Marionberry Pie

At request from my friend Barb, who's known me since before I was old enough to vote, I made a fruit pie using local fruit. However, since it's the dead of winter/beginning of spring, the fruit in question was frozen. Marionberries are pretty much the best berry ever, in case you weren't aware. So it's a Marionberry pie.

Maple Cream Pie

Here in the dead of winter, there isn't a lot of fresh fruit in season. But we do have sugar and dairy. So why not make a Maple Cream Pie?

Pumpkin Pumpkin Pumpkin

A reprise of my earlier pumpkin pie from October, only this time I think it turned out even better. I used Carolyn's all-butter crust technique. What's interesting is, I made it in a hurry, late late late, and cut corners, and basically did all the stuff that would usually make for a piesaster. But in this case, somehow it turned out pretty great: the filling (which Suzanne did the hard work on, because I was in such a calamitous rush) was creamy and pumpkiny and custardly delicious; the crust was flaky and crispy and buttery and light. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos of the bourbon-cinnamon-vanilla whipped cream that I served it with. That really took it the extra step.

Dueling Caramel Apple Pies

While we were gallivanting around celebrating Thanksgiving, some excellent neighbors fed and entertained our gluttonous, attention-starved cats. As a reward, I promised each of them a pie. (The neighbors, not the cats). I originally intended to customize the pie-making to individual preference, but wound up getting lazy and making the same type of pie for each: caramel apple. It's a hard, cruel, world. They don't seem too upset though.

Carolyn's Top-Secret Magic Pie Crust Technique: Part 2

Welcome back to our instructional extravaganza, in which guest piemaker Carolyn Walters shows us her pie-making magic. You may want to check out yesterday's post if you haven't already-- we're beginning today's session with yesterday's refrigerated dough.

First, let's pull yesterday's dough out of the refrigerator so that it can warm up just a little (if it's too cold it'll crack instead of rolling out properly; if it's too warm it'll fall apart-- so we want to just warm it up enough to be handled). You can actually warm it a bit with your hands, being sure to rotate it and pay attention to the edges, until it's just soft enough to be malleable all over.

Carolyn's Top-Secret Magic Pie Crust Technique: Part 1

Today is a special episode of our series, in which we watch pie expert Carolyn Walters demonstrate her super-magic pie crust techniques, which she originally learned in person from renowned chef Madame Kuony in Milwaukee in 1981 and has been using to win local pie contests ever since.  If that isn't enough to establish pie-master credibility, here's a photo of her delicious rhubarb pie (of which slices were eaten so quickly that no photos of the whole pie remain):

Not convinced? How about a close-up of the incredibly flaky crust?

OK, now that we're all drooling, let's talk about how this sort of thing is done.