Apple-Cinnamon and Pecan Pie Pops

Two weeks ago, I made some tiny little pie pops for the speakeasy. I sold them separately for people who wanted to bring some home for loved ones, and they were quite a hit. When I do these again, I will probably do only super-sweet pies because the ratio of crust to filling is strongly in the crust's favor. You need a filling that would normally smack you in the face, like cherry pie or pumpkin pie. The pecan pie worked very nicely as well, and I highly recommend that.

Here are the supplies you need to pursue a similar project:

• Ingredients for regular pie filling (or you can do store-bought, but you're hella cheating), cut into one quarter the amount
• Pre-rolled pie crust
• Lollipop sticks (you can buy these at Michael's)
• Rolling pin
• Patience. Worlds of patience.
• A cookie cutter, about the size of caramel apple pop

This is how they'll look before they go in the oven.

Some of the filling may spill out. It's okay.

And here is me making sure to secure the sticks in place.

The final product! Well worth the effort!

Pecan was by far my favorite, so I'll give instructions for that.

Pecan Pie Pops

inspired by bakerella

Ingredients: 

What is listed above (pie crust, lollipop sticks, rolling pin, etc.)

For filling:

1/3 cup dark corn syrup (I use half corn syrup and half molasses)

1 egg, beaten

1/3 cup sugar

2/3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

1/3 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chopped pecans (dice these if possible)

For brushing: 

1 egg white

brown sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all filling ingredients together in one bowl (I love how easy pecan pie is).

2. Roll out the crust and use a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter to cut out circles in the dough. Make sure you have enough for the top and bottom of the pie pops. 

3. Place one circle down and press the lollipop stick into the middle of the circle to secure it in place. Place about 1/2 tbsp of filling into the CENTER of the circle. 

4. Take another circle and place it on top of the bottom circle, pressing into onto the lollipop stick. Then press the top onto the bottom with the end of the lollipop stick to make a pretty design. 

5. Use a pastry brush to cover the top crust with an egg white and then sprinkle with brown sugar.

6. Place back in the fridge for a few minutes before baking to set up. 

NOTE: You may need to place the dough back in the fridge before putting the top circle on. This is because the crust is much easier to deal with when it is cold. 

7. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned, just before the juices start to bubble (this timing is an art that takes practice).

Plum-Pear Port Mini Pies and Sweet Potato Mini Pies

On Monday night, after a long day at work, I decided to work through some recipes I'd been meaning to try and send them to my friend Mike in Los Angeles for his review (and enjoyment too). My friend Will also came by, and I owed him a pie from the raffle, so I threw together a bourbon apple pie crumble pie for him. He was eating it before it came out of the oven, and brought it to his friend's house, where it promptly disappeared.

For me, fall is all about thanking the summer for all that delicious, vibrant fruit, and turning to warmer flavors like sweet potatoes (or yams), pumpkin, squash, pecans, bourbon and port, and lots of butter. With that in mind, I decided to try out two new recipes, and they were an absolute success: Sweet Potato Pie and Plum-Pear Port.

Placing the Bourbon Apple Pie beside the baby pies and the momma sweet potato pie

Plum-Pear Port in the foreground, and sweet potato just in front of it

Sweet Potato Pie gets its time in the spotlight

And here are the recipes!

Sweet Potato Pies (recipe modified from Paula Deen's)

Mine has less sugar, and you can totally get away with it!

Ingredients

2 cups of whipped sweet potatoes (you'll need about 2 large sweet potatoes or 3 medium-sized ones, and I'll explain how to whip them below)

3/4 - 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like it; brown sugar could also work nicely)

1/2 stick melted and cooled butter

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out the pastry and transfer either to a 9-inch pie plate or cut with circle cookie cutters and press lightly into buttered muffin tins. Trim and decorate pastry, and then place it back in the fridge to set up. 

2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into evenly sized cubes. Then steam them for about 20 minutes, or until soft. Transfer to a bowl to cool. Once cool, mash with a potato masher (or a wooden spoon or some other mashing implement), then transfer to a mixer and whip them up. You can do this by hand, but I got a KitchenAid for my birthday, and it is the single-best gift of all time.

3. Scoop out 2 cups of whipped potatoes and put into a bowl. Combine with the sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla, salt, and spices. Mix thoroughly. Add the milk and continue to mix. 

4. Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature. 

You can add a meringue to this, but I love how it tastes by itself. 

Plum-Pear Port Pies (recipe modified from BHG)

Mine is heavier on the plums because I love their tartness

Ingredients

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Squeeze of a lemon

1/2 tsp cinnamon

4 cups chopped plums (I leave skins on)

2 cups cored and chopped pears

2 tbsp port (you can omit this if you feel like it, but add in some more lemon)

1/4 tsp vanilla

Pie crust for either a double-crust pie (you can do a large lattice, or tiny muffin-tin pies like I do)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Roll out the pastry and transfer either to a 9-inch pie plate or cut with circle cookie cutters and press lightly into buttered muffin tins. Trim and decorate pastry, and then place it back in the fridge to set up. 

2. Combine sugar, lemon, cinnamon, a pinch of salt with all of the fruit and allow it to juice for about 30 minutes. Then pour off the excess. Add lemon juice or port and vanilla. Transfer the mixture into the pie tin(s).

3. Roll out the remaining pastry for the lattice crust, or do whatever you want really with the top a crust. A crumble would be a good choice since this pie is REALLY juicy. It could soak up some of the excess.

4. Bake 1 hour-20 minutes if you are baking a large pie, or 1 hour if baking in muffin tins.  

Mini Chicken Pot Pies

For my birthday, my friend Kelley got me a set of adorable ramekins that I've been using nonstop. I've been feeling rather lazy about cooking lately, so I'll just throw some leftover pie crust into the ramekin and put in some of my pre-made chicken pot pie filling that I keep in the freezer and defrost when needed, preheat the oven to 400F, press on a top crust and give it some air vents, put a milk glaze on top, and wait 40 minutes to chow down.

A very lucky boy was extremely fortunate that I have a whole set of these so I could make one just for him at 10 PM after a long day of work.

These are best when served warm with a glass of bourbon-gingerbeer-lemonade. That's right, I said bourbon-gingerbeer-lemonade. Sip on that for a minute.

Enjoy!

More Speakeasy Photos

Here are yet some more photos of the Speakeasy. These photos were taken by my friend, Will Rittenhouse, who happens to have impeccable taste in cameras and an impeccable photographic eye. I love how warm these came out. They really captured the lighting we created with the candles and white lights everywhere. 

The DJ

That's me serving banana cream pie!

My beautiful friends, Marie and Maureen

Some more of my beautiful friends, Kelley and Amy

A close-up of the gorgeous Maureen

Settling Down

Things are finally starting to settle down after a long and eventful weekend. The Speakeasy as Pie event was a success beyond my imagination. Everything was beautiful and just as it should have been. And then all my friends and co-workers and even my family made it out to celebrate. It was just lovely.

Some stats:
$220: Money raised for Urban Sprouts
<1/2: Bag of garbage
9: Pies eaten
9: Hours the party lasted
50: Attendees, about half in costume

Here are some of the photos we took before the night began:

 The famous pie pops

 The pie of the evening: bourbon apple, just in time for fall

The table setup before dark

Some of our lovely accents: floating candles in mason jars (where I normally store lemon curd and pie filling), flowers, recycled crates

The two drink choices at the bar: The Newsboy and The Exotic Lady

The aerial view of the bar

Maria's zine stand

That's me awaiting guests at the pie stand. I'm not crazy about being in photos.

Speakeasy This Friday: Take Your Pie to the Face

The time has nearly come for the house party of the year: Speakeasy as Pie.

I am so incredibly excited - and even more grateful - for everything that is coming together and all the people who have made this possible. Maria and I are in awe of how our communities of friends, neighbors, and random acquaintances with big hearts have supported us throughout this process.

On that note, I want to give an insanely loud shout-out to my best friend Marie, whose excitement and ideas and creativity have really made this possible for me. I don't mean that lightly. I never would have been able to do this without her support. Actually, I never would have gone to New Zealand if it weren't for her either, which would never have led me down this path. Aw, I'm getting all choked up just thinking about it. The point is that I have her to thank for so many things in my life. Love you, girl. 

You wouldn't believe how much love and prep and time has gone into this from so many different people. Here is a small sampling of what we've been doing over the last few weeks to prepare:

• Endless recipe-testing to get the world's best pie crusts and fillings
• Logo and flyer design
• Menu and cocktail consultations
• Collecting an insane number of pie dishes
• Picking up furniture and rugs and tapestries; candles, lanterns, and jars
• Crafting endlessly
• Clearing out the entire backyard
• Eating Oreos for dinner because I'm too stressed to cook anything
• Contacting charities for our raffle
• Clearing out the garage and pretty-fying it for everyone's enjoyment
• Praying to the weather gods for sun and warmth this Friday (it seems to be working so far!)
• Making a dozen pie crusts in rapid succession
• Looking up from all my baking to see the lights of the city through our big, wraparound kitchen windows, then closing my eyes, breathing deeply, and getting back to work
• Yoga to stay focused. Lots of yoga.

Now it is time for me to begin all of my prep work for the food and settle into the excitement. Get ready to dance and party and drink delicious drinks and take some pie to the face!

Can't wait to see you all on Friday!

Blogs That Are Stealing All of My Free Time

It is quite possible that I spend too much time on the Internet for my own good. Here are some of the baking blogs I've been reading for the last few weeks, making me not as productive as I could be. Gosh darnit, stop putting out so much amazing, quality food-related content, people!

1. Teeny Pies: This girl is worlds of cool. She's basically my hero right now. It's her goal to travel around to become a pie apprentice at dozens of famous shops around the country. She's calling it her "tour of pie", and I am going along for the ride. Her first stop is High Five in Seattle. Mini pies, big pies, pie pops, all vintage-inspired. Those are my kind of people.

2. Chocolate-Covered Katie: Low-fat vegan desserts like Four-Minute Coconut Macaroons.I will eat these foreverrr.

Photo and recipe on Chocolate-Covered Katie

3. Southern Lady Cooks: I'm pretty sure the name says it all. These recipes remind me of back home and my family and the holiday.

4. Some Kitchen Stories: a photographer and a writer have paired up for beautiful recipes and great stories. Each recipe comes with a tiny intro that sets the tone for what's to come. So original, you have to love it.

Honey-Scented Fig Granola on SKS

Share the love and check out these awesome blogs!

What's In the Works

I haven't been updating because it has finally occurred to me that I really need to turn my baking into a legitimate "thing" before I begin my real journey. After several weeks of introspection, I realized that I often sabotage my own efforts to be successful. This cannot continue. I need to re-focus and prioritize so my life is not one failed effort after another.

Case A: I dream of going to grad school to get my PhD in American Literature. Yet I am too afraid to look at applications or even begin to do anything besides take my general GRE. The thought of googling "Emory Literature grad school application" gives me the hives. 

Case B: I thought of a brilliant idea at work, but the very idea of executing said idea sent me into a flurry of "No, that won't work"s. I imagine all the ways things could go wrong, and then I just sit still.

Case C: I am unhappy at work, but also afraid of all the possibilities outside of my office. Or the lack thereof, however you want to look at it. 

But, basically, I realized that my lack of blogging was me telling myself that I wasn't worth my own success, and I really need to stop doing that. I have so much unrealized potential, and I need an outlet for all of my creative energy. 

So before I begin blogging again, I want to let you know that I have been hard at work trying to make my dreams a reality. Here is a taste of what is in the oven:

The Speakeasy as Pie Event. Here is the flyer with all the details, designed by my friend Marie with my photograph. 

My electronic business card:

Improving my recipes, and finding the beauty of this bad boy: The Bourbon Apple Pie (so southern it kills me)

...More to come soon, I promise! I just need some time to re-focus. If you follow my other blog, you know that it is almost my birthday, and my birthday is a time of great reflection and re-organizing for me.