Starting my favorite season early. I used my mom’s pecan pie recipe. Never turns out as well as hers, but I think I did alright.

Edit: Apparently our “family” recipe came from the Karo syrup bottle so I’m adding it here. 😁 I used HEB brand corn syrup. I don’t like mine super sweet so I used slightly less than called for.
https://www.karosyrup.com/recipe/homemade-pecan-pie/

Wish it looked better after baking but still happy with how it tastes 😋

I made it in remembrance of my mom on her birthday.

95% butter, 34% liquid experiment

(2 crusts with extra for over-rolled edge)
Ingredient Weight and Baker’s %
Flour
327.6 g 100%
Butter 80-95-100% it’s an experimental “how much butter can your flour take” recipe
Sugar 8.8 g 2.7%
Salt 5.6 g 1.7%

Total liquid
111.4 g
34.0%

Next year I’m going change this

Water
94.7 g 28.9%
Vinegar
16.7 g 5.1%

Finish with brushed on cream, prepare tartlet trays for scrap

The filling is all flour for the starch, pre-cooked the juices, spices to taste :)

I've recently got a gigant wrinkly green pumpkin.

Still struggling with crimping the edges for some reason 😞 But my friend really loved it so I'm glad!!!

Three Berry Pie 🥧

(wild maine blueberries, raspberries, and cherries). In my continuing pie learning, this time I didnt just experiment with a new filling by went with two smaller pies instead of one big one.

My first attempt at making an apple pie, but as part of my summer grilled dessert series, I wanted to nail it on the grill.

Today we used the Weber Kettle and fired it up using 4 DuraflameGrilling charlogs and a half chimney of B&B Charcoal Oak Lump. Laying out the Lump charcoal and using a torch to set fire to a small area in the center. I then placed 4 chatlogs on top. These will catch slowly as the Lump charcoal catches on, and the charlogs will be a good base of heat for the entire duration of the cook. The pie was decadent, hint of fire and a kiss of smoke. Because by the time the pie was ready for baking the charcoal was all lit, the pie didn't have a pronounced smoke flavor.

Ingredients

Apples: 5 medium firm apples (Honeycrisp or Granny Smith), cored and quartered

Fat: 4 tbsp unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing)

Sugar: ¾ cup packed dark brown sugar

Spirits: 3 tbsp whiskey

Thickener: 1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water

Spices: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp allspice, ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Flavor & Finish: 1 tsp vanilla extract, pinch of kosher salt, 1 egg + 1 tbsp water (egg wash)

Crust: 1 double-crust pie pastry (store-bought or homemade)

Instructions

Prep the Grill: Set up your charcoal grill for two-zone cooking (minion method) targeting 375°F to 400°F (190°C to 200°C).

Grill the Apples: Place apple wedges directly over direct heat for 2–3 minutes per side until charred with clear grill marks, but still firm. Move to a cutting board, roughly chop into bite-sized chunks, and set aside.

Build the Filling: Place a cast-iron skillet over direct heat. Melt the butter, then stir in the spices and brown sugar. Cook for 1 minute until fragrant. Pour in the whiskey to add the flavor to the entire sauce.

Thicken: Fold in the chopped apples, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch slurry. Simmer for 3–5 minutes over indirect heat until the caramel thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

Assemble the Pie: Generously butter a fresh 9-inch cast-iron skillet. Lay down the bottom crust. Pour in the warm apple mixture. Top with the second crust, crimp the edges to seal, and cut 4 slits on top for ventilation. Brush thoroughly with the egg wash.

Bake Indirectly: Place the skillet on the indirect heat side of the grill, close the lid, and bake for 40–45 minutes until the crust is deep golden brown and the filling bubbles vigorously. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing so the caramel sets. You want the lid thermometer to be reading between 400-425°F during baking.

Haven't gotten the chance to check out the bakery myself, but I do love the book Sister Pie. Finally got around to making this laborious pie.

Layers are chocolate ganache, butterscotch chess filling, and marshmallow creme meringue.

My first peach pie.

I posted a a few times this summer about my test pie for the Minnesota State Fair. Here is my final submission that I dropped off this morning. I am not entirely happy with crust decorations, but the flavor is dialed in nicely. I said I would post the recipe once I submitted my pie, so here it is:

Ingredients

• 1 crust for a 9" pie
• 5-6 large baking apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced 1/8" thick. A mandolin is great for this, but be careful with your mandolin, and always use the guard. Don't have a scarred thumb like me.
• 12 oz raspberries
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1/3 c. raspberry simple syrup, cooked and reduced by about half
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 Tbsp corn starch
• Rose water

Instructions

• Break down raspberries in a food processor, then strain out seeds in a mesh strainer, keeping as much liquid as possible.
• Combine raspberry puree, sugars, reduced raspberry simple syrup, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
• Gently toss apple slices in raspberry/sugar mixture until well-coated. Refrigerate at least 2 hours
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees f
• Drain liquid from apples (though they do not have to be totally dry.
• ~1/4 of liquid to small pot. Whisk in corn starch until no lumps remain. Add remaining raspberry liquid, butter, and lemon juice.
• Bring raspberry mixture to a boil for 2 minutes until thickened. Cool. You will have more thickened puree than you need.
• Pour ~1/3 c. of thickend puree into the bottom of a prepared pie shell. Arrange apple slices in a tight spiral inwards, regularly pushing the slices towards the edge.
• Bake 20 minutes. Reduce to 375 degrees f, and bake 40 minutes longer. Place a shield over the crust after about 30 minutes.
• Let pie fully cool. Spray rose water over cooled pie. I used 8 sprays from a small spray bottle, but who knows how much one bottle sprays compared to another bottle.

Notes:

During tests, I tried different amounts of raspberry puree, but found that larger volumes of puree made arranging the slices difficult, with puree creating big gaps between apple slices. I also tried pouring puree over the top of the apple slices, but it didn't look as nice. In order to increase the raspberry flavor, raspberry simple syrup (purchased from a local specialty foods store) really helped. I also tried putting rose water in with the puree, but there was no discernable rose taste to the pie when the water was cooked down and baked. With 8 sprays, if I didn't know there was rose water in there, I don't think I would name it, but it definitely adds a special something to the flavor. I used about 5 and a half large Honeycrisp apples.

https://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/crustless-pumpkin-pie/

The only thing different i do is cut back on the pumpkin pie spice to about 3/4 tsp.

Ready to hop into the oven

I am getting married still in 6 months but instead of cake we are getting apple pie and blueberries pie

But we getting married in the forest in Mexico where they don't normally make pies (and if they do aren't really good)

Was planning to make it in the closet city that is 3 hours away

But we are arriving in mascota one day before the weeding just in case, but...

Is it possible my pie can survive 2 days without refrigerador?

(Yes the weeding it's literally 15 minutes in the forest without electricity or refrigeration)

Any advice?