areAn old woman pie baker am I. Mother of two who are fully grown, as much as we each ever are. Raised with a tender hand, my "growns" have been fed with care and goodness from the local bounties found at our local farmers markets. Yes, my growns are the most marvelous beings in the universe.
The youngest of eleven, I started baking when I was just big enough to climb up on a stool and reach the pantry shelf. My mother would stash me in the kitchen pantry in front of a mixer and shelves of ingredients, bowls and pans, tie an apron around my waist that would flow almost to the ground and instruct me not to make too much of a mess. Her Joy of Cooking became encrusted with my fingerprints. Brownies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, icings and frostings galore, I made them all countless times. But pies were my mother's specialty, and something I never dared create. Until some thirty years later, I baked my first pie, following the recipe for a Tarte Tatin from Julia Childs' master recipe. It was my husband's 35th birthday, and that was his favorite dessert. I've made it every year ever since.
I found that pie is the one kind of baked good that does not require the exacting science-like measurements and precise combination of ingredients to achieve success. Pie making is much easier and more intuitive. Then what you fill that tender flaky crust with can be varied and complex or utterly simple, whatever you like. But no matter the filling, when that pie is placed on the table, there are instant ooo's and aahhh's. People love pie. There's just something about a slice of pie that speaks of so many things - comfort, family, history, warmth, freshness, simplicity, love. So I just had to keep making pie ... to share my love.
The youngest of eleven, I started baking when I was just big enough to climb up on a stool and reach the pantry shelf. My mother would stash me in the kitchen pantry in front of a mixer and shelves of ingredients, bowls and pans, tie an apron around my waist that would flow almost to the ground and instruct me not to make too much of a mess. Her Joy of Cooking became encrusted with my fingerprints. Brownies, cakes, cupcakes, cookies, icings and frostings galore, I made them all countless times. But pies were my mother's specialty, and something I never dared create. Until some thirty years later, I baked my first pie, following the recipe for a Tarte Tatin from Julia Childs' master recipe. It was my husband's 35th birthday, and that was his favorite dessert. I've made it every year ever since.
I found that pie is the one kind of baked good that does not require the exacting science-like measurements and precise combination of ingredients to achieve success. Pie making is much easier and more intuitive. Then what you fill that tender flaky crust with can be varied and complex or utterly simple, whatever you like. But no matter the filling, when that pie is placed on the table, there are instant ooo's and aahhh's. People love pie. There's just something about a slice of pie that speaks of so many things - comfort, family, history, warmth, freshness, simplicity, love. So I just had to keep making pie ... to share my love.
The Baker at The New York Times' "Taste of the T"
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