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.

PiePalooza

It's not every day that I make six pies; two is more the norm. But the party following last weekend's black belt exam in Myo Sim Karate and Kendo called for potluck pies. There is also the tradition of presenting one of the master instructors with his own pumpkin pie to take home. I planned on four for the party and one for the master and ended up with those plus one for the family. I started with key lime since the crust

and the whole pie

each only bake for short periods of time. The meringue topping comes later.

After the key lime, it was on to the two pumpkin pies. Unfortunately, I got distracted and forgot to turn the oven temperature down after the first 15 minutes. This resulted in two slightly overdone pies.

Since I didn't think an overdone pie was a fitting gift for a master instructor, especially the one who was getting it, I made a third one.

Fortunately, I had made extra dough for the crust and had extra ingredients (chiefly pumpkin, condensed milk, and eggs), so whipping up one more was not at all difficult.The wife of the karate master names apple pie as her favorite, so I did that for her and the other fruit-filled pie lovers.

I actually may have over-filled this, but the more, the merrier, eh?

I did the mocha pie last because it requires no cooking at all. Unfortunately, with no into and out of the oven, I forgot to take any photos of the mocha in progress. I did get a shot of all six, though the key lime still lacked its meringue and the mocha lacked its espresso whipped cream topping.

I added those right before leaving for the party.

The pies were a huge hit at the party; the key lime was particularly praised. One person added some of the hostess' extra-jalapeno guacamole to the mocha pie and suggested we combine the two and go into business. Another person added the guacamole to the dregs left in the pie plate and agreed that the two went quite well together. We brought home empty pie plates and just a small portion of pumpkin. The husband has been doing his best to get rid of that and the slightly overdone pumpkin pie I kept for the family. Older son and I are doing a 90-day nutrition challenge, under which we stopped eating processed sugar the day after the exam and party. Yeah, somewhat sucks to be us right now on National Donut Day, but there are some benefits. Perhaps I'll blog about those elsewhere.

A Is for Apple ... M is for Mother

I'm having my mom over for dinner tomorrow, Mother's Day, and asked her what kind of pie she wanted for dessert. She said whatever the men in my house wanted, though preferably not something crunchy given her dentures. The husband wanted apple, and older son had no objections, so apple it was, made a day in advance since tomorrow is one of those busy days. I used a mixture of Granny Smith and golden delicious apples, and brushed the top crust with egg white and sprinkled sugar. I do like the way it turned out; it may, in fact, be one of the most beautiful pies I've made. Here's hoping it tastes as good as it looks.

And So, This Pie Has No Photo

One of our Myo Sim karate master instructors who is also an entire information technology department has been doing more IT and less karate, so I made him a pie of the pumpkin variety. Because there were numerous other things going on in my life on the day I made the pie (which is the date of this post thanks to the ability to backdate things), I did not think to photograph said pie. I made it, though, and delivered it, and I expect that at least some of it was consumed that same evening.

It Started with Samoas

In the wake of last weekend's successful citrus pie, I asked younger son if there were a type of pie he wanted me to make this weekend. On the back of last week's recipe, he scrawled "coconut cream pie (a bit crunchy, if possible) w/ chocolate chips + chocolate drizzle on top w/ caramel+ pretzel crust (possibly w/ a bit of plain graham cracker in the crust, too)." He then verbally added, "Samoa in pie form." In researching the exact composition of samoas, I discovered the recipe for a Samoa Pie. This made it entirely too easy, so I decided instead to create a pie from the scrawled instructions as well as the email amendment that the crust be "as thick as the one on last week's pie." I have apparently succeeded, though it took bits and pieces of six different recipes to do so.

First up, caramel sauce and toasted coconut. I made the caramel sauce last night and am desperately hoping that younger son takes it home with him tomorrow. I have a love-hate relationship with caramel. I love eating it and hate that it is basically made from sugar, butter, and cream.

Next up, the crust. I started with biscotti for the caramel that younger son requested, and added some crushed pretzels and graham crackers. For sugar, I used powdered instead of granulated and guessed at the amount of melted butter needed. Actually, I guessed at all the amounts with the aim of making the requested thick crust.

Here's the baked result. You can't really see it here, but it is thick.

For the coconut cream part, I used a recipe that did not call for the double boiler I would have had to improvise. The recipe didn't specify sweetened or unsweetened coconut. I used unsweetened since that was what I had left over from making granola. As with last week's citrus pie, the amount of filling wasn't quite as much as I might have liked. Instead of hiding that fact with whipped cream, I sprinkled the top with toasted coconut. First, though, I made a circle of caramel sauce around the outside, letting it seep down a bit between the coconut cream filling and crust. On the top I drizzled melted chocolate chips and sprinkled some mini chips. The end result? The art of pie in more ways than one.

Younger son has indicated that I met his challenge quite handily. In fact, I expect that by morning the pie will be but a pleasant memory.

Next up? There's a recipe for cinnamon roll swirl cake that looks promising not to mention quicker and easier than the homemade cinnamon rolls that are part of our Christmas morning routine.