Big Spoon Roasters Peanut Cocoa Banana Cream Pie

Happy holidays! I've been to the Midwest for a week and back again, but the season's festivities are not over yet. Tomorrow a crew of friends and I are headed to a West Virginia cabin to x-country ski, hot tub, play music, make delicious food, and hold our annual micropong winter classic tournament! I'm packing my sweaters and tarot cards and fiddle and ski boots and praying for snow.

One celebration that's become a marker of winter for me is the annual party at my friend Bradley's house, "The Urban Homestead," in Brentwood, Maryland. There's always great food, a well-stocked bar, an outdoor bonfire, music jams, and a living room square dance. This year, Bradley and her housemate Pete bought the house (or the homestead) they'd been renting for years, so there was an additional reason to celebrate. I'd been battling a nasty cold, but pulled it together to make it to the party and bring along this Peanut Cocoa Banana Cream Pie to add to the dessert table.



You may recall the Pumpkin & Chai Spice Nut Butter Pie I made last month, using nut butter from Durham, North Carolina's Big Spoon Roasters. This recipe uses their Peanut Cocoa Butter as a base for the filling, and is topped with fresh bananas in a graham cracker crust. It's essentially the same recipe as this Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie, but with an exceptional chocolate, honey, coconut oil, and sea salt infused peanut butter. If you really wanted to take it up another level, you could add this chocolate ganache, but I think it's already plenty rich. For further variations, try substituting a peanut, Oreo, or pretzel crust.

This Elvis pie spin-off was a fast mover at the Christmas party-- only a few graham cracker crumbs remained when I went to collect the pie dish at the end of the night. For more information on where to find Big Spoon Roasters fantastic handcrafted nut butters (all of which would be good in a pie), visit their website, where you can also place an order to have a jar or two delivered to your door.

Big Spoon Roasters Peanut Cocoa Banana Cream Pie

Adapted From Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies

Ingredients

For crust:

1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

5 Tblsp. unsalted butter

1 Tblsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

For filling:

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. confectioner's sugar

3/4 c. Big Spoon Roaster's Peanut Cocoa Butter

2 Tblsp. whole milk

2 c. heavy whipping cream

3 bananas, sliced into 1/4-1/2 in. slices

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour graham cracker crumbs in a bowl and add melted butter, sugar, and salt until well mixed.

2. Pat the buttery crumbs into a 9-inch pie pan, pressing mixture into the bottom and sides to form a pie crust. Place in oven and bake until crust is lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes. Place on a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature before adding the filling.

For filling:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, and peanut butter, beating until fluffy. Add the milk and the peanuts and mix well until incorporated.

2. In another bowl, using an electric mixer if desired, beat whipping cream until it becomes thick and holds medium-stiff peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until well combined.

3. Add a layer of sliced bananas (about 1 1/2 bananas) to the bottom of the pie crust and pour the filling on top. Add the remaining bananas on top of the filling, around the edge of the pie. Cover pie and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving.

Related recipes:

Banana Cream Pie with Peanut Crust and Salty Bourbon Caramel

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Pretzel Tart

Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Ganache

Pumpkin and Big Spoon Roasters' Chai Spice Nut Butter Pie

6th Annual Blacksburg Pie Auction

I'm thrilled to have this post about the 6th Annual Blackburg, Virginia Pie Auction from my friend Sally Anne Morgan, an artist,  square dance caller, and old-time fiddler of Black Twig Pickers fame. I'm hoping there will be more contributions and collaborations from her in the future, both in pie and music. But without further ado...

Blacksburg Pie Bonanza

The 6th annual auction to stop mountaintop removal coal mining

By Sally Anne Morgan

 For the sixth year running, nestled in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, a little bit of pie magic was taking place. The town of Blacksburg, Virginia had its annual pie auction.  Six years is a long time for a college town like ours, but the auction seems to have grown in popularity every year, probably due to the combination of outstanding pies and good causes.

The auction works like this: volunteers bake a bunch of beautiful, creative, delicious pies and bring them to the location, a popular restaurant downtown. People come in, eat dinner, admire the pies for a bit, and then the magic happens: our wonderful auctioneer starts the bidding. People go nuts, compelled by generosity, friendly competition, and a craving for dessert. The bidding starts anywhere from $10- $20, and pies have sold from $20 to even $100. Sometimes its obvious why some pies go for so much, like the deer heart mincemeat pie, from my friend's first hunt, or the professionally baked lemon meringue and pomegranate pie. Sometimes it's by pure supply and demand: the only pecan pie went for a killing. And sometimes, it's just the energy in the room: people outbid their friends, outbid their enemies, and outbid themselves in the heat of the moment.

I contributed four pies, which took most of the day to bake. First I made two gluten free pies, which involved pre-baking pecan and butter crusts. The filling was based on the Nothing in the House recipes for Elvis Pies: it had cream cheese, peanut butter, a little sugar, some peanuts, and whipped cream folded in. I layered the crust with banana, then the chilled filling, then more whipped cream, and topped it off with a salty caramel sauce drizzled on top. I also made a zesty apple pie, with lemon zest, granny smiths, a bit of fresh ginger, and honey in the filling (plus some salt, sugar, and cinnamon), was the next pie. Rather than the usual lattice crust I would have done, I decided to spruce it up with a zig-zag chevron pattern, reminiscent of the mountains we all love! I also made a ginger-pumpkin pie, which is your basic pumpkin pie filling with condensed milk and pumpkin, plus a bunch of freshly grated ginger.

I made these pies with an all butter crust recipe which I always use, and an egg wash to make it golden brown in the oven. My recipe is simple and pretty imprecise: about 1 1/4 cups of flour to 10 tablespoons of butter (salted is fine, or if you use unsalted, just add a teaspoon of salt), and as little water as possible to get it to all stick together. Especially for the auction, it's important for pies to have visual appeal, so I fancied them up with a braided crust and "I heart mountains" decorations.

Over thirty pies were contributed to the auction. It was hard to pick my favorites, there were so many! Many of the pies were gluten free, some were vegan, and some were even meat based. They ranged from lavender chocolate, to cardamom carrot, to ginger pear, to venison pot pie, and good old fashioned apple. The spread was simply beautiful. And best of all, we raised over $1,200 for two wonderful organizations.

The RReNEW Collective, which stands for Remembering and ReEngergizing Neighbors Economies and Watersheds, works to help place volunteers in organizations working for a sustainable Appalachia in the coal dependent region of Southwest Virginia. They support and initiate projects and organizations that promote healthy environments and just communities, and do wonderful work. The other organization is the Black Mesa Indigenous Support Group, which is committed to supporting Indigenous peoples of Black Mesa, Arizona, and their resistance to massive coal mining operations and force relocation policies. Both organizations are connected to the fight against mountaintop removal coal mining, and both are smaller organizations where the money we raised can go a long way.

So come on down to Blacksburg next fall,  where there's sure to be even more pies, good bidding, and an overall wonderful time!

Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Ganache

I did it again. The last time my friend Sabra was over for a party, I completely forgot about her serious peanut allergy and made a Banana Cream Pie with a Peanut Crust. Then last Saturday, when she and some other pals were coming over for a Southern Friends' Thanksgiving (or Friends' Southern Thanksgiving?) I found myself in the kitchen, mindlessly whipping up what is essentially a variation of the very same pie--when I suddenly remembered. Ack! So stupid of me.

I went ahead and finished making the dessert-- a Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie from Nancie McDermott, stowed it in the mini fridge, then promptly washed all of the dishes I'd used and sterilized the counters with bleach. I had half of a Drunken Pumpkin Bourbon Pie leftover from Thanksgiving, and had already made this Cranberry-Lime Galette,  so we were fine on the dessert front even without the deadly-to-some-but-delicious peanut butter 'n' banana pie. It stayed in the fridge until the coast was clear on Sunday, and housemates and co-workers eventually enjoyed the benefit of my poor memory.

As I said, this Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Ganache is a sister (a paternal twin, even?) to the other Elvis sandwich-themed Banana Cream Pie with a Peanut Crust and Salty Bourbon Caramel that I made last Spring. Nancie McDermott's version employs a peanut butter cream instead of the vanilla cream in Ashley Christensen's. Though Nancie's recipe calls for a pastry crust, I opted for graham cracker (though pastry would be tasty), and since I had some leftover chocolate ganache from Thanskgiving baking, I swapped that in for her fudge sauce. That addition sounds wonderfully decadadent, though, but if you want the recipe, I guess you'll just have to buy her cookbook (and you should!).

Peanut Butter Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Ganache

Adapted From Nancie McDermott's Southern Pies

Ingredients

For crust:

1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

5 Tblsp. unsalted butter

1 Tblsp. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

For filling:

12 oz. cream cheese, softened

3/4 c. confectioner's sugar

3/4 c. creamy peanut butter

2 Tblsp. whole milk

1/3 c. (2 oz.) roasted unsalted peanuts, finely chopped

2 c. heavy whipping cream

3 bananas, sliced into 1/4-1/2 in. slices

1/4 c. granulated sugar

For chocolate ganache:

3.5 oz. 60-70% dark chocolate (unsweetened), broken into pieces
1/2 c. sugar

scant 1/2 c. heavy cream 1 tsp. sea salt
Directions

For crust:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Pour graham cracker crumbs in a bowl and add melted butter, sugar, and salt until well mixed. 

2. Pat the buttery crumbs into a 9-inch pie pan, pressing mixture into the bottom and sides to form a pie crust. Place in oven and bake until crust is lightly browned, about 10-12 minutes. Place on a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature before adding the filling.

For filling:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, confectioner's sugar, and peanut butter, beating until fluffy. Add the milk and the peanuts and mix well until incorporated.

2. In another bowl, using an electric mixer if desired, beat whipping cream until it becomes thick and holds medium-stiff peaks. Gently fold the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until well combined.

3. Add a layer of sliced bananas (about 1 1/2 banans) to the bottom of the pie crust and pour the filling on top. Add the remaining bananas on top of the filling, around the edge of the pie. Cover pie and refrigerate at least 2 hours before adding the chocolate ganache.

For chocolate ganache:

1. Put chocolate, sugar, heavy cream, and salt into the top of a double boiler. Put water in the bottom of the boiler and place on medium heat until filling is melted, glossy, and thick.

2. Drizzle the ganache over the chilled pie and place in the fridge for at least 1 hour. Serve pie while still slightly chilled. Enjoy! (Unless you have a peanut allergy. Then please enjoy something else!)

Related recipe:

Banana Cream Pie with Peanut Crust and Salty Bourbon Caramel

Banana Cream Pie with Peanut Crust and Salty Bourbon Caramel

One of many things that is nice about living in more Southern climes is the prolonged transitional seasons. Spring and Fall are always my favorites, but growing up in the North, I was used to these fleeting mild days that you felt you had to capture before the weather got too hot or too cold (though there is some special excitement and gratitude that goes along with that ephemeral feeling). We've had a warm winter anyway, and spring started way early, granting us delighfully warm days in March. In like a lamb and out like a lamb.

I've made this pie on two occasions now, the first being for Pi(e) Day and the second for a honky-tonk St. Patrick's Day party (dubbed Achey Breaky Harp) with friends Joe Overton and the Clear Blue Sky serving up some fine classic country in our living room. It was preceded by a blue ribbon backyard cook-out complete with local burgers, steak, homemade salsa and guacamole, potato salad, fried pickles, grilled homemade pizza, and watermelon. One of the guests asked me if it was July. Pi(e) Day too, was one of those gloriously sunshiney spring days, whose weather alone deserved celebrating. What better way to celebrate than with this absolutely decadent banana cream pie with a peanut crust and salty bourbon caramel.

This, like the black bottom pie I made recently, is another recipe from Ashley Christensen of Poole's Diner in Raleigh, North Carolina. It's a classic banana cream, that reminds me of one of my dad's favorite desserts to make my brother and I when we were kids--vanilla pudding with vanilla wafers and banana slices. Christensen gives that kiddie combo an Elvis touch with the addition of a peanut crust, then takes the kiddie out of it entirely, via an "adults only" very bourbony caramel topping.

Banana Cream Pie with Peanut Crust and Salty Bourbon Caramel

Slightly adapted from Ashley Christensen via Bon Appetit

Ingredients

For peanut crust:

1 1/4 c. unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 c. packed light brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

2 Tblsp. unsalted butter

1 large egg yolk

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract (I used vanilla-bourbon extract)

For vanilla custard:

2 c. whole milk

3/4 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. sugar

3 Tblsp. cornstarch

2 Tblsp. all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

5 large egg yolks

1/4 c. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract (I used vanilla-bourbon extract)

For topping & caramel:

3/4 c. heavy cream

2 Tblsp. powdered sugar

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 Tblsp. bourbon (I used Bulleit)

1/2 tsp. corn syrup

3 Tbslp. unsalted butter

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. vanilla extract (I used vanilla-bourbon extract)

3 ripe bananas

Directions

For peanut crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Pulse peanuts in a food processor until coarsely ground. Transfer 1/4 c. to a small bowl and set aside for garnish. Pulse remaining peanuts until formed into peanut butter, approximately 2 minutes.

2. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer to combine both sugars, peanut butter and butter until fully combined and mixture resembles wet sand, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla, occasionally scraping down sides of the bowl, until fully combined, approximately 3 minutes (mix will be clumpy). Slowly add dry ingredients, beating just until combined--do not over mix. Place dough in a greased and lightly floured 9-inch pie dish and pat dough into bottom and sides to form a pie crust. Place in oven and bake 15-17 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Let cool. Crust can be made up to 2 days ahead, but make sure to wrap it well with plastic wrap.

For vanilla custard:

1. Place milk and cream in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over low heat. Meanwhile, use a whisk to combine sugar, cornstarch, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add egg yolks and whisk until smooth (mixture will be very thick). Whisking constantly, slowly add milk mixture to yolk mixture. Pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until thick, about 2-3 minutes. 

2. Transfer to a blender and add butter and vanilla. Purée mixture until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl and press plastic wrap directly onto the custard. Chill until set, at least 2 hours. The custard can be made 2 days ahead, but again, make sure it is well-wrapped!

For topping & caramel:

1. Using an electric mixer (or a whisk and some hard work), beat 1/2 c. cream and powdered sugar until stiff peaks form. Cover whipped cream and chill. Whipped cream can be made 2 hours ahead, but re-whip cream slightly before assembling pie.

2. Stir sugar, 1 Tblsp. bourbon, corn syrup, and 1 Tblsp. water in a medium deep saucepan and place over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to a boil, stirring only occasionally, and occasionally swirling pan and scraping down sides with a rubber spatula, until sugar is deep-amber in color, about 6-8 minutes. Remove caramel from heat and whisk in remaining 1/4 c. cream, butter, and salt (mixture will bubble). Let cool for 5 minutes, then whisk in remaining 1/2 Tblsp. bourbon and vanilla. Let bourbon caramel cool to room temperature. I poured mine into a Ball jar for ease of transport, pouring and later, refrigeration. Caramel can be made 2 hours ahead.

3. Spread 1/4 c. vanilla custard over the bottom of the crust. Slice bananas into 1/4-inch thick rounds. Layer half of the bananas over the custard. Top with 1 1/2 c. custard. Arrange remaining bananas over the custard, and top with remaining custard, making sure to leave a row of bananas visible around the edge. Garnish with whipped cream and reserved ground peanuts. Top with bourbon caramel when ready to serve.

While completely worth it, this pie has a lot of steps, so make sure to allot enough time for all the cooking and baking, cooling and chilling. I suggest making the crust and custard the night before, if you can, or start early the day you want to eat it.

This is easily one of the favorite pies I've ever made, and perhaps one of the most attractive. It was one of the first to go on Pi(e) Day, and drew a big kitchen crowd between two-stepping sets, when I took it out of the fridge and doused it with bourbon caramel. Both times the pie plate was completely licked clean within minutes. I'm gonna need to find out who did that and invite them to join our plate lickers club.

2nd Annual Pi(e) Day on the Piedmont

We celebrated the 2nd Annual Pi(e) Day on the Piedmont (see last year's here) at Johnny's in Carrboro, NC. It was a crisp, but sunny evening, the rain holding off until later in the night. Pies started arriving around 5:00, with eaters (many of whom I didn't know), champing at the bit, ready to eat at 5:30 sharp! Altogether we had a spread of 24 pies, plus several mini- and hand-pies, all made by our incredible 18 member Pi(e) Day Baking Team. Some were sweet, some were savory, some vegan, some gluten-free. Some had meringue, some were double crust, some had beautiful dollops of whipped cream (like Nicole's chocolate chess pie (below, left), but all were delicious. Here are a few highlights: Shannon's chocolate lavender (perhaps my favorite of the day) pie & my vegan avocado-coconut. Shannon said she used Smitten Kitchen's recipe for chocolate pudding pie then added about 1 tbsp more cornstarch to make it a touch less pudding-ish. To introduce the lavender flavor, she warmed the milk and added 2-3 tbsp dried lavender flowers and then let them soak for about half an hour before straining them out, then followed the Smitten Kitchen recipe. You could do the same thing using cardamom pods for a cardamom chocolate pie.

Ari's double banana bubble cream pies

My date butter pie. I used the recipe from the New York Times' featured date butter tart, but used the nothing -in-the-house crust recipe instead of pate sucre. I will write it out since I know the Times is moving to paid subscriptions... Ingredients:
35 to 40 deglet noor dates (can use another variety)
½ vanilla bean (I used 2 tsp. vanilla, for economy)
9 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 extra-large eggs
2⁄3cup plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1⁄3 cup all-purpose flour ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1. Make the crust using nothing-in-the-house crust recipe at right (halve it as you only need a bottom crust). After refrigerating, roll out crust and place into greased and floured pie dish. Trim and flute edges.

2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork and line the tart shell with a few coffee filters, or with a piece of parchment paper. Fill the lined tart shell with beans or pie weights and bake 15 minutes, until set. Take the tart out of the oven and gently lift out the paper and beans. Return to the oven and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until the crust is an even golden brown. Set aside on a rack to cool.

3. Make a vertical slit in each date and remove the pit. Use your fingers to press the dates back into their natural shape (I didn't need to do this as mine were pitted). Place the dates, slit side down, in concentric circles in the tart shell, leaving ½ inch between each date.

4. Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use a paring knife to scrape the seeds and pulp onto the butter. To make sure not to lose any of the seeds, run your vanilla-coated knife through the butter. Heat a medium sauté pan over medium heat for 1 minute. Add the vanilla-streaked butter and the vanilla pod to the pan and cook 6 to 8 minutes, until the butter browns and smells nutty. Discard the vanilla pod. (I just used 2 tsp. vanilla extract instead of a bean)

5. Whisk the eggs and ⅔ cup sugar together in a bowl. Whisk in the flour and salt and stir in the warm butter to incorporate.

6. Pour the batter over the dates in the tart shell. Sprinkle the top with the remaining tbsp. sugar. Bake 30 minutes, until the filling puffs, browns and is set. Cool the tart at least 20 min. before serving.

Andrew's bourbon chocolate pecan pie and my Shaker lemon pie (with pi to 13 places)

Emily O's pear-walnut tart (unfortunately didn't get to try this one, but it looks beautiful)

In addition to the ones pictured, the other pies were: swiss potato & cheese pie; mushroom, greens & leek quiche; key lime pie; crack pie; pecan sorghum pie; Mayan chocolate pie; apple mini pies; leek, nettle & ricotta pie; rhubarb cream pie with meringue; Jefferson Davis pie, strawberry-rhubarb pie, apple pie, purple sweet potato pie, spinach-feta quiche and apple hand pies.

Ashley set up a Pi(e) Day photo booth and snapped a few pie portraits (Stokes w/ pie lurker Zeke, Talula, and Emily & Alex, with more to be posted in a separate entry shortly)... The Wildegeeses (Charlie, Will, Zeke, and me) played... And we had a Pi(e) Walk, where the winner won a homemade maple pie. In the end we raised $400 for CEFS to develop a statewide youth food council, and celebrated pie, spring, and mathematics (pushes up invisible nerd glasses) with about 75 friends, new and old. Check out our flickr for more photos and don't miss this sweet, sweet video that Ashley made, perfectly capturing the lovely evening.

pi(e) day 2011: it's not just about me, it's about pie. from Ashley Melzer on Vimeo.

Special thanks to our baking team: Emily O' Sullivan, Alix Blair, Shannon Harvey, Ashley Melzer, Whitney Brown, Nicole Bogas, Sarah Schwartz Sax, Neale Stokes, Aaron Smithers, Emily Hilliard, Kelly Smith, Ari Berenbaum, Rachel & Nate Lerner, Carla Norwood, Janie Woodbridge, Andrew Aghapour, & Kim Tungate

Photographer/documentarian Ashley Melzer

And other helpers: Lora Smith, Emily Wallace, Alex Chassanoff, Kavanah Anderson, Lindsay Perry, Tes Thraves/CEFS, The Wildegeeses, Johnny's, and MATH! Plus all who attended, ate, and donated. THANK YOU!

O Pi(e)-O-Neers!

The next morning Angélique, Amédée's wife, was in the kitchen baking pies, assisted by Old Miss Chevalier. Between the mixing-board and the stove stood the old cradle that had been Amédée's an in it was his black-eyed son. As Angélique, flushed and excited, with flour on her hands, stopped to smile at the baby, Emil Bergson road up to the kitchen door on his mare and dismounted.

-Willa Cather, O Pioneers!

Our friend, the lovely and talented Ms. Becky Wright of Philadelphia, PA held a "Pie and Pioneers" (note the Conestoga wagon in the above photograph) event at her apartment a few weeks ago. She made 20 flavors, all by hand from scratch. Here are a few of the highlights...

apple (with a heart)

banana cream (whole wheat crust)

black bottom chocolate cream

butterscotch cream (with birds)

california prune

peach (with a braid!)

plum (it had to be cooked in a brown paper bag!)

raspberry glacé

strawberry

The other flavors were pecan, chocolate pecan, peaches 'n' cream, caramel raisin walnut, ginger-pear, sour cream apple, pumpkin, lemon meringue, coconut cream, dark cherry, and cranberry-blueberry. Way to go Philly Pie and Pi(e)-o-neers!

Speaking of pi(e)...what you got cookin' for pi(e) day 3.14?!

Hoosier Mama Pie Company

As stated below, on New Year's Day, Heather and I braved the Chicago cold to make a pilgrimage to Hoosier Mama Pie Company, in West Town. Hoosier Mama is an adorably tiny pie shop, with a whole lotta pie, and a pie philosophy that really resonates with my own-- local culture, tradition, history, whole foods, women's domestic arts (see video below for more on this), as well as Hoosier pride.
The pie-makers there were all incredibly friendly (especially when we told them we were friends with Abra, who works there occasionally) and let me ogle and photograph their tin top tables and pie paraphernalia...


We even got to meet the Hoosier Mama herself (stirring on the left).

It took Heather and me a long time to figure out which 2 pies to try--Hoosier Sugar Cream & Pear Apple Cranberry? Maple Pecan & Lemon Chess?

We settled on Banana Cream & Key Lime...
via the "$5 sweet slice + coffee for here!", and took our treats to the built-in booth in the bay window.


The key lime was our favorite--zesty and delicious with an excellent graham-cracker crust. The banana cream, which was topped with white chocolate shavings, was good, albeit extremely rich. This slice had their standard crust, which was decent, though a little tough and not as flaky as it could be. Before seeing the video below, I would have guessed that they used at least 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter. Nonetheless, we firmly entered the Pie Enjoyment Zone...
 
and browsed their awesome collection of old pie cookbooks, The Farm Journal's Complete Pie Cookbook, being my favorite.

MAN APPEAL?!
And though I'm not necessarily the type of girl to fantasize about my wedding day, this framed photo did get my mind a-reeling...

As you can see, Hoosier Mama is basically THE Pie Enjoyment Zone, and hopefully our New Year's visit will bring us in good pie for 2010.