Best or Favorite Pies?

[Will Owen]

Just saw an item on Yahoo! about America's Best Pies, which somehow managed to avoid a lot of my favorites. I've sorta got pie on my mind after having spent a weekend up in Cambria, on California's Central Coast. That's wine country, of course, and there are plenty of fine restaurants as well, but there's one place that in addition to decent sandwiches and the like offers some of the best pies on the planet. This is Linn's, with a restaurant on Main Street, plus a gourmet-foods shop and a pie-and-sandwich shop on the side street behind it. We weren't able to fit pie consumption into our busy time there, but we bought two slices to go and had them that night, after we'd gotten home to Pasadena. Mrs. O had to try the olallaberry and I got the raspberry-rhubarb, and I must say that even after a day in the ice chest these were as flawless as a pie can get. Perfect crust, not soggy but just moistened enough under the fruit, which was itself clear and clean of flavor, not gone to mush at all, tangy and bright. I'm glad I was eating it at home so I could go ahead and lick the container …

With the exception of plain custard, which I've only recently come to tolerate, I can't think of a pie I've ever hated, but there are lots of favorites. Mincemeat and pecan were my most favorite from childhood; lemon, butterscotch and chocolate I liked, but not the meringue Mom covered them with. The pinnacle of piedom for me, though, is the lilikoi pie I've had on Kauai, a passion-fruit custard in a crisp shortbread crust. A close second would be the chocolate pie in the coffee shop of the Anchorage Westward Hotel (ca. 1965), with a perfect crust, semi-sweet chocolate filling, topped with unsweetened whipped cream and shaved bittersweet dark chocolate.

What are your favorites, old or recent, and where did you find them?

[tatamagouche]

Oh, just remembered a recent fave. Had mincemeat pie at a local restaurant made with yak, a la mode with sweet potato-toffee ice cream. Incredible.

[Will Owen]

Yak would be fun, if only to talk about it! When we were living in Maine (as I was still on strained Gerber's I know this only by hearsay) a woman my parents knew made it with venison, which Mom always thought surprising. Turns out that is not really uncommon where folks eat a lot of venison …

[rich51]

when i think of pies, i almost alwys just think of fruit, blueberry w/crumb topping, or a really good tart cherry, or peach. but have to admit a really good pecan pie is excellent, but tough to find, either usually too sweet or gummy.also have become a big fan of vermomt mystic pie companies pies, only two flavors apple and apple blueberry(wish they had more). and almost as expensive as home-made or from a good bakery, but and i emphasize very easy to bake properly.is better than many home-made. btw , they sell shells also, but i don't bake often so have never used them

[racer x]

apple with vanilla ice cream
pumpkin
strawberry cream
peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream

Once had a raspberry-peach cream pie, a special at Coco's, that I'd kill to have another slice of.

I love pie crusts. I could eat just pie crusts with vanilla ice cream.

Yet don't like most of the other standards (meringues, mincemeat, pecan, banana cream, coconut cream, chocolate anything, etc).

[cayjohan]

Ooooh...pie crust cookies! My mother never baked pies without making a goodly amount of extra pastry, just for the pie crust cookies that we all adored. Dusted with a little cinnamon/sugar or cardamom/sugar. Heavenly! (And the perfect accompaniment to a slice of pie for those of us who prefer a higher crust-to-filling ratio.)

[debbiel]

I loved those pie crust cookies! I like the idea of the cardamom sugar. We always used cinnamon sugar.

[MinkeyMonkey]

Pumpkin. Pumpkin pie is my favourite and is followed closely by either chocolate mousse or lemon with whipped cream, not meringue. Oh, and not chocolate pudding, chocolate mousse!

But, the best slice of pie I ever had was when my family and I were in Mexico for our summer surfing trip and also for my 16th birthday. I was allowed to order coffee!!

For breakfast, I had coffee and a slice of lemon meringue that I'll never forget. Not sure how they made it so wonderful but it was the best pie ever. EVER! I think I can still taste it...

I like my pie straight or with whipped cream. Or, if I'm in one of my eating-things-strangely moods, I'll scoop off and eat the filling and then add warmed cream or milk or soy milk or evaporated milk to the crust and eat that part separately. It is yummy, you should try it!

[mamachef]

The best thing that's happened to me in a very long time, Minkey, was when I did a re-purpose of some chicken pot pie filling that was in a double crust. I put the whole mess into the pot, thinking that the crust would break down and serve as a thickener, but the amazing and beautiful thing that happened was this: the crust had a mildly caramelized, therefore sealed, bottom. It broke up, but it didn't break down, and so I used a slurry to thicken the soup, which ended up having little crunchy bites of piecrust all throughout. I don't think I could do this again unless it was an accident, but oh-so-good.

[MinkeyMonkey]

That must have been a wonderful surprise! I have been known to bake a frozen chicken pie then smash it into a bowl with butter and mix it all up...oooh, butter! This kind of makes me think of that. Naturally, now I want pie.

[mamachef]

Once upon a time, very long ago and far away, my BFF was going through a nasty and evil divorce at the same time that I was going through mine. Food was our panacea and our solace, and we had many late night conversations wherein we'd take snack breaks. She came back one night with a pie, partially frozen, that she'd left in the fridge to thaw, since she'd thrown it in the freezer unlabeled and wanted to be able to decipher the contents. Well, her depression was So bad that night that she dug into that partially thawed pie, but when the soggy top-crust was decimated and the contents were revealed to be..chicken potpie.....that was the end of that midnight snacky.
Minkey, I ALWAYS want pie. Any pie, anyplace, anytime.

[MinkeyMonkey]

That is the saddest story!! I hope your friend is better and that all the muck that goes along with divorce (me too) is over with. And, for you too!

I had thought of answering the OP's question with "the pot pie from Polly's Pies in Santa Monica" but I figured the poster was asking about sweet pie. Oh, Polly's was the best place for overly buttery chicken pot pie. I'm not sure if it was chicken or turkey now that I think of it but for twenty years or, I dunno, some length of my life, we ate that pie and it is the ONLY restaurant plate I cleared. Well, I never finished the dressing but I ate the whole slice of pie. Broke my heart when they closed.

I'm having either pie or ice cream this Saturday, as part of our one day a week of eating whatever we want. Yay!!

[Querencia]

I've noticed that lemon meringue pie has become almost extinct. I can't remember when I have seen it on a restaurant menu, the rare bought one is 99% of the time no good, and when I have made it for young adults they usually don't know what it is.

[Will Owen]

Where are you? The lemon meringue pie (of which as I've mentioned I only half approve) was alive and well in the lunch joints of Middle Tennessee and its nearby environs last time I looked. Out here in Palm Tree Central it's commonly found at Marie Callender's and similar establishments.

[Avalondaughter]

Coconut
Banana cream
chocolate cream
cherry
blueberry

[amyamelia]

As a girl raised on pie for breakfast, I have to put in a plug for rhubarb custard pie with sweet custard hugging the chunks of tart rhubarb. Never have been able to tolerate any berries with my rhubarb!

[cayjohan]

Thanks for the recollection, amyamelia - my grandmother made swoonworthy rhubarb custard pie (with nutmeg, thanks!), and that custard-rhubarb relationship of creamy/sweet to brightly tart was indeed a treat! Also, I'll never say rhubarb-plus-berries is *bad*, but rhubarb sans berries is, in my humblest of opinions, much better.

I think I have to root around in the freezer and haul out some rhubarb. We've not had that sort of spectacular breakfast in awhile!

[debbiel]

Mmm...recipe?

[amyamelia]

gladly: this recipe is out of the old Betty Crocker cookbook.
For a 9 inch pie-
make pastry for a two-crust pie.
Beat slightly 3 eggs, add 2 2/3 T milk, then 2 c. sugar ( i use about 1.5 cups), 4 T flour and 3/4 t. nutmeg. Mix in 4 c. cut-up pink rhubarb. Pour into bottom crust, dot with 1 T butter, and make lattice for the top crust. Bake 50-60 mins at 400 degrees.

serve slightly warm.

In my family we always have to make two pies: one as above and the other without nutmeg but with grated orange zest in its place (1-2 T) since there are some very strong ideas about what makes the best flavoring. I like them both.

[debbiel]

Thanks!

[cayjohan]

Thanks for that recipe! I was ready to sift through all manner of old papers of my Mom's to find it - I should have realized Grandma was likely using Betty Crocker! That sounds exactly right to my recollection. The orange zest sounds delicious...

[buttertart]

My mother's fresh Ontario peach, black cherry, butterscotch, Dutch apple, and rhubarb pies of happy memory.
My mother-in-law's peach pie.
Sour cherry, raspberry, pecan and lemon meringue pies of my own confection.

[debbiel]

On first read I read pie instead of pies, and thought your mother made a single pie--a peach-black cherry-butterscotch-apple-rhubarb pie. And I thought, well, to each his own. :)

[buttertart]

I thought I might not have been clear, sorry about that!

[mnosyne]

Friday morning I read an article in LAWeekly called "Cherry Pie for Breakfast" which described the cherry pie made by Sweet Lady Jane in Santa Monica. Having poor impulse control, I zoomed right over there and ordered it. My jaw dropped when I was brought an enormous piece of pie, literally 4" deep. Well, I started at the point and gave up about an inch from the crust. The cherries were perfectly sweet and tart, and the filling was not gelatinous. The crust was pure heaven. I had a nice snack to take home, and am thinking about pie for tomorrow morning.

[DaisyM]

The apple pie at The Apple Pie Bakery at the CIA in Hyde Park. It is AMAZING!

[goodhealthgourmet]

add me to the Key Lime & Lemon Meringue camp, and i prefer mine more tart than sweet, thankyouverymuch. best Key Lime i ever had was in Key West, Fl (no surprise there), but if you held a gun to my head i couldn't recall the name of the place where i had it.

also pumpkin pie, but only my own because everyone else makes it too sweet. and my apple & sour cherry tart.

most other pies, though appealing in theory, disappoint when it comes to actually eating them because they're always too sweet for me.

[mayaishi]

Having eaten pies all over the world, my fav is Lililkoi Chiffon Pie as well- that creamy tart/sweet filling, and airy sky high topping, from Hamura's Saimin in Lihue, Kaui! I don't know if you can get anything like it on the continent. Anyone?

[Will Owen]

We didn't get our last one from Hamura's, but across the street at Lihue Barbecue. Very good chance they're identical, since Hamura doesn't appear to have baking capabilities. The really good ones used to be found at the restaurant in Waimea, and they still sell them by the boatload, but we liked this one a lot better.

I keep meaning to try making one - or several! Passion fruit purée can be found here in the Los Angeles area, and I think the crust is essentially shortbread with a bit of rice flour in it. But none available commercially as far as I know.

[kaleokahu]

WO: I tink you mean gets in Hanapepe Town, makai side, hiki no? Try drizzle small kine 'ohia lehua honey over liliko'i next time you hele to Kaua'i. Also, try the mai'a creme pie at 49 North (used to be Gaylord's at Kilohana). Mac nut crust.

Kaua'i Family Restaurant in Seattle gets pai liliko'i 'ono. Call Peter, may ship.

[Will Owen]

No, my pa-in-law swore by the ones from the joint in Waimea - it's a plate-lunch kind of place with a table-service room off to the side, on the north side of the road near the high school. But we will look in Hanapepe, which is a lot closer to home (which is Lawai Road about a mile before Spouting Horn), and a lot prettier as well!

[wrldsworstcook]

When it comes to pies, my only rule of thumb is to avoid anything with the word "cream" in either the name or the recipe. I stick to pure fruit pies and can't recall any of those I didn't like.. So - among the fruit pie contestants, my favorite homemade kinds are mincemeat and butterscotch-apple. As for my favorite restaurant pies - fresh strawberry in the summer is always good, as is key lime - but the only super-special 'go-to' pies I've ever had, fell to the wayside over 20 years ago. As a youngster (ok - younger adult) back in the 70's, I really loved the French Apple pie from what is now known as Baker's Square. Although they still sell this flavor, my maturing tastes no longer allowed me to savor the "French" part of this pie (which consisted of a solid inch thick layer of pure suger topping!). My teeth ache just thinking about it now. My other all-time fave was a pie which was sold at a local Minneapolis restaurant called Nelson's. It was across the street from my office back then and the 'girls' and I would go there frequently for a sandwich or burger, but I always made sure to save room for a slice of their Cherry Crunch pie. From what I could tell - it was just a regular cherry pie with a little brown-sugar/crushed walnut mixture sprinkled on top - but multiple home attempts to recreate this have failed and I haven't been able to get it since Nelson's shut down quite suddenly back in '78 or so. (Rumor had it that the place was condemned by the health dept!)

[ziggylu]

Will you share a recipe for butterscotch-apple pie?

[wrldsworstcook]

Ziggy-glad to share with you. This pie is inexpensive and easy to make. The apple/butterscotch flavor combo is as good as I imagined it might be. I always use those refrigerated, ready-made piecrusts when I make pies - but otherwise, I follow the recipe as written. **NOTE** - When preparing your very first pie and you are at the point where you've finished making the butterscotch topping, sprinkle only HALF of this mixture over the pie and finish baking. (I've found that using the entire amount of topping can be a little too sweet & can overwhelm the taste of the apple filling. If, after you taste the cooled pie, you want more topping, just sprinkle however much you want from the portion that you set aside earlier and 'nuke' it for 20-30 seconds to re-soften the butterscotch morsels, and you're good to go.

Here's that link: (Plz note ---->for some reason, the last part of this link address gets cut off once I save this response to the Chowhound forum. However - I just tried double clicking on the partial link as it appears here and it worked just fine. Go figure!

http://www.food.com/recipe/butterscot...

If you do end up trying this soon, let me know how everything turned out.

[ziggylu]

thanks! I made a cherry pie yesterday in honor of presidents day but will try this one soon!

[nyxpooka]

My grams banana "cream" pie, it was more like banana meringue pie...she would use nice salty crispy fresh pie crust, line it with fresh bananas, dump hot cooked vanilla (french vanilla is best but cant seem to find it anymore) and top with nicely browned meringue. Gosh that was good. Made some when I was pregnant and went to my friends house and ate the whole damn thing between the 4 of us in one afternoon. YUM

[tanker64]

Fruit of the Forest (Blueberry, Cherry, Blackberry)
Blueberry
Cherry
Apple
Lemon (w meringue)
Mince

French Meat pie
Chicken Pot pie

[wekick]

A pie I still think about-
We stopped at a small restaurant in Arkansas years ago and had some "buttermilk pie". It was not like the ones you typically see that are like a custard. This had a meringue but not really any layering that you could see. It gradually changed texture toward the bottom. The crust was perfectly hand made.

My favorite pie I make is caramel pecan upside down apple pie.

[nyxpooka]

Ooh I heard of that, but I thought it was more of a cakelike filling inside a pie. Hmmm

[wekick]

brown sugar, butter and toasted pecans and a little corn syrup on the bottom of a pyrex pie dish then your apple pie on top of that. Bake and invert on a plate while hot to serve.

[noodlepoodle]

Is this a one-crust pie?. Sounds really good.

[wekick]

2 crust-The whole pie sets on top of the pecan mixture to bake.
This is the original-oops no corn syrup. I think you can use any apple pie. Heck you could probably put a frozen pie over the mixture and bake that.
http://www.midwestliving.com/recipe/p...

The only trick is making sure the bottom is done and the pyrex helps that as well as placing it on the bottom rack.

[pairswellwithwine]

Huckleberry Pie
Cherry Pie
Chicken Pot Pie
Banana Cream Pie
Coconut Cream Pie - Tom Douglas'

[odkaty]

Ditto the huckleberry, second choice is lemon meringue.

[aynrandgirl]

I know it's a chain, but I really like the chocolate silk pie at Bakers Square. It's a lot better than regular chocolate pies. Way too much whipped cream and not enough filling, though. A lot of pies have that problem.

[jmcarthur8]

Our family's traditional sour cream apple pie with streusel topping. Fresh and cold out of the fridge for breakfast the day after Thanksgiving.

[raygunclan]

Sour cream apple pie??? That is absolutely, positively NEXT on my pie making list!!!! Thanks! :)

[jmcarthur8]

;-)

[buttertart]

That's the only apple pie that does it for me. Yum.

[jmcarthur8]

I agree, buttertart. I've tried standard apple pie recipes, but they just can't beat this one.

[debbiel]

My mom's apple pie
blueberry pie
peach pie
pecan pie done RIGHT (loads of pecans, not just a little layer of pecans on top a gooey mass)
lately--bourbon pecan pie
walnut pie
buttermilk pie

[Cheez62]

My grandmother's rhubarb pie would have to be my favorite, because, of course, it was grandma's. After that, Cape Cod October Pie, which has become a family favorite ever since I found a recipe on a crumpled newspaper page used as packaging material in a shipment I was checking in at work.

[rHairing]

I make a killer key lime. It has to be fresh squeezed key lime along with zest.
Love cherry pie(tart).
I'm gonna catch hell for this but I hate apple pie.
Grew up with my mom growing rhubarb...love it in a pie. Also, we used to head to Cincy when I was young for TGiving. I remember something called Derby pie. Holy hell it was damn rich and damn good. i think it was pecan and chocolate?

[HillJ]

Julian, CA pie shop 1996, Fruits of the Forest pie. Sitting outside on a display rack, I could smell the crust as I approached the shop. Bought the pie and proceeded to enjoy half of it right there on a bench. Took the rest back to my vacation condo and ate the other half for dinner. Fruits of the Forest pie-apples, pears, peaches, strawberries, blackberries in a rich butter crust with just a hint of allspice. Knock em dead good pie.

[amyzan]

I had a really good apple pie up in Julian once. I can't remember the name of the place, and it wasn't the one that advertises all over the roads up that way, but another one, sort of on a side street. How's that for specific?

I used to work for Wellspring grocery in Chapel Hill, and one of the bakers there made killer blueberry pie. She confided in me that the secret ingredient was mace. I don't even know if they bake in store anymore.

The best pies I've had have invariably been homemade, though. I once made a strawberry rhubarb pie for a house party at the beach. One of the women there kept saying over and over "Nobody makes pie anymore." As if I was nobody sitting right next to her. Sad state of affairs if no one makes pie anymore.

[HillJ]

amyzan, great recollection! The first time I visited Julian I did not know a pie shop existed on every corner and several inbetween. Julian is pie town! It's been a numbe of years since I've had the good fortune to go back but EVERY pie I had in that tiny town was a humbling experience. I recall a pineapple pie that just about killed me with delight. Apple pies were sold in every shop but I went for the slices I hadn't tasted before. Such a wonderful place. NJ needs a pie town!

[debbiel]

I remember a day of pie eating in Julian several years ago. It was a very, very good day.

[HillJ]

Another fan, wonderful! I'd weigh 300 lbs if I lived in that area. Self appointed Pie Queen of Julian. If only...

[cheesymama]

Blueberry (must be wild berries) sour cream with a pecan crumble topping

[mnosyne]

I've never been able to decide whether I like pie or just adore crust! My faves:
lemon, without meringue
fresh peach
rhubarb with strawberries (tapioca base)
strawberry
two-crust apple

[sparkplug]

I'm not a big fan of fruit pies, instead preferring fruit cobblers and crunches. When it comes to pies, at the top of my list are chess pie and chocolate chess pie. Actually just reinvented my mom's chocolate chess pie recipe last week by making a coconut graham cracker crust for it instead of the normal crust. It was delicious!
http://www.eat-drink-smile.com/2011/0...

The best key lime pie I've had is from Mrs Mac's Kitchen, a no frills diner in Key Largo (MM 99.4 Southbound). No other key lime pie has compared after eating that.

[magiesmom]

Blackberry
Pear ginger
key lime
Shaker lemon ( with whole lemon slices)
Apple with crumb topping
Strawberry rhubarb

[Will Owen]

I've never tasted the Shaker lemon pie, though I've always wanted to. Finally decided I'll just have to make one, especially as we have several lemon trees in the family!

[magiesmom]

If you do, serve it warm with ice cream. All the contrasts make a wonderful experience. I first made this pie in the 70's from Ruth Reichl's first cookbook called MMMMMMM: a feastiary. She called it "ever pucker pie." Still my favorite recipe.

[MinkeyMonkey]

Pear ginger? That sounds terrific! I did make a pear cranberry pie spiced with ground ginger but this sounds like I have to try it.

Do you know if the ginger is fresh, ground, crystallized? Thank you!

[laliz]

Marie Callender's Fresh Peach Pie

I've had the olalliberry pie from Lins in Cambria ~~ and it is transcendental. Unbelieveably good.

Mrs. Knotts Boysenberrry Pie

Boston cream pie

Coconut cream, chocolate cream, fresh strawberry, . . . . . .

macadamia nut pie

stopping now

[Will Owen]

According to their website it was the Linn family that developed the olallaberry (or however it's spelled - gee, guess I could look it up!). Yes, I had a bite of that and it was superb - probably the best berry pie I've ever tasted. I found my raspberry-rhubarb to be a real improvement over any strawberry-rhubarb I've tasted, too, and quite delicious. That leaves the Kauai lilikoi pies the only other real contenders for my top prize among the commercial products.

[Novelli]

I will never EVER pass up a piece of blueberry pie...EVER! Do you hear me?

It's my absolute favorite hands down.

[tatamagouche]

Grasshopper. The only dessert my mother, who hated cooking, would make, once a year for Thanksgiving. That it had creme de menthe in it made me feel so grown up...

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/g...

[JungMann]

My favorite is always going to be pork pie or Australian meat pie. When we were growing up, however, we always looked foward to the occasional visit to Baker's Square to indulge in coconut cream, banana cream and French silk pies. We grew up eating predominantly Asian food, so the cream pies were a very different treat.

[ElsieDee]

Pecan
Walnut
Key Lime
Strawberry
Blackberry Peach
Peach
Chocolate Cream

[brooklynkoshereater]

As a child, the un-pieness of Pecan Pie (no fancy lattice dough covering, no melted fruit) scared me, but after my first polite taste (I was on a date) I was hooked. Warm pecan pie with vanilla ice cream - yum! Although truth be told, most any pie warm a la mode - particularly apple or blueberry - is a hit in my book. A really well made chocolate pudding pie will also get me just about every time.

[smartie]

Apple and blackberry
Rhubarb
Apricot

I love the pie crust underneath when it goes a little soggy, even better the next day.

[cayjohan]

I'm a very simple pie person by predilection: blueberry, apple, rhubarb (straight - no berries), pumpkin. Nothing too sweet. Good crust. I'll sometimes have a bit of cheese on the apple, or cream on the blueberry, but mostly I just like plain pie.

The Best Pie? My paternal grandmother's wild blueberry pie. Blueberries from her Up-North Minnesota homestead, the home-rendered lard from the farm for the crust, the perfect fruit-to-crust ratio (not too much fruit, no high-hat pie, this), her own pattern of cutting the vent holes ( sort of an abstraction of the stitching on a baseball), and tendency to unevenly sprinkle the top with sugar, leaving us all with favorite slices (relative sugar coverage) and strategies to obtain them.

My grandmother married a blueberry and hog farmer after she was widowed, and moved with him to his farm in Indiana. She was never thrilled with the cultivated blueberries the farm produced. Whenever the Up-North Minnesota relatives would visit, it was a Very Appreciated Gesture to bring her some quarts of frozen wild blueberries.

That was Very Good Pie.

[cycloneillini]

I come from a pie-baking family, and the list of pies that I love is very long. Interestingly one of my favorites was my grandmother's custard pie which is one type that seems to have a lot of non-fans. Her vanilla with graham cracker crust and meringue was another. The best though is still my mother's dutch apple which I can replicate pretty darn well. My favorite time to eat it is for breakfast.

[cayjohan]

Oh yes...you remind me to add custard pie to my list. A well made custard pie is a thing of beauty. I'm always a little surprised that it's not more in vogue, given how popular, say, flan or créme brûlée appear to be.

[ziggylu]

Blackberry
Peach
Blackberry-Peach
Lemon Meringue
Key Lime
Grapefruit Meringue

I'm not a big fan of custard pies but will never turn down any sort of fruit or citrus pie!

[MinkeyMonkey]

...seriously, I must live on Mars! I've never heard of grapefruit meringue either!

[mamachef]

4-Berry pie with nut/crumble topping (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and Himalayas)
Lemon meringue on gingersnap crust
Coconut cream pie - classic
Chocolate rum pie w/ pecan topping
Cream pie on chocolate/nut crust; Frangelico whipped cream
Roasted apricot pie w/ almond cream, classic crust.

[MinkeyMonkey]

I've never heard of roasted apricot pie and I've never heard of almond cream on pie before. Where have I been? Mars, must have been on mars.

Is it a regional thing? Man, that sounds so good I'm salivating!

[mamachef]

Nope, not regional at all. Born of desperation, actually. I had a large can of apricots left over from some random thing, and I oven-roasted them at 400 for about an hour. I made a regular one-crust shell, and baked it blind. Made a vanilla-bean cream that I stiffened with a little folded-in stiffly whipped cream and a few dashes of almond extract, and used that as the pie's base, then submerged the apricots in it, chilled it, and served it with amaretto coffee for dessert. And I'd do it again, a million times over; one of the best seat-of-the-pants desserts I ever came up with!

[MinkeyMonkey]

Thank you for sharing, that sounds so delicious!

[buttertart]

Oh my goodness...one of the things I came back with from a foray to the midwest was a German apricot and passionfruit jam (better German import stores there than here, due to settlement pattens) - that's be good as a thin layer on the crust of this...

[mamachef]

Oh, Jeez, buttertart! Wouldn't that be amazing? The passionfruit would give it such a nice tart edge.....I can taste it now. You debbilwoman.

[buttertart]

Haven't tried the jam yet, was going to give it to my mil but greed (and my conviction that no one indahouse would be as fond of the passion fruit part as I) overtook me. Will report and give name of maker.

[im_nomad]

Coconut cream pie
Pecan pie
Butter tarts
Sugar pie

[Uncle Bob]

Pecan....
Buttermilk....
Coconut.......
Chocolate....
Lemon Meringue......
Mis-sippi Mud....
Crawfish......

[Uncle Bob]

How could I have forgotten.....Chess Pie

[ipsedixit]

Maybe it's overplayed already, but I really like the Crack Pie at Momofuku Milk Bar.

I've yet to meet an apple pie that I don't like (McDonald's included), but I think the best I've ever had was the one at Mission Pie up in San Francisco.

The Butter Pie at Butter Love Bakeshop in San Francisco might rival Momofuku's Crack Pie as one of my all-time favorites, and I don't even necessarily like the taste of butter. A close second to this Butter Pie is the Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie from Hoosier Mama in Chicago. The Butter Pie is better, only slightly though, but I would be happy to be buried alive in either concotion.

[mom22tots]

What is butter pie??

[chefathome]

Delicious topic! My all-time favourites are Classic Sour Cherry, Blood Red Orange Meringue and Key Lime. Not a fan of graham wafer crusts but prefer shortbread, crushed sugar cookie and so on. Glazed Strawberry and Brown Sugar pies are other favourites. I've made them all as I rarely eat pie in restaurants (no good restaurants in our area). My husband's very favourite is Pecan Pie. Flapper Pie is very good (with something other than graham wafer crust). He also loves Apple Caramel. We both are smitten with Blackberry.

Of course I love all kinds of savoury pies but will keep my post to sweet versions. ;-)

[fourunder]

I'll agree with Key Lime Pie......I would not refuse any of the following though....Chocolate Cream, Banana Cream or Any type of Custard Cream, especially Boston Cream Pie.....Seasonal Fruits too.

[invinotheresverde]

Another Key Limer here.

[redfish62]

If I had one pie to eat for the rest of my life it would be Key Lime. When done right there is nothing better.

My second pie would be variations of Pecan Pie. I love every variation I have ever tasted. Walnut pies are also very good but they are kind of the same thing. Chocolate Walnut pie ... it's like being in heaven.