Humble Pies: How Many Have You Tried?

There's some controversy on the subject of which day National Pie Day ought to be celebrated, either January 23 (as specified by the American Pie Council) or March 14 (as specified by the math geeks of the universe). We've got the perfect solution though: why not celebrate on both days? Certainly there's enough pie love to go around.

With March 14th coming around, we decided to forgo the usual apple, pumpkin or blueberry pie in favor of compiling a list of somewhat lesser-known pies; each is linked to a recipe or page explaining its history. Maybe you'll come across some old favorites or new discoveries. But mostly we're curious...how many have you tried? 

If you're so inclined, feel free to post about it on your site or leave a comment below--if you want to get really fancy, you can specify which ones you've tried by italicizing which ones you've eaten, and link back to this post so everyone can judge--er, see--your responses!

And of course, if you have any other "forgotten" pies that you think we should know about, do tell!

Acorn Pie
Avocado Pie
Bean Pie
Butter Tart Pie
Cactus Pie
Chess Pie

Derby Pie
Funny Cake Pie

Grapefruit Pie
Grasshopper Pie
Green Tomato Pie (Sweet)
Gooseberry Pie
Grape Pie
Hoosier Pie

Marionberry Pie
Millionaire Pie
Mincemeat Pie
Mock Apple Pie
Nesselrode Pie
Osgood Pie

Ozark Pie
Ricotta Pie
Sawdust Pie
Shoofly Pie
Sweet Pickle Pie
Treacle Cornflake Pie
Vinegar Pie
Watergate Pie
Whortleberry Pie
Zwieback Pie

Sugar Crash: An Unusual Introduction to the Cowboy Cookie

Sometimes a new baked good just comes crashing into your life--full throttle, no apologies, no turning back.

The Cowboy Cookie was such a treat for us--literally.

You see, not so long ago, a car crashed into the house neighboring the CakeSpy Headquarters. No, really. See?

It crashed right into the kitchen, where said neighbor happened to be at the time of the crash--in the middle of mixing up some cookie batter.

Well, needless to say their oven was not OK, so we found ourselves in the unique position of having inherited a batch of cookie dough, all ready to bake. And so preheat the oven we did, and about half an hour later, we had a fresh batch of cookies. What resulted was a mysterious, yet delicious, cookie. They had oats, but couldn't quite be called an oatmeal cookie; they had chocolate chips, and yet we wouldn't quite call them a chocolate chip cookie. And did we detect a pecan or two?

Turns out, they're called Cowboy Cookies--and with their dramatic entrance, they've certainly lassoed our hearts--and with an extra dab of chocolate frosting in between, they're bound to corral the affections of just about any cookie lover.


There are a number of varieties of the Cowboy Cookie to be found online, and they're certainly an easy one to personalize to taste; but in case you're curious, this recipe that we found on Martha Stewart seemed very close to the ones that we had:

Cowboy Cookies

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  
• 3/4 cup light-brown sugar
  
• 2 large eggs
  
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
  
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch chunks (1 cup)
  
• 3 ounces (3/4 cup) pecan halves
  
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
  

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat baking sheets with cooking spray, line with parchment, and spray parchment. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder into a medium bowl.
Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium-high until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
Reduce speed to low, and slowly add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Beat in oats, chocolate, pecans, and coconut until combined. (Dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a small spoon, drop dough onto baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.
Bake until edges of cookies begin to brown, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire rack, and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks. Let cool. (Cookies can be stored up to 3 days.)

Cake Byte: Sweet New Stamps by Taylored Expressions!

It's time to spring ahead--sweetly--with a new batch of rubber stamps created by our own Head Spy Jessie in collaboration with Taylored Expressions! The newest set has Cuppie, that little rascal of a cupcake, getting into all sorts of Easter adventures!

You can get ideas for projects like the card shown at the top, here; to buy the stamps, which retail for $21.95, visit tayloredexpressions.com!

POM-mier Wonderful: Pomegranate Palmiers

Pomegranates are kind of like the rock star of the antioxidant world. In fact, based on what we read on the POM Wonderful website, there isn't a whole lot they can't do: they improve cardiovascular health, help clear arteries, and might even help you feel more frisky. And happily, pomegranate seeds and juice are pretty delicious, even on their own, so getting all of those benefits need not taste like bitter suffering.

However, when the sweet people at POM (thanks buddies!) offered to send us some of their juice to test out with baking, we wonderered, could there be a way to increase the awesome quotient of this superfood? The answer is yes: by smothering its supreme antioxidancy in butter and sugar.

So was born the POM-mier, a pomegranate infused and topped palmier. Joking aside, the resulting pastry is a lovely, not too-sweet combination of flavors: the buttery, flaky pastry gets a sweet, tart taste contrast from an infusion of pomegranate between its layers and a topping of pomegranate syrup. Here's how we made them:


Pomegranate Palmiers (adapted from a recipe on Epicurious):

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 tablespoons POM Wonderful juice per pastry sheet
• 2 sheets puff pastry (or more, or less, to your preference)
• 1 tablespoon sugar per pastry sheet (approx.)

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Sprinkle some sugar on a work surface and cover it with a puff pastry square sheet. Then sprinkle more sugar evenly over pastry sheet and roll it out into a 10-inch square with a rolling pin. With a pastry brush, gently brush the pomegranate juice across the surface of the puff pastry (this will give the finished pastry the lightest essence of pomegrante).

Fold in two opposite sides of the pastry sheet square so that they the sides meet in the center. Fold in same sides of the pastry again.

Fold one half of the pastry over the other. Cut pastry crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Dip cut sides of each piece in sugar and arrange, cut side down, on an ungreased baking sheet. Repeat with three remaining pastry sheets.

Bake palmiers in batches in middle of oven until golden on bottom, about 12 minutes. Turn over and bake until golden on bottom, 5 to 7 minutes more, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. While cooling, top with pomegranate syrup (below).

Pomegranate Syrup (Adapted from the POM Wonderful website):

• 1 cup POM Wonderful Juice
• 1 cup sugar

Combine juice and 1 cup of sugar in a small saucepan; bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and simmer about 20 minutes until reduced to about 3/4 cup, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat and cool. (You can store in a tightly closed jar or container in the refrigerator for up to 2 months).
With a spoon, gently pour a small amount on top of each finished pastry.

Sweet Art: Intricate for Illustration Friday

Have you ever heard of Illustration Friday? Well. If not, the rules are simple:

Illustration Friday is a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation.

This week, the theme was "Intricate"--and what could be a sweeter interpretation than a fancy, perhaps ever-so-slightly haughty cupcake in an intricately decorated room?

Have a sweet weekend!