reviews below, after the pretty picture.

Peach Pie with Lattice Top

This may have been even better than the Marionberry pie. I used exactly the same crust recipe, and it worked very well. The peach pie filling recipe is from the Baking Illustrated book.

How did it taste?

Pretty much like summer perfection. I was hoping for a bit more peach blast. But I think this is actually a good balance: not too tart, not too sweet. Definitely the taste of fresh summer peaches. I sort of craved more cinnamon, more lemon, more sugar- but all of those might have actually made it taste less like the fruit itself, and the fruit is what's important here. Next time I may be tempted to experiment a bit more but for now it's just right.

How Was The Texture?

Good. I'd put in a bit less starch next time, since it had a slight tendency to gumminess; but the texture of the peaches themselves seems unaffected, and the filling had great structure and wasn't loose at all. 

Tomato and Cheddar Pie!

Another savory pie, this one from a recipe in a Bon Appetit magazine. I don't usually get recipes from magazines... but this magazine was staring me down, it had a pie theme, and this one jumped out at me once I started browsing. Not too hard to make... but will it taste good? Let's find out.

Here's what it looked like fresh out of the oven:

Sadly, after letting it sit for an interminable hour (the recipe calls for 1-3 hours of waiting!) I cut it open and it turned to a mushy gooey liquid mess. I'm not yet sure what I did wrong but it must have been something substantial.

It still tasted good, and the crust (for which I decided to stick with Mark Bittman's recipe (see last Sunday's marionberry pie post), with no sugar and a little whole wheat flour added) was great. But the center just didn't come together. I don't know why.

The recipe:
http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/08/tomato-and-cheddar-pie

Well, the two reasons I'm so pie-centric right now are (1) to eat pie; (2) to learn how to bake great pies.
Chalk this one up to a learning experience toward the second goal.

Bean Pie (with Millet Crust)

This one's really a savory tart, not a pie. I don't care! Enjoy. (I'm on track to make three pies this week, so stay tuned. This is just a practice round.)

First Pie! Marionberry with Lattice Top

Welcome! This isn't my first pie ever (though I haven't made many in my life, maybe five or six in my life?). But this is my first pie in the pie-a-week project. It came out far better than expected.
First, pictures: