Blueberry Pie

I don't use a recipe, but the one thing I do before using berries in a pie is cook them with sugar and corn starch.  If I don't, I run the risk of ending up with a runny filling, which makes the bottom crust soggy.  Yuck.

Pecan Pie

I've never before baked a pecan pie, but the recipe (straight from the Betty Crocker cookbook) looked really easy, and I had all the ingredients on hand, so . . .


It smells divine! I'm finally getting used to this electric oven. It browns pie crust better than my previous gas oven did.

Chocolate Chess Pie

I didn't bake this. A neighbor did, and brought it over, while it was still hot. If you love chocolate, you'd love this. Two days later, the chocolate melts on your tongue, even after it's been in the fridge.

I happen to think it looks and tastes like sewer sludge, with a whole lot of sugar. The crust is fairly flaky, though.

Bear in mind that I really don't like chocolate. It was a heckuva nice gift, but every bite is sort of like eating fudge. More than one bite of it, and I'll get sick.

One of these days, I'll have to bake an apple or blueberry pie for her. Or strawberry. I think pie should contain fruit, even if that happens to be coconut or pumpkin. Well, I like ice cream pies too, but only in very small doses.

Chocolate is just sort of icky to me. If I'm going to load up on something that's like candy, it should taste like peppermint, black licorice, butterscotch, or English toffee.

Apple Pie

I baked this to bring over for Easter dinner for my parents. It's got a basic double-crust, plus the requisite spiced-up apple filling. I use lots of cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, and a dash of allspice. This time around, I used Golden Delicious apples, but I normally use Granny Smiths.

Does anyone not know how to bake an apple pie? I can try to give my recipe for it, but about the only things I actually measure are the fat and flour ratio for the crust (1:3). Other than that, I just eyeball the ingredients, and go by smell/taste. I got sloppy when pinching together the crust around the rim, by using my knuckles and a pinky finger, but this was home cooking, for my family, and nobody who's going to eat this will ever care what it looks like, as long as it tastes good.

Regardless, it smelled phenomenal while it was cooling, and will slice up just fine tomorrow . . . heated at 250F while we eat dinner, with a dollop of vanilla ice cream melting over it, for dessert. Simple, but it's a perpetual crowd pleaser.