I love to bake, that is no secret. But one thing is for sure, I am NOT a pastry wiz! My sister, Melanie, bakes amazing pies, and apparently my Mom did too. I am more of a cakes and cookies kind of girl. In fact, I didn't even eat pie until I became an adult! Pie didn't usually involve chocolate, so I just didn't see the point in it. I was also always more of a veggie person, than a fruit person. However, when I was pregnant for my first child, I became addicted to fruit; developing an insatiable appetite for it. I now appreciate pie, and give it the praise that it deserves. This new appreciation for pie, however, does not make me better at baking it.
I decided to bake not one, but two different pies that I had never baked before, to enter into a pie contest at a pioneer celebration day. Why couldn't I have just chosen one pie to bake? Because that just wouldn't be me! I always have to make things difficult for myself - always trying to do more than is realistic. I remembered a pie that I had had in a little restaurant in Stirling, ON. It was a Raspberry Meringue Pie, which I had never heard of before. It was absolutely scrumptious! It was cool, and tart and smooth and sweet, and I had thought about it so many times after having it that day. I found out that they actually didn't bake the pie in their restaurant, but that they had it shipped from British Columbia! Since then, the restaurant has closed, and because there are no plans in my immediate future to visit B.C., I decided that I needed to try making this pie myself. I got on trusty Google and began a search for the recipe. I came across many different recipes for the pie, each one of them varying in ingredients. I was surprised to discover that the pie that most resembled the one from B.C. was from a recipe from the U.K. It was the only one I found that strained the seeds from the raspberries, which I thought was crucial to the smooth texture of the pie. It meant that I had to do some conversions, but it was pretty basic. I was excited to see how this pie would turn out!
The second pie that I was itching to make was inspired by a children's tv show called Little Bear. If you have young children, then chances are that you have watched Little Bear gobble up all the delicious desserts that Mother Bear bakes for him; his favourite being Mixed Berry Marshmallow Pie. WHAT IS THAT??? I always wondered, and it just sounded so yummy! Back to the trusty internet I went! In my search, all the berry and marshmallow combinations pies were a fluffy pie served chilled. This was not what I pictured Mother Bear's pie to be like. So against any common sense, I decided to come up with my own recipe for the pie.
I never made it to the pioneer celebration day, and neither did my pies. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I was finished baking. Making pies, when you're not a pie-baking person, can really take a lot out of a girl!
This is a picture of a beautiful, unbaked pie shell that I made...so far, so good.
But not matter what tips I try, my baked pie shells usually turn out something like this. I poked holes, I put a foil bag of dried beans in the empty shell while baking, but the pastry still shrunk and came out deformed.
I tried not to get too discouraged, and instead, found beauty in the brilliant red of the fresh raspberry puree. I loved that this raspberry pie recipe instructed to run the puree through a sieve to make the pie seedless - I'm not big on seeds of this type.
This is the pre-baked Mixed Berry and Marshmallow Crumble Pie (before I added the crumbly top). I love this shot. It makes me want to stand at attention and sing The Star Spangled Banner. The deep reds and purply-blues of the fresh berries contrast so beautifully the pristine white of the marshmallows.
What a wonderful looking pie! I knew it was too good to be true. Don't get me wrong, though, the fresh raspberry filling was absolutely divine-tasting, it just didn't fully set. That seemed to be a theme for me that day. The next time I make this pie, I am going to cook the filling until I can stir no more, then it will hopefully set properly. It was definitely an experiment, and was bound to have some imperfections. I do believe I will be able to redeem myself with a second try at this one.
My whole house smelled of heaven on earth when the Mixed Berry, Marshmallow Crumble Pie was baking. It was a mixture of fresh berries, and the topping which included brown sugar, butter and cinnamon that made the aroma so irresistible. However, once again, when I cut into the pie a flood of berry juices came running out under the crust. The filling didn't thicken. I was very discouraged again, but once I had a bite of this pie over vanilla ice cream, it just didn't matter anymore. I loved how you could see the melted marshmallows coming up through the crumbly top of the pie. Next time, I think I will not mix the marshmallow with the berries (as they seemed to just disappear into the filling when baked), but rather just cover the whole top of the filling with marshmallows and see how that turns out.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that pie is NOT easy. Pie is finicky, and temperamental. I don't think that I will ever claim to be a pie baker, as I'm pretty sure that my pies could fail without any warning or reason. I want to continue to experiment with pie-baking, and especially to ace that Raspberry Meringue Pie, but if I need something to work out right, without any risk of failure, I will stick to baking cakes.
