Pi Day: Blackberry Pie

Happy Pi Day!

Since it is March 14 (or 3.14) it is international Pi Day, the day to celebrate the number pi. The Roman symbol above is how we write pi in math class. It is defined as the circumference of a perfect circle divided by its diameter, or the distance around the outside divided by the distance perfectly halfway across. Conveniently, Albert Einstein was also born on March 14th. But as for the number, possibly it's biggest (and only) claim to fame is that it is infinite. There is quite literally no end to the digits if you calculate it out exactly. 

The digits of pi have inspired people to memorize strings of thousands of numbers, competitions, "the million digits of pi", create poetry and music with these numbers. There is even a PiDay organization with a website that has all kinds of fun facts and stories about Pi. There is a video of a Pi Rap by Amy McConnell. Several businesses jump on any excuse for a holiday with special Pi Day Deals. There's even a trainer to help you memorize more digits of Pi! If you want to know more about how Pi Day began, and how Americans celebrate, check out CNN's article "How America celebrates Pi Day".

A clever t-shirt showing how "PIE" in a mirror is 3.14 Pi!

In honor of this unique number I'm posting a special recipe, for pie of course! Because blackberries were on sale this week, that is the fruit I chose. However, you can use any berry or fruit you like, including frozen.

Ingredients:
2 pie crusts (I cheated and store-bought. If you're baking-savvy or brave, you can try making your own pie crust, like this one from Pioneer Woman)
4 cups blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp milk
3 tbsp butter (Country Crock)

Step 1: Let the dough thaw for 10-20 minutes on the counter top, if it broke at all smush it back together with your fingers.

Step 2: Combine all ingredients but butter and milk in a large bowl to coat the berries with flour and sugar. Pour into your bottom crust. Place little chunks of butter around on the top.

Step  3: Place the other crust on top, and make sure to cut some hole to vent. I of course had to go full-nerd and cut "3.14" into the pie.

Step 4: Brush the top with milk (or egg) to make sure it gets nice a golden. Bake on a baking sheet in the middle of the oven at 400 for 12-15 minutes, until nice and bubbly and golden.

 Cut yourself a nice slice along the radius (math) and enjoy!

This is so amazing warm out of the oven, topped with vanilla ice cream or cool whip. It's warm and sweet and melty... MMMM! It is also amazing as breakfast with a cup of hot coffee. =)

And because you desperately need to know the millionth digit of Pi:

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270193852110555964462294895493038196442881097566593344612847564823378678316527120190914564856692346034861045432664821339360726024914127372458700660631558817488152092096282925409171536436789259036001133053054882046652138414695194151160943305727036575959195309218611738193261179310511854807446237996274956735188575272489122793818301194912983367336244065664308602139494639522473719070217986094370277053921717629317675238467481846766940513200056812714526356082778577134275778960917363717872146844090122495343014654958537105079227968925892354201995611212902196086403441815981362977477130996051870721134999999837297804995105973173281609631859502445945534690830264252230825334468503526193118817101000313783875288658753320838142061717766914730359825349042875546873115956286388235378759375195778185778053217122680661300192

Just kidding. But if you really do want to know all one million go here. 


Are you doing anything to celebrate Pi Day?

Fresh-picked raspberry and peach crumble

There is a farm near me where you can pick your own berries. They vary by season and demand from blueberries and strawberries to raspberries and even apples. There is also a small market where they sell farm-grown produce, pastured chicken eggs and meat. Needless to say I've found a little patch of heaven. So I took advantage of a beautiful Saturday morning to go berry picking with my oh so patient boyfriend, and came home with two gorgeous pints of raspberries. I had one more pie crust I'd picked up cheaply last month, so naturally I made a pie with them.

Ingredients:
1 pint rinsed raspberries
1 can peaches
1 pie crust

1 cup flour + 2 tbsp
1 cup sugar + 1 tbsp
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup oats
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Step 1: Mix the dry ingredients - flour, sugar, oats, baking soda and powder,  and a pinch of salt.

 Step 2: Add the cold butter in chunks, mix well. I'm not cool enough to have a pastry cutter, so I just squished it all together with my hands until well mixed. It should be a crumbly, tasty mess.

Step 3: Drain the peaches, place in a bowl with the raspberries. Sprinkle on 1 tbsp vanilla, 2 tbsp flour and 1 tbsp salt, mix.
Step 4: Pour the fruit mix into the pie crust and cover with the crumble mixture.

This is what it looks like just before going in the oven. Drool.

 Step 5: Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, until crisp is browned and fruits are bubbly.

 YES PLEASE.

 The pie crust cover conveniently doubled as a lid. The day after, the berry juices start to pool. Anyone know how to avoid this, besides cornstarch?

This would be simply amazing served warm over french vanilla ice cream. In fact, I'll be going to the store later today...

Peaches & Banana Cream Pie

This was inspired by what I had around the house. I bought a pie crust cheap a month ago, and we had some fruits that were getting to the mushy use-me-soon stage. All the pie recipes I found were for banana cream pie, some more complicated than others. One suggested just using banana pudding, so I thought, why not just add the peaches to it? Turns out pudding takes a long time to solidify, so maybe use less milk...

Ingredients:
1 pack vanilla pudding
1 pack banana pudding
5 cups skim milk
2 ripe bananas
2 ripe peaches
1 pie crust
Handful raspberries (because I had them)

 Step 1: Line the pie crust with sliced up banana.

Step 2: Mix the pudding and milk. Blend up the peaches (I used 1 1/2 and saved half for garnishing the pie) and add to the pudding. Since I'm lazy I just blended all of it. Also threw in a few raspberries for color.

 Step 3: Pour the fruity pudding mixture over the banana slices. Any extra pudding just refrigerate for later.

 That's it! Refrigerate for at least an hour, or until the pudding sets. Garnish with pieces of fruit if you like.

We waited over 2 hours and it was still rather liquid, so we put it in the freezer. Bad idea, defrosting it the next day lead to total mush, plus the crust was now mush too. I'd definitely recommend using maybe half the milk suggested next time... Still tastes delicious! Use whatever fruits you like, kiwi, strawberry, blueberry, pears. You could play with pudding type, maybe try butterscotch or chocolate too.

Coconut cream pie

Well, since I had almost a whole can of cream of coconut leftover from my Indian curry, I didn't want to waste it. So I looked online forever trying to find a recipe for which I had all the ingredients. With some creativity, I could doctor this recipe for coconut cream pie and make a dessert to go with the curry.

Ingredients:

1 can cream of coconut

1/2 cup flour

3 cups skim milk

4 egg yolks (I saved the whites to make breakfast omelettes the next day!)

1 tbsp vanilla flavoring

1 tsp almond flavoring

3 tbsp butter

1 package Jiffy pie crust mix

4 tbsp cold water

 Step 1: Mix coconut, milk and flour in a pan and bring to a boil. Simmer on low heat until mixture gets nice and thick.

 Step 2: While boiling milk mixture, add water to Jiffy mix, and roll flat. Bake the crust in the oven at 350-400 for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

 Step 3: Slowly stir the hot milk mixture into the beaten egg yolks, then put back into the pan and simmer 5 more minutes.

 Step 4: Pour the whole thing into the pie crust, and let it cool. Once cool enough to touch, you can refrigerate until ready to eat.

I added a sprinkle of cinnamon on top, but if I had whipped cream you better believe I would put that on it too! This is perfect for me because I like the flavor of coconut, but absolutely hate the texture of shredded coconut. Win-win.