The readings for this week said that a filling needs to be surrounded by pastry to become a pie. I disagreed with this declaration and hence decided that both my pies would not use pastry dough, instead they would use biscuit crumbs. Upon my foray into the world of pie recipes, I discovered that many kindred spirits agreed with me, and fell upon multiple examples of pies with crusts that deigned pastry crusts unnecessary.

The first pie I decided to  make was a Strawberry Frappe Pie with a kick of orange. This pie looked very visually appealing when I first fell upon it my taste buds, in the vein of surely many before, screamed,”NOW.” The crust was made out of 21 graham cracker squares, which in retrospect should have been 25. The crust was a fiasco to make and could have turned out better if the butter was more cooperative. It turns out for some microwaves the melt button means coat the top of the microwave. With a calmer mind the crust making went well. I wish I had used more crackers so the crust could have been better spread. The filling was easy to make, it was fun to work with gelatin and ice cream. I was sad that I had to use frozen strawberries, I am sure the pie would have been even better if I’d gotten fresh strawberries somehow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pie came out well. I should have taken it out of the freezer earlier. The candied orange peels used to make the decorative aspect and accent the orange flavor were easy and fun to make, nothing like working with hot sugar. They came out well, and thanks to Neftaly formed a very nice message for the eater.

The second pie was a Ricotta Nut Crunch Pie. I loved the texture of this pie, and love ricotta cheese so this seemed very appealing. The crust asked for Amaretti almond cookies, I decided to use almond thins instead because Stop n Shop was not well stocked. I used almond nuts, dried apricots, and chocolate folded into ricotta cheese and heavy cream for the filling. The texture of the filling turned out to be lovely.

One regret with this pie was that I should have spread the apricot preserve on the base at a better time, or used a hotter spoon to do it. It turned out well nonetheless.

Overall,  I think I had a good first week. Things to do for the coming weeks are to be more mindful about the quantities when experimenting with non-traditional crusts and being more careful when it comes to storing pies. Also, I should learn how to cut pies better as demonstrated by photos below.

-Hussain