Around the Kitchen Table: Our Favorite Pies + 4 Book #Giveaway

MAYA CORRIGAN: Pie is good all year round, but autumn seems like pie season to me, maybe because it's harvest time for apples, pumpkins, and nuts, those popular holiday pie fillings. Though I love all pies, my favorites are ones I can make without rolling out dough: pecan pie and Key lime pie. I can press the dough for a nut crust or a graham cracker crust into a pie pan with my fingers or buy ready-made versions of those crusts that don't taste bad--not as good as homemade, but acceptable because the filling dominates. I shared a recipe for an easy mango Key lime pie made with a store-bought nut crust. 

What's your favorite pie?

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drawing for 4 terrific cozy mysteries.

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MADDIE DAY: I love pies so much. I make a world-famous (well, among my family and friends) apple pie with a towering homemade butter-based crust at least once every fall, plus pumpkin and pecan pies at Thanksgiving. 

Plus, quiches are on our regular dinner rotation, made with an easy (and zero-fat) brown rice crust and often meatless. Back when my first Local Foods mystery came out in 2013, I was a guest here with a Spring Garlic Quiche recipe!

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LESLIE KARST: I’m not a big fan of baking, as I find all that measuring and weighing of ingredients to be tedious. So much more fun to simply taste, add a handful of this or that, then taste again! But I do adore pies, the more buttery and flaky the crust the better. So one Christmas a few years back I set out to make a mince pie.

you know it's rich when the dollop of whipped cream cuts the fat

This was to be a “real” mince pie, like in the olden times—one made not simply with apples, raisin, and brown sugar such as we eat these days, but also with beef and suet (i.e., beef fat). It was a fair amount of work to prepare, but my, oh, my was it delicious! And rich. Probably the richest dessert I’ve ever eaten in my life, actually. But oh, so good! Perhaps I’ll post the recipe here at the Kitchen one of these days...

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TINA KASHIAN: I enjoy cooking more than baking, but I recently baked an apple pie with my oldest daughter. We prepared crust from scratch and peeled and cut the apples together. We had a wonderful time chatting as we measured ingredients and rolled the crust. The kitchen smelled heavenly. Our pie may not look perfect, but it tasted great. Apple pie is a favorite in our house. We plan on baking again for Thanksgiving.

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MOLLY MACRAE: I love baking pies and eating them. Once I had a piece of gooseberry pie. Heavenly! We have quiche for supper every couple of weeks in the cool and cold months. Another favorite is curried sweet potato pasties - my vegetarian spin on Cornish pasties. Sometime this winter I'll share that recipe with you. Here's a montage of some of my favorite pies from the past few years - cranberry hand pies, cherry pie, peach pie, and fresh tomato tart with a garlic and herb crust.

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LUCY BURDETTE: Although I do prefer cakes to pies, pie features strongly in a couple of my books. A DEADLY FEAST has the only Thanksgiving backdrop and I did include a killer pumpkin pie that tastes of maple syrup and chai spice (mouth is watering!)

And back in DEATH IN FOUR COURSES, Hayley made an amazing hot fudge pie that can be whipped up in no time and baked while you eat dinner.

And finally, THE KEY LIME CRIME should be served with a key lime pie since it's important to the story in so many ways! (The one in the photo is from Old Town Bakery.)

Now I'm thinking of more that I love, like strawberry cream pie in a chocolate graham cracker crust, and banana cream pie, and chocolate cream pie, but I'll stop there!

 

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PEG COCHRAN/MARGARET LOUDON: My favorite pie is blueberry followed close behind by peach pie. I love baking any pie that requires a graham cracker crust--no rolling out dough! Although I do make pie crusts on occasion--all butter and super flaky but never very pretty looking. I didn't always like pumpkin pie but now I enjoy a piece at Thanksgiving but it's not a favorite. I make something that is akin to a pie--peach kuchen--and I bake it in a pie plate even though "kuchen" means cake. It has a crust that you just press into the pie plate and you can use canned peaches so you can make it all year. It's one of hubby's favorites. I also enjoy making galettes--a sort of rustic pie--that can have all sorts of fruit fillings.

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LESLIE BUDEWITZ: "Oh, pie. We love pie!" And I love hearing those words when I set one on the table. Regular readers of the blog know I like to joke, sort of, about "Clan of the Cake" and "People of the Pie," and I am proudly of the latter. When I was a kid learning to bake, my dad told me "If you want to make a really great cake, learn from your Aunt Peggy. But if you want to make a great pie, learn from your mother." Cherry and pecan were probably her favorites, though the annual Rhubarb Custard Pie was truly cause for celebration. (The recipe is in Treble at the Jam Fest, and I was delighted when Friend of the Blog Kim Davis made it for Cinnamon & Sugar and a Little Bit of Murder.)

One February, my mother made two cherry pies for the high school carnival's cake and pie walk, part of the festivities before Lent started. She set them on the kitchen counter to cool, and a certain little girl climbed up on the counter and ate half the rim of one pie. That little girl did not get to go to the carnival that year. But she still adores cherry pie, especially the crust. And the classic Strawberry-Rhubarb (pictured). And Lemon Meringue. And -- oh, who am I fooling? While I'll always choose pecan over pumpkin at Thanksgiving, I just plain love pie.

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VICKI DELANY: I’m a HUGE pie baker. I love making pies even more than eating them. My mom made great pies and I hope I’m following in her footsteps. I have, however, one daughter who doesn’t eat desserts and one who doesn’t like fruit pies (go figure!) so the opportunity to bake pies are limited. My favourite, if I had to choose, is blueberry. I also like savoury pies. I’m planning to try a new recipe for mushroom and butternut squash pie next week so I’ll let you know how it goes . In these pictures I’m assisting my son-in-law with two cherry pies. I was the pitter.

 

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CLEO COYLE: Tasty topic, Maya! I have always believed they serve pie in heaven. A slice of pie and a cup of coffee. Doesn’t get much better than that. (Agent Cooper would agree.) And speaking of Twin Peaks, cherry pie happens to be Marc’s favorite. He would happily inhale one of Vicki's, Leslie's, or Molly's cherry pies above! 🍒

For me, it’s a toss-up. I make a killer strawberry pie every summer 🍓 as a tribute to the incomparable Eat 'n' Park diner pie I grew up eating in Western PA. Blueberry, apple, & pecan pies also make me happy. When it comes to savory, however, nothing will ever beat my beloved Aunt Mary’s Italian Easter Pie. Many people say the most challenging part of making pies is the crust. Pre-made crusts certainly solve that problem. On the other hand, if you'd like a scratch recipe for the most tender, flaky crust I ever rolled and baked, check out my recipe post on the vodka method. Below is a picture of an apple pie I baked with that melt-in-your-mouth crust. Click here or on the photo for more info and may you eat (pie) with joy! ~ Cleo

Why put vodka in your pie crust?
Click for the recipe.

GIVEAWAY! 

To be entered in this week's drawing,

join us in the comments.

What's your favorite pie?

Include your email address,

so we can contact the winner!

Comments Open through

Wednesday, November 10

>> MURDER AT THE LOBSTAH SHACK (ARC) 

by Maddie Day

 >> GINGERDEAD MAN by Maya Corrigan

>> HEATHER AND HOMICIDE by Molly MacRae

>> TREBLE AT THE JAM FEST by Leslie Budewitz

Comments Open through

Wednesday, November 10

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