Pie Presents

Saturday I had made 4, yes FOUR pecan pies. I committed myself to giving the 6 doormen pies and Saturday was the day to finish it all off. I went a little frantic trying to use homemade dough for all of them and when I realized I had a bad batch of dough I had to put myself in timeout while Joel reminded me it was okay that since I was baking in bulk to just relax, use store dough and make the filling. So that's what I did. I only ended up taking pics of 3 of the wrapped up pies, I was too busy baking to take pics. Sunday I was planning to visit a friend and their new baby so made them a Dreamy Apple Pie from the Pioneer Woman's blog, apple pie filling with a pecan crumble on top. Turns out we missed each other so I lucked out and gave myself the pie present:) It was the first time I'd ever made a crumble, it turned out really quite yummy. I'm excited to perfect it as I'll be making this for my family for Christmas. Notice the apple corer - my new fave tool!

Dreamy Apple Pie: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/11/dreamy-apple-pie/

 Pecan Pies for Presents

 Love this apple corer - makes it so much easier (and fun!).

This is what makes the filling so...dreamy!

 Making of the crumble - needs a bit of work but still tasty!

2 Pies, 1 Night!

Last night I got cracking on some pecan pies. I've decided to give the doormen of my building pies this year for the holidays so have six to make by the weekend. I had two things of frozen dough in the freezer so the whole thing was pretty easy. I love just being able to grab homemade dough out of the freezer - so simple! The recipe is from my mom and is super easy but I learned the key to making it work is to really be patient and let the melted hot sugar/syrup/butter mixture completely cool down before adding the final ingredients - eggs, vanilla and salt. I may have gotten a little impatient last night and didn't let it cool down so when I added the eggs the hot sugar cooked the eggs so I had to throw it all out and start over. Lesson learned! So I just took a deep breath and started the 2 pies over again. I got much better at rolling out the dough. The transfer of the dough to the pan has been a tricky (read messy) thing so far but I read a tip on the Pioneer Woman's blog and rolled the dough out on wax paper and then just flipped it over in the pan - genius. I also had a little help from Joel who worked on the edges, trimming the excess and shaping the top. He decided against the fancy pants edges and went for a more rustic feel, which still looks great! Unfortunately I can't tell you how they tasted since they're presents but I'm confident they'll be yummy!

  Pour in the mixture...

Top off with pecans...

Before going in the oven... 

The finished product!

Chocolate Pecan Pie!

This weekend I made homemade dough again, the same recipe I've been using and it turned out great. It freezes well so Saturday was just for dough and then Sunday I made my first chocolate pecan pie. It's nice to break it out so I'm not doing dough and pies in one afternoon and now I still have 2 more dough balls in the freezer to use whenever. The chocolate pecan pie turned out well but slightly overcooked as it wasn't as gelatinous as I'd hope. Don't get me wrong, I'll probably eat the whole thing. Here are some pics of dough prep, me and my new favorite food and the final pie!


Chocolate Pecan Pie: http://www.jamesbeard.org/index.php?q=recipes/show/chocolate_pecan_pie
Dough: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/p-p-p-pie_crust_and_its_p-p-p-perfect/

Crisco is now essential to my life!

Can you see what little counter space I'm working with?!

Chocolate Pecan Pie...

served with whipped cream!

Blueberry Pie!

So last night I tried my hand again at another blueberry pie. Long story short, it was edible and yummy. Don't get me wrong it still needs a lot of work but at least this one could have been served without a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I used homemade dough, the same recipe I did the other week and this time the dough turned out to be a disaster. Not sure what the problem was but it just did not want to stick together. Joel and I tried everything and then we had to surrender to crumbly dough. Joel at one point exclaimed: "I don't like making pies anymore". Yikes, he's in a for a long journey. I gave up on dough-duty and focused on the filling. I followed a recipe I found online that had a higher sugar to blueberry recipe. I got so excited to try it I forgot to take the pic before I cut the piece!

Dough recipe: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/12/p-p-p-pie_crust_and_its_p-p-p-perfect/

Pie recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/perfect-blueberry-pie-filling-228641

Dough, Pecans and Blueberries!

Next up were homemade dough, pecan pie and blueberry pie. Making the dough was a cinch but rolling it out and getting it in the pan was a bit harder. Here, Jill and me (def a 4 hand operation) assembling the dough and the finished product.

My first pie!

I started out with a classic: Apple Pie. I decided to keep it easy and used store bought crust. I have to say, it was a major success - probably beginner's luck.

Welcome to The Sweetie Pie Company blog!

Welcome to the Blog!

As Oprah would say, I had a light bulb moment the other day ---- all the sudden I was hit with what I wanted to do with my life and that is to open a pie shop with Joel. To the people who know me this could come as a shock since I am not a baker and never even baked a pie. But it's been a week and I have a name picked out (The Sweetie Pie Company), a desired location picked out (Bleecker Street, West Village) and have made 3 apple pies, 1 pecan pie, 1 blueberry pie and homemade dough. Follow me as I go on this journey and let's see if what I can do with this little PIEpe dream!

Oh yeah, anyone who submits a recipe gets free pie for life!

xo