Happy Early π Day!
Apple…pecan…cherry…strawberry…key lime…peach…pumpkin…coconut crème…and, of course…Minny’s famous chocolate….PIE!
With tomorrow being March 14th, you know π Day, I thought it’d be a great way to bake a little and send the Payaso to work with some delicious mini pies for his coworkers.
Baking pies will always hold a special place in my heart because I won first place – a blue ribbon – in the first “Dublin Days” event held in Dublin, California in 2010. At the time, I was living in Minnesota, but I had plans to spend the 4th of July weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area with good friends, Renee and Luis. Now getting old isn’t really my friend when it comes to the memory department, but upon my arrival to California, I think the conversation went something like this:
Renee: “Joe, I signed you up for a pie baking contest this weekend.”
Gringo: “Um, I’ve never baked a pie.”
Over the next few days, I looked at dozens of pie recipes online and noticed they all had a common theme: crust, fruit, sugar, more crust. How hard could it be? After much deliberation, we decided I’d make a peach pie for the contest, and off to the store we went.
Fresh peaches? Check.
Sugar? Check.
Pie crust? Does frozen count? Absolutely – Check.
Renee finances our pie baking adventure, and we head home to get started. And by “we,” I mean me. When we get back to the house Renee leaves me to run more errands, and I get to work on making my first pie. I open the frozen pie crusts and notice there are two in the package.
“Oops, I think we bought too many,” I think.
I cut up the peaches, mix it with a literal handful of sugar and step back to enjoy the specimen. Frankly, it looks boring, and I have no idea how I’m going to add a top crust to this soon-to-be winner. “Can I roll out that extra frozen pie crust and put it on top?” I wondered. I start looking for a rolling pin, but instead I find lemons and honey. I add some lemon juice to the sugar covered peaches and drizzle, drizzle, drizzle honey over the entire pie. I take the extra frozen pie crust and set it on top of this glorious concoction.
“Oh. Em. Gee. I’m a genius!” I say to the empty house upon my discovery that the extra pie crust is perfect for making the top crust.
I take a butter knife, and spend the next 10 minutes making ever so perfect cuts for the pie to vent. Into the oven and away she baked. The sight of that first baked pie had me hooked the minute I opened the oven door.
Renee: “Joe! You did it!”
Gringo: “I totally used the extra frozen pie crust for the top crust. Who will notice?”
It wasn’t until later that Renee’s dad, a retired, professional baker, told us that that is what the extra pie crust was used for. You should have seen our faces!
The next day we head off to The Murray Schoolhouse, established in 1856, where the pie will be judged by one of the great-granddaughters of the wife, Minnie, of one of the founders of Dublin, California. Be still my heart. Here’s the moment where the judges are tasting the pie (note the word use by Renee in the background when the judges ask whose pie it is….[clears throat]…
Yep, you heard right; the great-granddaughter said that Minnie would have liked my pie. I will never forget that feeling. The judges finish tasting all three contenders and start their deliberation. My opponents include a 9 year old girl who made a strawberry pie with what appeared to be drizzled Hersey syrup, and a wheelchair-bound elderly woman with what was clearly a homemade pie crust that was perfectly latticed. The award ceremony still makes me laugh to this day. Why was I wearing a dress shirt with shorts to this competition when it was like 100 degrees outside? Oh, fashion so often escapes me. Here’s video of the award presentation.
And that’s it. That’s how the Gringo won his first – and only – pie baking competition. And that brings me back to making these little pies for the Payaso’s coworkers to celebrate π Day. There are a gazillion pie crust recipes out there, but I’m using the refrigerated kind today. I’m also using canned pie fillings to help speed the process along: cherry, apple and of course, peach in honor of that amazing day back in 2010 at the Murray Schoolhouse. The Payaso was by my side and made all the adorable crusts. Last step was to add a nice pinch of sugar and cinnamon to the top to add a bit more flavor.
Happy π Day!