Pi Day -- Recipes for Homemade Pie!

Let's make pie for Pi Day!

What holiday do we celebrate on March 14th? What might hungry mathematicians eat on the 3rd month’s 14th day? Ah yes, on March 14th, we celebrate Pi Day to honor pi, the revered mathematical constant of 3.14 and a trillion more digits.

To help pie lovers and food bloggers celebrate the occasion, you are invited to share a favorite pie recipe for Pi Day here at Kitchen Parade March 10 - 14, 2008.


Pi Day Pie Recipes from Pie Lovers Across the World

Contributors: Once you notify me that your post is live, I'll add your post to this list. Please be aware that I'm experimenting with a new way to automate round-ups using Del.icio.us and some Java code.

Pie Recipes contributed Monday, March 10


Pie Recipes contributed Tuesday, March 11


Pie Recipes contributed Wednesday, March 12


Pie Recipes contributed Thurday, March 13


Pie Recipes contributed Friday, March 14 - Pi Day!


Pie Recipes contributed over the weekend!


Pi Day - How This Event Works

The challenge While it's easy to fill a pie, the crust itself is more challenging -- but so worth investing in, so worth doing well. And so for Pi Day, please make your own pastry. Yes, Pi Day is about homemade pie crusts, whether a favorite pie crust recipe, whether a new-to-you recipe with a particular technique, whether your own innovative twist on pastry -- all are welcome. Butter crusts? Crisco? Olive oil? Lard??? All ingredients are welcome! Single crust? Double crusts? Lattice tops? All are welcome, so long as the pastry is homemade.

If you're a food blogger or a blogger

Post a favorite pie recipe (the crust and the filling) the week of March 10th to 14th.

Posting Update 3/14 3:14pm Did you make a pie today for Pi Day? If so, you are maybe feeling pressured to get your post live today. Don't worry, I'm happy to accept entries through Sunday noon-ish. Now just go enjoy your pie ... just save me a sliver. I'll have one of each, please.

When writing your post, do include your personal tips for making pie crust, what you learned from making it, why you like a particular recipe. Tell us what's good about it, what makes it a favorite (if it is) - speed? taste? flakiness? flavor? tenderness? workability? convenience?

In your post, include a link to this post. Archive posts are not eligible though you may reference an archive post in your new post. To be eligible, your post must include a link to this page when it goes live, no adding it later.

Then send an e-mail that includes: - your blog's name - your home city/state or city/country or state/or/country - your pie recipe's name - the post's permalink (URL)

As you can already see, all our pie recipes will collect right here on this very page for a running round-up, live starting March 10. (I'll also post a separate round-up on or shortly after March 14th that will reach RSS readers and e-mail subscribers.)

If you don't have a blog Maybe you should get one? No seriously, you should! But okay, if you insist otherwise, just send me your recipe via e-mail. Please know that you are very, very welcome! I hear from many of you privately and know you're great cooks. I'd love your contributions. And it's a promise, I won't bug you about starting a food blog again!

More details Multiple entries are welcome but please, each one should include a different recipe for homemade pie crust. Your post can be submitted to this event only, please, no others. All first-time pastry makers will be given special recognition, so please mention this in your post or e-mail.

Added Incentive The most important gift of pie-making is the quiet sounds of enjoyment from your family and friends. Still, let me add a small incentive, a gift for a randomly selected participant, a lovely book about the odyssey of a lifetime of making pies, Humble Pie: Musings on What Lies Beneath the Crust.


Recipes for Homemade Pie Crust

For anyone looking for great recipes on how to make pie crust, here are some helpful posts.

Last fall, I shared tips from a master pie-baker so inspiring I call her the 'Pie Whisperer'. Here are her recipe for Flaky Tender Pie Crust along with tips for great crusts (including photos).

Anne Dimock (the author of Humble Pie) has her own pie crust tips, included with her recipe for Straight-Up Perfect Rhubarb Pie.

The great cookbook Once Upon a Tart offers several pie crust recipes. I liked this one with semolina used in the recipe for Spinach & Feta Quiche.

Elise from Simply Recipes is a big fan of all-butter crusts, also called Pate Brisee. To my mind, an all-butter crust is a 'tart crust' not a 'pie crust' but if it's your preference, make this!

Deb from Smitten Kitchen shared Cook's Illustrated most recent pie crust recipe that uses vodka for part of the liquid. In my experience, this is a beautiful pastry to work with but isn't especially tender. Deb's photo essay is filled with her own tips, too and definitely worth reading.

Pastry chef Shuna Fish Lydon (aka EggBeater) shares her many pastry tips in Pie Crust Revisited.

Rose Levy Berenbaum's pie crust is so famous, it's on bags of Gold Medal Flour!

Gluten-Free Girl has her own favorite Gluten-Free Pie Crust.


Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences.

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Alanna Kellogg
Alanna Kellogg

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

Comments

  1. Anonymous2/01/2008

    So you're going to really teach me how to make pie crust? Make it apple, my dad will be in heaven.

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  2. This is perfect! I'm an engineer by day (so admittedly kinda nerdy). Yet it was my Psych major best friend who pointed out the humor of Pi Day to me...years ago in junior high. I'll have to make a special Pi Day Pie just for her.

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  3. Anonymous2/02/2008

    What about graham cracker crusts?

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  4. Anonymous ~ Graham crackers crusts (and Oreo crusts, etc.) are just fine, so long as you make it yourself. My whole mission here (and yes, it's Alanna, there is a certain 'missionary zeal' about this event) is to encourage cooks to make homemade pie. If that means starting with an easy graham cracker crust, that's perfect.

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  5. I'm going to try really hard to participate! Although I never have made a crust from scratch...

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  6. A lovely idea, thank you for the advanced notice!

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  7. What a great event. I'm in a bit of a pie-making mood (despite the GBH experienced during the Daring Bakers's Lemon Meringue adventure.

    Are savoury pies okay?

    j

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  8. Ali ~ Heaven, for sure!

    Dawn ~ Perfect, indeed!

    Lady Amalthea ~ First-timers will be given special recognition! Just remember, good pie crust takes practice but we all have to start somewhere.

    Lucy ~ You're so welcome!

    Jasmine ~ GBH? And yes, savory pies are much welcome. I hope we create a lovely collection of all sorts of homemade pies.

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  9. Hi Alanna,

    Love the logo! :) Now I've got put on my pi hat and come up with a recipe....

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  10. Anonymous2/15/2008

    Sounds like so much fun! My husband is a math teacher so he should enjoy this challenge too. :)

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  11. Allergy Mom - Great tip, thank you! Here's an easier link for the Pie Plate!

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  12. Anonymous3/06/2008

    Oh. I can't wait. Can I do a Quiche pie?

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  13. Hi Jenny ~ A 'quiche' pie is welcome, it just needs to have a homemade crust of some sort. I hope we get lots of savory entries, for sure!

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  14. Anonymous3/13/2008

    Alanna,
    What a fabulous collection (and more to come tomorrow--yay!). Who knows? With a selection like this one, I may actually be able to make a "real" pie crust one day. . . :)

    Thanks for hosting this event--lots of fun to participate!

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  15. Wheee!! I'm in the process of putting together a post for this event. May I use your PiDay image with the link to this page, Alanna?

    -Elizabeth

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  16. Anonymous3/14/2008

    Great list of recipes!! I linked to you today for my pi day post.

    God bless,
    Sallie

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  17. Thank you, Alanna! (Ggody!! Now that I've posted, I can look at all the other Pi Day posts.)

    -Elizabeth

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  18. Anonymous4/02/2008

    I know this is pretty late, seeing as how pi day was weeks ago, but I got a chuckle and thought you would, too.

    It's Raining!

    I love your recipes, and have converted all of my friends into Veggie Evangelist converts as well. I have even put a few recipes into the newsletter I publish for my daughter's nursery school, and have converted a number of those parents too!

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  19. I had a Pi Day party. I reserved my building's party room and invited everybody I know, plus everybody in our 17-storey building to bring a pie and a fork. My superintendent provided the coffee. We had about 50 people there, played math-related music, had a huge variety of pies, and had a great time. At the end, the leftover pies were traded by slices and taken home by the guests. It couldn't have gone any better than it did!

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Post a Comment

Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna