Apple
Pumpkin
LMP
Pecan
Banana Cream
Coconut Cream
Chocolate Cream
Peanut Butter
Berry (a catch all covering all summer berry pies)
Peach
And, um, yeah...that's probably about it. Sure, anyone who reads this list will be able to think of a couple more, but the common variations get narrow really fast.
I remember complaining, as a kid, about a culinary experiment my mother put in front of me: "Why can't you just make the food that you know we like?" (As an adult, I'm already annoyed with my nine-year-old self. "Just eat it, kid, you might like it." But that's beside the point.)
Why, indeed, should we venture away from what we know? I'm not breaking any new ground when I say this: our food culture is based on convenience and familiarity. The pies above can easily be made by restaurants because they can be made in volume with relatively cheap ingredients. So they've become staples, both at home and in restaurants. All of these pies are based on foods that are readily available just about anywhere in the country. They're not new or challenging flavors.
There are, though, some really wonderful pies that are based on more regional flavors. How about a peanut sorghum pie?
What is sorghum anyway? It's a grain grown mostly in the south, though it's from Africa originally. It's drought resistant and hardy. Apparently, it gets used in animal feed and can be used to make beer. It gets used in the south to make sorghum syrup or sorghum molasses, which is how it is relevant to pie making. Some people call the syrup molasses, and it looks a lot like molasses made from sugarcane (which is what you'll get when you buy a jar of molasses in a grocery store.) The taste is a little different though, with the sorghum syrup a little more acidic, a little more fruity, and not as full flavored as the store bought version.
I almost caused an accident in order to make this pie. Returning from vacation on a country road, we passed a sign that advertised "Sorghum for sale." I turned the wheel hard to the left, yanked the emergency brake, and turned the mini-van around in a cloud of smoke and squealing tires. Not going to let a little traffic get between me and my pie.
(Ok, really I found the next turn off, carefully executed a three point turn, and drove back to buy the sorghum. Do you think a mini-van could pull a tire-squealing U-turn on a country road? Even if it could, do you think that I could pull that off?)
This pie is not assertively molasses flavored. It comes across a little like pecan pie, with tasty peanuts floating to the top of a sugary filling. The filling is sweet, but still pleasant with the golden syrup and sorghum syrup.
Really, if you were on a homestead in North Carolina and couldn't go to a store to pick up ingredients, you probably had plenty of peanuts and sorghum molasses laying around. Wouldn't you make this, too?
1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 tablespoon pats
2 Tbsp. butter flavored shortening, chilled and cut into 1/2 tablespoon pats
4-5 Tbsp. cold water
Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Toss the flour mixture with the butter and shortening pats, making sure that each piece is covered by flour. Put the mixture in the fridge for ten minutes to chill the fats. Dump the mixture out onto a counter and roll over it with a rolling pin. Scrape the mixture back together and roll over it again. Repeat scraping together and rolling out until the mixture resembles large paint chips. It's important that the fats remain cold, so if you ever think the fats are getting too warm, put the mixture back in the fridge for a little while. Add the water and briefly knead together, being careful to keep the fats cool. Make sure that you have a dough that is moist enough to hold together, but it should not be sticky. If the dough is still crumbly, add water a teaspoon at a time. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 400°. Roll the dough out and fit it into a pie pan. Cover with foil, fill the pie pan with dried beans, dry rice, or pie weights. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and beans, rice, or weights. Return to the oven and bake an addition 10 minutes, it should be just turning golden brown.
2 Tbsp. flour
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs, room temp
½ C. Lyle's golden syrup (if you don't have a jar of this, go get it. It's that good.)
½ C. sorghum syrup
¼ C. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ C. lightly salted peanuts
Reduce the oven temp to 350°
Combine the brown sugar, flour, salt, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the butter into the eggs. Add the two syrups and the vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients, then the peanuts. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 40 minutes. The center should be just a little jiggly. Allow to cool to room temp before serving.
What is sorghum anyway? It's a grain grown mostly in the south, though it's from Africa originally. It's drought resistant and hardy. Apparently, it gets used in animal feed and can be used to make beer. It gets used in the south to make sorghum syrup or sorghum molasses, which is how it is relevant to pie making. Some people call the syrup molasses, and it looks a lot like molasses made from sugarcane (which is what you'll get when you buy a jar of molasses in a grocery store.) The taste is a little different though, with the sorghum syrup a little more acidic, a little more fruity, and not as full flavored as the store bought version.
I almost caused an accident in order to make this pie. Returning from vacation on a country road, we passed a sign that advertised "Sorghum for sale." I turned the wheel hard to the left, yanked the emergency brake, and turned the mini-van around in a cloud of smoke and squealing tires. Not going to let a little traffic get between me and my pie.
(Ok, really I found the next turn off, carefully executed a three point turn, and drove back to buy the sorghum. Do you think a mini-van could pull a tire-squealing U-turn on a country road? Even if it could, do you think that I could pull that off?)
This pie is not assertively molasses flavored. It comes across a little like pecan pie, with tasty peanuts floating to the top of a sugary filling. The filling is sweet, but still pleasant with the golden syrup and sorghum syrup.
Really, if you were on a homestead in North Carolina and couldn't go to a store to pick up ingredients, you probably had plenty of peanuts and sorghum molasses laying around. Wouldn't you make this, too?
Peanut Sorghum Pie
Crust
1 ½ C. AP flour1 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. salt
6 Tbsp. butter, chilled and cut into 1/2 tablespoon pats
2 Tbsp. butter flavored shortening, chilled and cut into 1/2 tablespoon pats
4-5 Tbsp. cold water
Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Toss the flour mixture with the butter and shortening pats, making sure that each piece is covered by flour. Put the mixture in the fridge for ten minutes to chill the fats. Dump the mixture out onto a counter and roll over it with a rolling pin. Scrape the mixture back together and roll over it again. Repeat scraping together and rolling out until the mixture resembles large paint chips. It's important that the fats remain cold, so if you ever think the fats are getting too warm, put the mixture back in the fridge for a little while. Add the water and briefly knead together, being careful to keep the fats cool. Make sure that you have a dough that is moist enough to hold together, but it should not be sticky. If the dough is still crumbly, add water a teaspoon at a time. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 400°. Roll the dough out and fit it into a pie pan. Cover with foil, fill the pie pan with dried beans, dry rice, or pie weights. Bake until set, about 8 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and beans, rice, or weights. Return to the oven and bake an addition 10 minutes, it should be just turning golden brown.
Filling
⅓ C. dark brown sugar2 Tbsp. flour
½ tsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
¼ tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs, room temp
½ C. Lyle's golden syrup (if you don't have a jar of this, go get it. It's that good.)
½ C. sorghum syrup
¼ C. butter, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ C. lightly salted peanuts
Reduce the oven temp to 350°
Combine the brown sugar, flour, salt, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the butter into the eggs. Add the two syrups and the vanilla. Mix in the dry ingredients, then the peanuts. Pour the filling into the pie crust and bake for 40 minutes. The center should be just a little jiggly. Allow to cool to room temp before serving.
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