Parker's Pies

I'm working to become as comfortable baking as I am with cooking...and I'm learning that I can make one mean pie. These are shots of my cherry pie, which I made for Thanksgiving with my BF's family. There was a change in plans later in the evening, and we never got around to dessert, so the feedback (and the feeding) would have to wait.

The BF & I had slivers of each pie later that night. I thought they came out alright, myself. The cherry pie was much better than the pumpkin pie, which was a variation on a Smitten Kitchen recipe. This is the first time I DIDN'T fawn all over the results. This recipe called for a can of sweet potatoes, and for you to push the filling through a sieve, making it silky smooth. Texture-wise it was noticeably smoother than regular pumpkin pie, but to me it tasted like.. well.. sweet potato pie. which is fine. But I didn't push that filling through my insanely-fine sieve for 30 minutes to acheive something I did not prefer to my old standard, the tried and true Libby's pumpkin pie (yummmmmmm). This is in no way a reflection on Smitten Kitchen--just a show of my odd tastes.

The cherry pie, however, is a favorite standout of mine. I don't normally like cooked fruit (yeah, i said it), but take some sour cherries and add some sugar, real butter, and a flaky crust, and I'm in 100 percent. I also took the liberty of nearly doubling the amount of cherries.



I took photos of the pumpkin pie-making process, but forgot to take a picture of the completed pie! And even though Smitten Kitchen warned me to make sure my sieve wasn't super-fine...it was. The pie just wasn't that spectacular, as I said, so I'm not too mad at myself for missing the finished product pic.


The best part?? BF's dad RAVED about my cherry pie. Said in the few days after I baked it, it was off the charts fantastic, and told BF to remember to tell me. So, yay me. :)