Happy British Pie Week: I Wanna Eat Some Tatties

Hello from Austin, TX! I can’t wait to meet all of my fellow food folks at Techmunch later tonight, but until then…let’s celebrate British Pie Week!

There is a reason our friends across the pond supply us with such a wealth of pie related news. That’s because they eat ‘em for lunch, dinner and dessert. Savory pies rule the pub roost and I’m not going to discriminate.

Craig Hennessey and his Cumberland Tattie Pot

What Pie Did You Make (or eat) This Thanksgiving?

I can't really express how amazing this tart tastes!

Pumpkin? Pecan? I made this crowd-pleasing Chocolate Caramel Tart with Sea Salt. It sure looked luscious (especially on my sister’s beautiful dessert plates)! This is one of my favorite, most indulgent recipes to make when I know I’ve got to impress a crowd. My chocolate tempering skills still need some work (for the ganache) and, unfortunately, I got a nasty burn on my finger while making the caramel…but, I think it was worth it in the long run.

I’ve got a few more pies ahead of me this weekend as I gear up for the Bay Ridge Pie Social at my friend Justin’s art school for kids: The Art Room. We’ll have more on that later (plus the reveal of my citrus experimentations), but for now why don’t you let us know what kind of pie you dug into on Thanksgiving down there in the comments.

Breaking News: Pies Take Over the New York Times

Diner's Rye Pecan Pie. This photo totally belongs to the New York Times

There have been rumblings for a while now. Pie is on the up and up. And now, the newspaper of record has taken note.

Pie had been lurking below the radar in recent years: taking cover during the ice cream trend, perhaps waiting to see which way the macaron tide would turn. (For proof that the cupcake craze has gone too far, consider the new turkey cranberry cupcake with gravy in the batter from Yummy Cupcakes in Los Angeles.)

Suddenly, New York and San Francisco are national centers of pie innovation.

Go read the article already! It mentions some of my favorite Brooklyn pies, including Diner’s dope Rye Pecan Pie and a few specialties from the ladies of Four and Twenty Blackbirds (they’re Salted Caramel Apple pie rides food trends without being trendy). It’s pretty cool to live in the epicenter of pie innovation!

Chocolate Opium Pie (I’m not counting anymore)

One of the greatest, and most interesting, cooking personalities on the web has declared it Pie Week. Who am I to argue with the one and only Pioneer Woman herself? So, despite the fact that National Pie Day isn’t until December 1st I’m going to go ahead and celebrate by sharing my recipe for Chocolate Opium Pie.

My camera died, so please excuse this "soft focus" iPhone image.

Don’t worry, it’s totally legal. So where did the name come from? This dense and decadent chocolate mousse pie is fragrantly spiced with pink peppercorns, cinnamon and a touch of ancho chili powder, so I wanted a name that evoked the spice route and honor the flavors that make this treat unique. Never used pink peppercorns? They’re fragrant, sweet and spicy! And while they are also peppery, they are not actually peppercorns, but the berry of a South American plant called Baies Rose. How exotic. And if the richness of the fancy chocolate decked with spices seems a bit intense for you, the tangy crème fraiche topping does a great job of cutting through the noise.

Intrigued? Read on for a recipe that will make you a hero this holiday season. And apologies for the lack of pretty pictures. They’ll be back!

Prettiest Pie 2010-It’s a Two-Peat

Victory is sweet!

It's still a winner!

For the second year in a row I took home “Prettiest Pie” at Enid’s Apple Pie Contest.  I guess my pie success really hasn’t been a fluke.

Sunday! Sunday! Sunday!

This Sunday is a big day for me. It’s Enid’s 8th Annual Apple Pie Contest here in Brooklyn.

You should go.

Mr. Beck, Step Away From The Pie

Usually when I hear “tonight we are going to talk about pie” I get really excited. But tonight it was Glenn Beck talking about pie. It you want to watch the Fox News personality talk about pie for 20 minutes clicky-click here:

He's a baker, not a divider. A pie divider. He wants a whole pie to himself.

For those of you who have something else to do let me sum it up for you.

Pie Throwing 2012

If Curling can be an Olympic sport why can’t Pie Throwing? This harebrained idea comes to us from The Bureau of Silly Ideas over in England (where most great pie news is born).

Pie Throwing's earlier, more gamorous days.

Go sign the petition. RIGHT NOW!

Not Pie: Whoopie Pies Cross the Pond

I’m not taking credit for the newfangled craze of Whoopie Pies over in the UK, but after I introduced my English boyfriend to my pumpkin whoopies his life was never the same. Now, they’re all the rage and I’m thrilled to see how creative some British bakers are getting with the down home, New England treats:

From Times Online

Marks & Spencer won the Times’ taste test. I’ll have to try these when we (hopefully) go over there for Christmas.

Of course, as article points out, the rise of the whoopie pie comes at the expense of the cupcake. Intrepid whoopie investigator Huma Qureshi got to the bottom it:

But if, like me, you struggle with the disproportionate slather of overly sweet frosting on cupcakes (Gerhard Jenne, the founder of the upmarket bakery Konditor & Cook, once told me that he couldn’t stand them because he always gets frosting up his nose), then you will appreciate the ease of sinking into a whoopie pie: the buttercream is kept neatly in the middle, like a sweet hamburger in a bun.

For the record, when I get a cupcake I usually rip off the bottom and smush it on top of the frosting. I am, in essence, turning it into a whoopie pie and keeping the frosting out of my nose.

Martha, Maddow and Rapid Oxidation

Here is Martha Stewart teaching MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow how to use a blowtorch to caramelize her Baked Raspberry Custard. Clicky-click to watch the clip:

I love everything about this photo.