Easy as Pie: Tips & Recipes for Baking a Perfect Pie

Let's talk about pie. Flaky, golden brown, sugary pie. I love baking and pie is one of my favorite things to make. My favorites are apple and blackberry. And I promise baking pie isn't as hard as it looks! I'm excited to try out making pumpkin and pecan this fall, so with that here are some awesome pie recipes followed by some of my own tips and design ideas. 

-- Recipes--

Apple Pie: An American Classic

Blueberry Pie: Perfect With Some Whipped Cream

Pumpkin Pie: If You Love Pumpkin Pie, Try Out These Cupcakes

Banana Cream Pie: Best With Butterscotch

French Chocolate Silk Pie: Ooh La La!

Pecan Pie: Or Try This Brownie Version

--Tips--

Perfecting the Crust | Line the pie pan completely with dough. Make sure you have an evenly thick crust allover. The crust should easily fold over the edges without tearing. Use a sharp knife to cut the crust to shape. Don't attempt any styling here. Then use your **clean** fingers to soften the cut edges of the crust. You can use a fork and make impressions every so often or use your fingers to create "ripples" in the crust. Play around and mold it to your shape.

Decorations | Pie decorating essentially takes precision, not artistry. To add cool fall shapes, cut extra pieces of dough with a cookie cutter and place on top of the pie's filling. For a lattice, cut even strips of dough and weave. When you reach the end of a row, tuck the end of the dough strip between the filling and the crust or layer it on top of the crust and knead with your fingers so it blends in.

Sides | Pairing hot pie with something cold is always delicious. Try cream-based ice creams (sorbets don't always taste great with pie) in a maple, vanilla, chocolate, banana or pumpkin flavor. Drizzling caramel over cream pies is also great (banana + butterscotch = amazing).

I use an Emile Henry Artisan Pie Dish for baking. It is wonderful! 

How cute are these hedgehog measuring cups? And these dessert plates?

Mix up your pie by cooking minis in cupcake tins or ramekins....

Or making pie pops for easy serving and transportation!

Happy baking!
xoxo