Pi Day

Potato and Pea Samosa Pie

March 14, 2018

Today is Pie Day or Pi Day or 3.14 Day or basically March 14th. Whatever you choose to call it, the only thing that really matters to me about this special day is that WE ALL NEED TO eat pie today. This is not a drill, nor is it a suggestion. It is a requirement. I’m demanding it of you. Once a year all the math nerds and pie bakers and lovers alike come together to celebrate the fact that today’s date starts just like the mathematical constant Pi. I’ve been sharing pie recipes on the blog on Pi Day for a few years now, and they’ve all been sweet, but pies do not always have to be sweet all the time. Now, what I’m about to confess to you might shock you, but I happen to love savory pies much more than the dessert variety. This year, I decided to switch things up a bit and make a savory Indian potato and pea samosa pie. I love a good Indian takeout session on the couch in front of the TV. It’s one of my favorite things to do at the end of a long work week, when all I’ve done is cook all day long. The best part about these take-out dinners is the samosas. Hands down. The bad part is that the samosas are small and I’m always left wanting more. This pie is like a giant samosa and so now you don’t ever have to worry about fighting for the last one. That’s the magic of Pi Day.

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Chai Latte Cream Pie

March 14, 2017

In case you didn’t already know, today is Pi Day. This is the day when cooking enthusiasts and mathematicians come together to celebrate the fact that March 14th is 3.14 which is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle’s circumference to it’s diameter. I wish I could say I knew this by heart, but I’m really not that smart, at least not when it comes to math. I looked it up online. Just now. Anyhow today is the day when we all talk, dream, share, and eat nothing but pie all day long because we as a human race love puns and fun food holidays such as this one. Especially when said food holiday consists of all things pie. Last year I was very ambitious, and determine to share two recipes on Pi Da, so I posted this Strawberry Cream Pie (I have a thing for cream pies), and this Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal Raisin Pie (cinnamon roll crust equals dreams).

This year I wasn’t so ambitious, mostly because I’ve been shooting a lot of miscellaneous food projects this week, so you only get one pie recipe this time around. It’s okay though because it’s a really good pie recipe. I decided to share a recipe from one of my favorite cookbooks, Incredibly Decadent Desserts from the people over at Cooking Light. I love this book, mainly because it’s a beautiful book, visually. The photographs are amazing, and the recipes are interesting. I have to be honest, I’m not one for cooking “light,” so I do tweak the recipes to put the fat back in them. Sorry. I feel like if you’re going to have a dessert, you might as well have a really good dessert, and that means full fat flavor all the way. This Chai Latte Cream Pie is a banana cream pie (minus the bananas) meets a chai latte and it’s the perfect dessert to make this week.

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Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal Raisin Pie

March 14, 2016

I couldn’t decide which pie to bake for Pi Day, so the only logical decision I could make was to just bake and share both with you on the same day. Since this is a special day of pie feasting after all, why not embrace both options with open arms? I hope you don’t mind. That’s two pies for the price of none! The reason you’re getting two posts today is because I was having a hard time brainstorming different pies to make over the weekend and narrowing down a single choice. Whenever I thought up of a good idea, I just wrote it down. Then when I had a little list of about six or seven, I started wheedling the choices down. I thought about it for a while, crossing off the ones that didn’t quite work, and so I was left with two options. The first was this Strawberry Cream Pie and the second is this sort of crazy insane Cinnamon Roll Oatmeal Raisin Pie. Cinnamon roll pie?! What makes this a cinnamon roll pie Jonathan?! Thank you for asking! I take my normal everyday pie crust and then I treat it like a cinnamon roll dough. I roll it, I brush it with butter and I sprinkle the top completely with sugar and cinnamon. Then I roll it and chill it and slice it and press it into a pie plate. Then presto, like magic, we have a cinnamon roll pie crust. Life is good.

I have to be honest with you, this is the first time I’ve ever made or eaten an oatmeal raisin pie. Prior to this post, I actually never even knew such a thing existed. It’s like a chewy oatmeal raisin cookie meets a delicious flaky pie. The two come together to create the ultimate cookie/pie dessert. The perfect treat for Pi Day, if you ask me. I came across this flavor of pie while surfing the net, as the young kids say, and decided to jazz it up a little with rum, because rum and raisins are the best of friends. I also thought it would be the best filling option for this cinnamon roll crust, which is also another internet phenomenon. What a time to be alive.

So if you’re like me and can’t decide what pie to eat today, have no fear. Take a deep breath and just follow my advice. Go for the gold. There is no one stopping you but yourself…so quit listening to yourself and just eat all the pie you can possibly eat. All bets are off today. You have two pies to make, so you better get a move on it. These two might just be my new favorite pies. Let me know in the comments below what your favorite type of pie is! I want to know!

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Strawberry Cream Pie

March 14, 2016

It’s Pi Day (3.14)! So you know what that means! We get to celebrate this special day by eating all of the pie we can get our hands on. Oh what’s that? You don’t have any pie on hand, near, or around you? What madness! That’s definitely not the way to go about celebrating today. I order you to get into the pi/pie spirit. The only logical thing to do next is to go out and find yourself a pie. Any pie. Now is not the time to be picky. Go to the grocery store and get a pie from the bakery section. Sure they’re not the greatest, but in a pinch they’ll get the job done. Speaking of bakeries, you could also go to your favorite bakery and get a slice or two (or the whole thing) of your favorite flavored pie. And lastly, if you have tons of time to kill today, and have no clue what to do with all of this newfound freedom, you should probably make a pie from scratch. Be adventurous. Smash Monday in the face with pie.

Now, I’m not one for math or numbers, for that matter, but I am a major fan of pie. Some might even say I’m pie’s biggest numero uno fan. So I’m more than willing to celebrate a fake holiday that involves me eating lots of pie. I’m not going to complain and I’m definitely not going to let this day go by without some pie. Because strawberries are looking so fine here in California (sorry other parts of the country) and because I love a good cream pie, I bring to you this Strawberry Cream Pie. It’s like banana cream pie or coconut cream pie but so much better because everyone knows about bananas and because I actually hate coconut with a passion. So the next best cream pie to come our way is this strawberry variety and you’re going to love it. So go out and get started. What are you waiting for? If you’re not on at least your fourth slice of pie right now, then you’re definitely doing today all wrong.

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