We were lucky enough on a cold afternoon to find a cozy spot by the window at The American Pie Co. In a warmly lit space, by the glow of candlelight, we feasted in delight. We were slowly defrosted by mugs of hot chocolate and coffee. Mr. Michie got a slice of the deep dish cinnamon bread pie, glazed in a shimmering sweet drizzle and I got the pink peppermint pie. It was decadent and chocolatey and refreshing all in one bite.
Happiness is…
Going…
Going…
Gone!
This was a rainy day discovery on our last visit to Copenhagen. They were closing up and we promised ourselves we would return to check it out. We did return the following day, but we were too late. There was only a slice of apple pie left.
So with this visit we made sure that we arrived early and boy was it worth it! We should have been good and each made a different choice so we could share. But that s’mores pie just looked so delicious that we both wanted it!
Happiness is a pie with chocolate…
Going,
Going,
Gone…
For Fourth of July this year I decided to make a pecan pie. I chose a recipe from Beth Howard’s cookbook. I baked “Frank Barnett’s Pecan Pie”. It is more of an old fashioned recipe as it uses just brown and white sugar and not Karo syrup. But whether or not it is made with just sugar or sugar and Karo syrup, I’ll take pecan pie any way I can get it!
It was heavenly. I love pecan pie filling even more than I love pecans, so in the future, I would be tempted to double the recipe for the filling but still use a cup of pecans.
It was the perfect end to a wonderful evening. We sat with a slice of pecan pie, a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and watched the sun slowly set!
Happy Pi Day! We’re nerds and we’re okay with that, so today we made a pie. This year’s choice was a black bottom oatmeal pie that I saw on Smitten Kitchen this week. I made a few changes, as I used my favourite pie crust recipe and I took her substitution suggestion of switching karo syrup for golden syrup as I always keep that in the pantry. Karo syrup is not always the easiest thing to find here.
It was scrumptious! After a late dinner date we came home and had a slice with some ice cream! Heaven!
Chocolate cream pie at the Essenhaus for dessert! My favorite pie they make! I think it could cure just about any ailment.
The first day back to school after a break is always the longest. It has been a very busy day with lots of exam prep! The theme for the first exam is “Tools”. So I put together a different still life in each studio. Above is a close-up of one of them. I was so happy to find that blue and white stripped ribbon, it fit perfectly into the nozzle of that vintage watering can and swirled very gracefully around the other objects.
I’m pooped, but nothing that a slice of pie can’t cure! Happy Monday!
It is a pie making kinda day here. The sunshine is gloriously streaming down on us and while we did a few projects around the house, Beth Howard’s heavenly Nutella Pie, baked in the oven.
Mr. Michie was given the first slice after we had Sunday lunch. Happiness is…
Last year I read Beth Howard’s book, Making Piece. I was excited to learn that she was writing a cookbook, Ms. American Pie and I eagerly awaited it’s release. Not only is she a fabulous baker, but she lives in the American Gothic House, that was immortalized by Grant Wood.
I ordered the book the other week and planned to make a pie at the weekend with one of the recipes. I love pie! I was always making pies and cakes and cookies growing up. My Grandpa said that my pie crust tasted like his Mother’s and that was high praise indeed! My Nana taught me how to make little cinnamon bites with the leftover dough, that was always my Grandpa’s treat that he had with his coffee, my Mom said that no one else was allowed to touch it.
Mr. Michie is not such a fan of pies, he loves pecan and pumpkin, but that is pretty much where he stays. I am working to slowly convert him and Beth Howard’s Pie Book is helping me do just that! Her crust recipe is simple, it is just like the one I used to make, it is what the crust should be: a sturdy base that is light, flaky and has that perfect crunch you feel your fork sliding through as you dive in for a bite.
The first recipe I made was simply her pie crust, I had my own recipe for a Kentucky Derby Pie that Mr. Michie fell in love with. However, we were greedy, we ate it, didn’t share and didn’t take any pictures. I had planned on making a pie this weekend, but this week so far has not been going too great for either of us, so I thought a bit of pie making would brighten our moods.
I decided that this week called for chocolate. So we chose to make the Nutella Pie. I got out the ingredients to make the crust while my cream cheese softened in a mixing bowl. Once my crust was rolled, fitted in to my pie pan and the edges crimped, I started to work on my filling. I placed all the other ingredients into my bowl with the softened cream cheese and whipped it by hand. There is something about pie that just makes you want to go all pioneer girl on it, at least that is how I feel! Using your hands to work your dough, whip or slice your filling. Doing it by hand adds in those extra layers of love and I know you can taste it.
I poured the filling into my shell, gave it a bit of a wiggle to smooth it out and placed it in the oven! The house smelled like a little chocolate factory! The hardest part was letting it cool, it wasn’t cool enough to put the whip cream on top before we went to bed and although we could have had a warm slice with whipped cream on the side, I wanted mounds of pillowy cream piled on top! Our patience was rewarded this morning. When I got up for work, I decided in the shower while washing my hair at 5:30am, that we would eat pie for breakfast!
I got dressed, went downstairs and got to work. I poured fresh whipping cream in a bowl followed by sugar and vanilla. I whipped it till soft peaks formed and then took it just a little bit further. Next I piled it on top of the pie, it tumbled down like giant feathery pillows. I looked at it and just sighed. Before me was a thing of happiness.
Mr. Michie grabbed a knife and two forks, I got the plates and cut us each a slice, the knife gliding through the creamy layers to hit the perfectly cooked crust on the bottom. A slice was put on each plate, we touched our forks together in salute, dug into our slices, took a bite and closed our eyes. This was an eye closing moment, this was a moment of pure joy.
I love cream pies and I think that this has turned Mr. Michie in to a full cream pie lover as well! Pie is a humble offering not always as fancy as cakes in appearance or beautifully iced cookies, but don’t be fooled by it’s sometimes humble appearance, inside that shell holds the secret to happiness, quite possibly the secret to world peace. Pie is love! Thank you. Beth Howard for sharing your journey with us and for giving the world this delectible book!
{Please forgive my picture, Mr. Michie tried very hard to be patient while I took a few pictures, and then tried to get a shot with a wedge cut out, but I kept fiddling and he said no more, so we ate pie and smiled and didn’t care about pictures!}
I’ve been thinking a lot about pie at the moment. Part of that is down to a book I have been reading and part of that is a bit of me longing for another road trip.
I had possibly the greatest road trip of my life with my Mom this Summer. We travelled from Indiana to Virginia to see my sister and over the course of our two day road trip we went through the heart of Amish country. That was all down to my Mom and Dad’s insightful planning so we wouldn’t bypass anything and I would have ample opportunity to snap away. My parents are always more than helpful, often slowing down or even turning around the car for me to get a shot I’m after.
Our stop going was in SugarCreek, but coming home we stopped at Walnut Creek. it is set farther back from the highway and has much more of a town feel, as the hotel we stayed in, was within the heart of this quaint place.
We ate dinner at the restaurant that night and each got a slice of pie for dessert. I love pie! I am a pie girl, well I am really any kind of dessert girl. There is something so wholesome about an old-fashioned iced cake or a big slice of pie, stuffed high with filling or mountains of whipped cream on top.
This particular evening I was in a cream pie mood and so, I ate, what I think was the best slice of chocolate cream pie of my life. The crust was flaky and tender, the filling had set up perfectly and the chocolate was just the right amount of sweet and oh, the whipped cream, it was pillowed on so high I could imagine little Renaissance cherubs nestled in its folds.
The weather has changed, Fall is here, tonight we turn back our clocks and evening will creep in earlier. The leaves are turning red, orange and golden hues. I know the leaves are changing in Walnut Creek, I know that soon it will be time for pumpkin pie and steaming hot coffee.
I could be with my Mom today. I could see the leaves change in Ohio. I could ride those backroads with her, past the corn fields and pumpkin patches, past the white clapboard farmhouses with the tidy yards and the telltale black and deep blue clothes hanging from the porch line. Past the cows and pigs and sheep. Past the maple syrup farm and the little dirt road with the old wooden sign leading you to the “sugar camp”, over the hills, being careful of buggies and the Amish who are riding bikes or walking, to this restaurant.
This beacon of happiness that sells pretty much every pie imaginable and we would sit and we would chat and we would laugh and drink sweet tea and eat pie and just be happy to be in each other’s company, because that is what pie is all about!