What pie are you baking for Pi Day?

[roxlet]

Pi day is March 14th, and I think I will use the last of my Meyer Lemons to make either a lemon tart with raspberries or a lemon meringue pie, for which my son has been clamoring. Do you have a favorite pie to bake for Pi Day?

[srsone]

dont usually celebrate 3.14 ...
not a math geek

i sucked at math in school...lol

but i really love lemon meringue...

and i hear the math geeks are waiting for 3.14.15 at 9:26:54...then they go crazy....

[csdiego]

Maybe black-bottom peanut butter pie. Or perhaps this will be my chance to try Dorie Greenspan's lemon cream.

[roxlet]

That sounds delicious -- nothing is better than chocolate and peanut butter! My DH loves black bottom pie, but I never heard of one with peanut butter. How is it made?

[jennymoon]

I'm thinking Shepherdess Pie with either lentils or tempeh and Pecan Pie-lets. I always celebrate pi day!

[csdiego]

Mmm, I hadn't thought savory. Perhaps a nice potato-rosemary white pizza. Does it count for Pi Day if it's not perfectly round?

[roxlet]

By pecan pie-lets, do you mean tassies? I'm making those for my son to take to school.

[jeniyo]

i'm thinking a blueberry pie. i've never officially made one though. humm...

[roxlet]

Nick Malgieri has a fantastic recipe in Modern Baker, and I have made it with fresh blueberries as well as the frozen wild ones and it comes out perfectly. What is different about his recipe is that you cook one cup of the berries with a cup of sugar and 3 tablespoons of corn starch that you dissolve in a little water first, and after it thickens, you mix it into the other berries. What happens is that the texture of the pie is perfect --not too stiff and not too loose --and it cuts cleanly into slices. I made his crumb-topped version and it was delicious.

[buttertart]

:) NM, NM, NM...
I should make a lemon meringue, it's been ages and ages. Certain people have been clamoring for sour cherry AS USUAL!

[roxlet]

I just ordered several cans of sour cherries from some farm in the midwest. We have an annual dinner with the same group every year, and I always make sour cherry pie. My DH loves it.

[buttertart]

They sell fantastic frozen ones in regular grocery stores in Davenport, Iowa!!! Why the hell not here???

[buttertart]

PS mine haunts the Greenmarkets from the beginning of the season to the end and pits and freezes boxes upon boxes for the rest of the year. They're his favorite fruit, even just raw (I love hem too).

[roxlet]

We used to buy them out on LI in the summer and freeze them too, but we never seem to see any at the farmer's market in our town.

[srsone]

i second lemon meringue...

[HillJ]

Chicken pot pi

[Chocolatechipkt]

That's what I made too. :)

[HillJ]

Yummy savory pie with chunks of white meat, carrots, peas, Yukon gold potatoes, small pearl onions in a chicken cream sauce baked in a whole wheat pie crust. It was heaven! How did you prepare yours Chocolatechipkt?

[Chocolatechipkt]

Mine was pretty similar: chunks of white meat, carrots, a few Yukon golds, asparagus (no peas), diced red pepper, and shallots in a chicken cream sauce. Regular pie crust, light and flaky ... yum!

[dave_c]

In honor of Pi Day. Hmmm....
I may be irrational, but I'm hoping to make something that transcends cultural boundaries.
I'll make something Greek, Spanakopita.

[chowser]

Will you make it round? Or square to spite pi day?

[dave_c]

Not sure yet, but eventually I'll get a round to it.
In other words, I've been going around in circles on what to do. :-)

[chowser]

:-) You spin me right round, baby, right round...

[roxlet]

Round here, thems fightin' words!

[bbulkow]

In my area, pie are square.

[buttertart]

!

[chowser]

Makes geometry that much easier if you never have to deal w/ circles but then, no pi day.;-)

[Beach Chick]

I'm going to try making a Lilikoi pie..just like I get in the islands..
Have to find me some passion fruit and a good recipe.
love love love pie and thank you roxlet for the reminder...Meyer lemon meringue sounds fab!

[alkapal]

i think passion fruit is my very bestest favorite fruit!

if you need a fix, beach chick, try to get the "el sabor latino" line of yogurts (made by la yogurt) -- they have a guava and they've got --- ta-daaaa--- *passion fruit*!

it is creamy and delicious, and doesn't leave that artificial flavoring aftertaste in one's mouth, like many flavored yogurts.

[Splendid Spatula]

Lemon Meringue, from the Essential NYT Coolbook. With Meyer lemons. mmm

And in Cambridge, MA, you get 10% off for every 25 digits of pi that you can recite, after 1:59 pm. Used to be 10% for 10 digits, but I think they were losing a lot of money! My son has 75 digits memorized, there is more pi(e) in my immediate future.

[blue room]

Ours will be blueberry--might post a pic later because I'm gonna try a new (to me) technique for the crust.
But meanwhile -- last night while surfing I came upon a new (to me) pie--
ingredients you probably already have -- and says "comfort food" (to me)
"Bob and Andy Pie"
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/amish-b...

[buttertart]

Very interesting recipe, I had never heard of it either. Cute name!

[theamusedbouche]

What a great post! I completely forgot about Pi Day! We "celebrated" it in high school and my math teacher used to actually bring in pie for the class :)

[roxlet]

I've blind baked my crust, and I am about to start my lemon filling. I am completely torn between using the recipe I always use, which is wonderful, or trying the one in the Essential NY Times cookbook that Splendid Spatula mentions below. I am using Meyer lemons...

[Splendid Spatula]

So . . . what did you do?

[roxlet]

I went with the tried and true. I think I am going to start a thread about whether there are recipes that you are just so happy with, that you have no real interest in trying another for the same dish.

[buttertart]

Great idea.

[chowser]

I've made the sponge cake and pastry cream for Boston cream pie and am about to make the chocolate topping aka chocolate ganache. I'm tempted to assemble it like the Bread and Chocolate pie on Throwdown--because I'm all about the pastry cream in the pie.

[JudiAU]

If I get home in time I'll bake a sour cherry from the freezer. Otherwise I'll pick up a delicous banana cream pie with handmade graham cracker crust from Clementine, a local cafe.

I'd kill to have that crust recipe. The New York TImes published the filling recipe a few years ago and LEFT OUT THE CRUST!!!! I want to curse with transfat laden commercial crusts every time I think of it.

[onceadaylily]

I made the mistake of joking about pi day to the boyfriend when I let on that I was making cream cheese brownies today. He sighed over his favorite pie, and how I rarely make it.

Because it is a pineapple cream pie with cayenne, that's why. What a sad waste of meringue. But I've decided to make it, and surprise him. Now, the only decision is whether or not to make the brownies in addition to the pie.

[buttertart]

Go on, you know you wanna.

[onceadaylily]

I *have* always crumbled under peer pressure . . . and the dual desserts are bound to be a better decision than crimping my hair was.

[buttertart]

Dual desserts are better than a lot of things!

[blue room]

Crust fail. The pie is "Polly's Perfect", here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/em...

I thought I'd freeze the top crust dough, and grate it--with large holes on grater--to make a light nice textured crust. But a LOT of it sank into the pie, leaving a sparse looking top crust.
However, it smells reeallly good.

[amyamelia]

I made "impossible coconut pie" just an hour before we ate it. i know, not "chow-worthy" to some, but I'd never made it before and had an old bag of coconut in the cabinet without any spare time. My DH gobbled it up and cleaned the kids' plates besides. I thought it was good for the amount of effort! I do hate making pie crust so this was appealing! I chose a recipe that did not include bisquick and I added almond extract:
4 eggs
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. flour

1 tsp almond flavor
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 c milk
1/2 t salt
1/4 c. butter
1-2 c. coconut

blend for 10 seconds in blender (duh), pour into greased and floured pie pan, bake 40-50 mins at 350 degrees. serve with berries, ice cream or both. yum.

I'm so lazy these days.

[chowser]

Why isn't this chow-worthy? It sounds really good to me, like something that would be much better than you'd think, from how easy it is to put together. I'm going to have to give this a try--almonds, coconut...

[buttertart]

I think it sounds great too, would go over big with my Iowa family (the eldest of whom, my husband, does NOT like coconut).

[alkapal]

that impossible coconut pie is really neat. i've eaten a version, and it was quite good! and boy howdy, it couldn't be easier.

amyamelia, how was the almond extract in there?

[amyamelia]

thanks guys-I lurk a lot and see so much snark flying around--makes me 'fraid to post a recipe like this. I think the almond extract made it. I added it since I love coconut macaroons made with almond paste. Yum! Came home today and another two pieces of pie are gone (DH was home all day with a sick kid while I went to work).
cheers!
aa

[alkapal]

almond macaroons with almond paste -- OK, we're *friends* now!!!! ;-). <i LOVE macaroons. have you tried the martha stewart ones, using some orange extract? delicioso)>

amyamelia (beautiful name, by the way), please don't be afraid of snark-hounds. (we all get cranky every now and then, but bullies don't last on here. so......don't worry.).

if it tastes good to you, that is the important thing, isn't it? that's how everyone operates anyhow, no matter how snarky they may sound.

post to your heart's content!.

[buttertart]

Just ignore the snarky ones (as they say, those who matter don't mind, and those who mind don't matter). This really sounds great and I wish I had a willing coconut eater at home to share it.

[blue room]

What we need is a recipe for Snark Pie--that'd show 'em.

[amyamelia]

xoxo to you all. feels like a big warm hug! :)
I just had the last piece of impossible coconut pie. not so good after sitting in the fridge all week-kinda gummy in a gross but yummy way. Have a great weekend!

[alkapal]

gross+yummy+gummy= GRUMMY?

[buttertart]

Sign me up.

[amyamelia]

awesome.
Just like one of my favorites: grumpy + b&tchy =GRITCHY

[buttertart]

Equally awesome!

[alkapal]

i'm definitely using gritchy.

[roxlet]

Lewis Carroll called these 'portmanteau' words since they packed two meanings in a single word...

[alkapal]

a brilliant man -- a mathematician. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/index.html
and boy, i can get gritchy -- esp. if i haven't eaten all day! i recall a thread that i started about (not) eating and getting grumpy. and mismatches with mates. maybe it needs a REVIVAL! http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/526815#

[roxlet]

I'm a big Lewis Carroll fan too. If you haven't, you should read The Annotated Alice just to see how infinitely clever and smart he was.

[onceadaylily]

Another CH posted this recipe a little while back, and I was hooked on the simplicity, and then the pie itself. I *love* this pie.

[shallots]

I had overlooked how little butter the impossible pies required. Thanks for the spur to my memory. Yes, in gardening time, such ease is appreciated.

Totally OT: does anyone else remember the New York Times cross word puzzle from 35 years ago for which the 'secret' was words that had "pi" symbols (one square) instead of the two letters the words really used?

[roxlet]

Yes, I do! They do those kinds of puzzles a lot, and I believe that they've done a 'pi' one much more recently than that.

[alkapal]

i'm pretty sure that they've done a Pi one in the last 6 years....

[chef chicklet]

I make this pie, it's a favorite (though not really a pie-pie) and we call it Crazy Coconut Pie
same amount of everything except, I don't put in almond just vanilla. 40 mins at 350.

Does this look familiar?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7220939@...

[onceadaylily]

And you were the Ch I was talking about up-thread. Really good pie. Thank you, and damn you. ;)

[Chocolatechipkt]

Mm, that looks great! That was sweetened coconut?

[alkapal]

chef c with a winner yet again. that pie is gorgeous. so... when i come over to your place and get coconut pie, what will you get to eat? ;-).

~~~~~
ps, don't you have a blog?

[monfrancisco]

Chef Ch, What a treat. Thank you so much! I've just made my 4th (5th? 6th?) one of these, and every time my husband and I agree that I'm a genius.

[pilinut]

Quiche, actually. After I had planned on an apple pie topped with cheese crumble, the odds and ends lying around my fridge decided that a chorizo, mushroom, and gruyere quiche with green peas and sauteed shallots would be a more practical choice. I scaled up Julia Child's basic recipe in MAFC with excellent results.

[MellieMag]

I didn't even think of making a pie on PI day. My son had a basketball jersey from a charity high school game that had the 3.14 on it ( kids got to pick their own numbers). I had made a pumpkin and a custard the Friday before and made a coconut cream monster of a pie yesterday. We all like the coconut and it's my husband's favorite.

[monfrancisco]

Always apple. Seems appropriate-- Newton, mathematics, so forth. Those are the weak connections I manage to make. And eat!

[iL Divo]

not for Pi day but for thanksgiving \!/
Poached pear streusel pie