The art of making pie…

I like pie. Pie has to be one of my favorite dessert types.  There can be so many varieties.  Each pie can create an explosion of taste.  It has been a while since I made my very first pie.  That pie was a total artistic creation.  From finding the ingredients to the actual serving, it was an adventure.  Other pies that came after that were less of an adventure, but the ability to make a very good pie is almost an art.  Over the last 30+ years I’ve made almost every kind of pie imaginable, ok not that many, only the pies I imagined I would like. I guess it is time to make another pie….

My first pie was my own (and lost) recipe for caramel apple pie.  I was in college and had a bunch of apples that needed to be used (sharing healthy food in college didn’t go over well), but little else.   I was low on funds, so I started to beg, borrow and steal (ok, I just took more than my share of sugar packets from the lunch room) my supplies.  I actually had a pie pan or two (mom eventually got them back…).  I was able to find somebody with flour.  Salt was easily picked up with the sugar (oops), And slowly the makings of an apple pie were gathered.  I’m not sure what came over me to add the caramel candy to the filling.  It could have been that I didn’t think there was enough sugar or cinnamon.  I could have been that they were sitting there and I liked the sound of caramel apples.  I unwrapped the bag and threw them in.   Two pies made, from the absolute meaning of the word scratch.  After baking and limited cooling, a group of us scooped up our first servings (No pie servers to be found anywhere, but we did find an old Ice Cream spade — think little shovel).  It was a hit.  The second pie didn’t even last the night (funny how hungry college kids get for sweets, or pizza).  My first foray in to pie making was a success.

As of right now, I have another hurdle to overcome when I make my next pie.  No oven..  No, I still haven’t replaced it since that fateful evening when it didn’t turn off.  Strange how stove makers and the sellers can’t tell me how their ovens will fail if the computer breaks down.  I won’t buy one until I know that.   Anyway, I’ve decide my next pie adventure will be in a dutch oven.  Cast Iron oven over a hot fire and coals.  Should be interesting.  I’ve never done it, but I have had the results.  I can’t wait.  Now to decide what kind of pie….

And to think this whole train of thought started with a piece of store bought thaw and serve pie.  Did I mention I like pie. 😉

justj