Hi Friends,

Honestly, I’m no Pie expert nor trying to be. I do however like Pie, and I’ve come a long way in the pie making department. From burned to baked ALMOST PERFECT.

I’m curious, How do you feel about pie? Do you make pie, struggle with making pie, or are you more the I only “EAT” not bake pie type”?

Confession, over the last decade I’ve made homemade Pizza and boxed Brownies every year for Thanksgiving. The truth is PIE scared me to death! When baking my first gluten-free pumpkin pie, (well actually.. my first pie ever) lets just say it was a complete disaster. As the pie baked in the oven I realized the edges were burning. In a complete panic, I made a make-shift tinfoil situation to place over the crust. Hoping that’d stop the burning, I let the pie bake some more. The pie finished. My heart sank. The pumpkin filling was burned, the crust was crumbly and well everyone who ate it lied through their teeth that it was great. Thank you kind souls who ate the disaster pie.

Clearly, you don’t start making your pie dough + filling at 12pm on Thanksgiving DAY! When you’re cooking a turkey, baked potatoes and a million other things at the same time. You’re supposed to chill your dough before rolling it out, keep the butter cold, and blind baking prevents BURNING. And if all else fails there’s ALWAYS pizza and brownies. Feel me?

Happy Baking + Happy Thanksgiving friends!

Nicole xo

PS any QUESTIONS please leave a comment or DM on instagram and I’m happy to answer! Also links below to some helpful videos. Cheers x

A SIMPLE PIE GUIDE:

Start a few days ahead. Or even the week before. Write out a simple menu,for your day and the pies. Ask yourself, how many pies do you need?
DOUGH. PREPARE your dough ahead of time. The night before, 4 days before, just do it before your dinner. A tip I learned from PIE CLASS, make your dough, roll it right over your tin, polk with fork on bottom and then freeze until your ready to blind bake ( see below about blind baking).
If you aren’t feeling bold enough to make your own pie crust, contact a local baker and ask if they sell their pie crust premade?n Or dare I say buy a pre-made frozen one. ( be sure to follow the blind baking steps if you do ;) )
STAY CALM. Making pie is a slow process, a beautiful process which forces you to be present. Pie is supposed to be a bit wonky not perfect! Or even a gallette same same, don’t OVERTHINK IT! HAVE FUN.
BUTTER. Cold or warm or room temp? COLD, always cold. I like to put mine in the freezer before I mix it with my flour. You could, cut it into cubes, use a box cheese grater, or mash with fork when mixing. Or even use your fingers. A lot of people like to pulse with a food processor. truth is, I don’t own one depending on my mood, I do one of the above. If the butter is getting warm as I mix, I pop the mixture back into the freezer for a few minutes and then mix again. I also found using a metal mixing bowl keeps things cold. The GOAL is to keep the whole mixture as COLD as possible through the whole process.
SALTED OR UNSALTED? It's your choice, No wrong answers here. BUT if you use salted butter, don’t add salt to your flour. If you use unsalted, add salt to your pie dough as recipe calls for. SHORTENING OR VEGAN BUTTER. You can swap out real butter anyway, JUST USE the tips above as a GUIDE. Remember COLD.
BLIND BAKE. PLEASE REMEMBER this step! (YES I'M SHOUTING). After your dough has been chilled roll it onto your pie tin, pop it back into the freezer for another 30 min. And then cover it entirely with parchment paper, place it onto a baking sheet, top with 1 1lb dried beans and then bake at 450 for 20 min. Take out cool, with beans on top for 10 min. Then uncover add your filling of choice and bake to recipe. This prevents burning EVERY time. I promise. More links on this method below.

LAST : EGGWASH. I egg wash after I blind bake. You can use one whisked egg, with milk, without milk, or even nut milk + egg works. If your plant based skip the wash.