From Scratch

One day out of the blue, I began having trouble with pie crusts, even when made in the processor, despite having made them without problems for years. All of a sudden they were dry, hard to roll and were neither flaky nor tender. It was so frustrating. I wasn’t doing anything differently. Then it dawned […]

Three varieties of custard pies are among the most-made in the US: pumpkin, pecan and chess pies. We might make the first two only for holidays, but chess pie is a staple in many repertoires, especially in the South. And why not? It’s simple, it’s delicious and its filling is the lightest of the three […]

Oftentimes pie crust recipes will give directions for a food processor but the stand mixer is forgotten. I’ll admit it’s not my first thought when I need to make a crust, but stand mixers do a fine job and some prefer it for crust making; it is easy to overwork the dough in a processor […]

With local apples ripening and our pie-intensive holidays approaching, it seems like a good time to devote five days of posts to making pies, with an emphasis on crusts. Starting October 8 I’ll be providing tips, tricks and recipes I hope will help you to become a better pie maker or to make your first […]

I’ve never paid much attention to the price of those pre-fab pie crusts because I don’t use them — I don’t think they’re good, but that’s not the focus here – but the price jumped out at me last night from an in-your-face sale display: $2.49, which is $1 less than the store’s regular price. That’s […]

Nature seems to conspire against us at times. Peaches are peak right now, for a short time, but it’s way too hot to turn on the oven to bake a luscious pie. What’s a peach lover to do?
This peach lover decided to try a recipe that’s been sitting in the files for so long it was typed. […]

Handling dough for pies and tarts, as well as biscuit, pizza, bread and cookie doughs, doesn’t require a lot of equipment; I once rolled out pie dough with a wine bottle at a friend’s sparsely-furnished summer rental. At home, though, I prefer more proper tools. The list of must-haves is short but browse any kitchen […]

The Kentucky Derby is Saturday and if you make the chocolatey, nutty pie associated with the race, don’t call it Derby Pie, because it’s DERBY-PIE®. The Kern family of Prospect, KY registered the name in 1968, after it became an established hit at the Melrose Inn, and they protect their trademark zealously, as they should. They […]

You might have seen Zero Trans Fat Crisco in a small green can at your supermarket. You might also have seen it, as I did, at a clearance price. The green can has been discontinued because all Crisco shortenings have been reformulated to be zero grams trans fat.
That does not mean there is no trans fat […]