Pie Shield? Pie Shield!

I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond the other day in search of tart pans for a future adventure in pie (putting a small pie inside a larger one). While there I saw something called a pie shield. You put it one overt he crust before you bake the pie and leave it there until the pie exits the oven. Yes, it's somewhat like a big donut. See?

In the past, I've put aluminum foil around a pie, but the directions always say to put it on or take it off in the middle of the baking time, and that's one more think to think about. I am pleased to say that the pie shield worked so well, I asked the husband to pick up a second one since I often bake two pies at once. How well did the pie shield work?

Looks pretty darn good to me!

Decoy Pie

The pie below is a decoy, a stand-in for the real pie that will be given on Sunday. Sunday is the 50th birthday of one of our karate master instructors. Because we don't want him to know that we're doing anything for the true birthday, I'm giving him this pie today along with a card. Another pie, with Cool Whip and chocolate ice cream, will be given on Sunday, along with a larger, musical card.

I will follow this up by making three more pumpkin pies tomorrow, two for the people who come to the Sunday morning class, and one for the instructor to take home. I realize that this will mean he gets two pies in three days. As he would tell you, one can never have too much pie or too many pies.

Probably a One Off

The sons did a GORUCK Challenge last night. I had planned to shadow (follow, with camera) it, but after three straight days of migraines and one 3:00 a.m. walk in a pouring rain because the dog had not been walked before bedtime, I stayed in. I asked younger son if he wanted a post-Challenge pie, and he requested strawberry and apple. Interestingly, I found lots of recipes for said combination, and made one using honey in place of the sugar. Voila!

I'm fairly sure I will never make another of these because, at least to me, it was not all that good. I couldn't really taste apple or strawberry in the filling; it simply tasted bland. Even younger son gave it a somewhat blah reaction. The upside is that my pie crust seems to be flakier with each and every pie. Practice, practice, practice. Will that get one of my pies to Carnegie Hall?

"The" Capieke

I was a bit nervous, this being the first time I'd made a capieke for someone who has never lived at my address. Having made one as requested successfully gave my confidence a boost. Step one, make a peach pie.

I even managed to flute the edges in a somewhat coherent fashion, though since it's going to be encased in a cake, no one will really know. For the cake and icing, I used recipes from the King Arthur Flour website. I must admit that I was tempted more than once to lick my fingers, but there's that nutrition challenge thing I'm doing. Here's the final product, no pie edges visible.

I left the decorating up to the people who requested the capieke. Background: It was her birthday. She likes cake; he prefers pie. Usually, she ends up eating the whole cake. They thought this might give each of them a treat. It also provided treats for their neighbors and a woman in the zumba class as word got around of this strange concoction.

Protopie?

The only photo is of the end result, but when I was asked to make a capieke ("pie" inside "cake") for someone not in my immediate family, I figured I should practice. The request was for a peach pie inside a white cake, with cream cheese icing. Basically, I made a peach pie then put it into the cake pan (one a bit taller than the normal 13x9x2 cake pan) and spread batter over the top. The husband pronounced it quite edible. The problem was that older son and I are doing a nutrition challenge with our workout group which meant we couldn't help with the capieke consumption. The husband ate all of it that he could before it started to taste a bit alcoholic; that amount was enough to make me relax a bite about what I had agreed to do.

A Honey of an Apple Pie

I only have one photo, but I've actually made three of this pie. Older son and I are doing a 90-Day Nutrition Challenge, part of which is not eating anything containing refined sugar. I replaced the sugar in this apple pie with honey, and the family actually prefers it to the same recipe made with sugar.

The filling on the pie above came out a bit watery. For the one I made today, I added a bit more flour to the filling, and it's pretty much the consistency of the pie done with sugar. I expect I may be making another one tomorrow since I don't think any of the one I made today will be around after older son has breakfast. 

Yet Another Capieke

After being asked to make a capieke for someone not in my own family, I figured I should practice a bit.

This is a blueberry pie inside a chocolate cake. I did this one differently than the others I've done. For this one, I actually baked the pie first. I then placed the pie into the sheet pan full of cake batter, covered the top with aluminum foil, and then baked the cake as directed. When the cake was done, the sides were raised about half an inch higher than the top of the pie. I carefully cut pieces of cake out of each side and evened off the top. Once it was frosted, it looked just like a chocolate sheet cake, at least until it was cut.