St. Patty's Pie

Sent in by my friend Emily O. on March 17th.

Our "Revolution is Round" in Zenchilada!

A few months ago, Ronni Lundy, author of Shuck Beans, Stack Cakes, and Honest Fried Chicken and Southern Foodways Alliance Lifetime Achievement Award winner, asked if my friend Lora and I would contribute an article on Pi(e) Day to Zenchilada, the online culinary magazine Lundy edits with Patricia West-Barker. We wrote the piece as two friends in conversation and used pie as a lens to discuss our ideas of female friendship, tradition, and the domestic arts, all topics we often talk about when we are baking and cooking together in real life.

Zenchilada also used three of the recipes we used in last year's Pi(e) Day-- lemon goat cheese tart with blackberry preserves, avocado pie, and pimento cheese and tomato pie-- as featured recipes in the journal. Wow, they look good when made and photographed by their professional chefs, food stylists, and photographers!


We are so honored to have our words and photos featured in the Winter 2011 issue of Zenchilada. You can read the entire article and photographs here and see our recipe pages starting here. And while your at it, read the rest of the issue. It's excellent and delicious!

Friends of Hoosier Mama

Hoosier Mama Pie Company in Chicago, where our friend Abra works and where Heather and I stopped in for a visit on New Years Day 2010, listed us as a friend/"pie fanatic" on their website, and tweeted about us. Sweetness!

Chicagoans and Chicago visitors, don't miss Hoosier Mama for a delicious (not to mention massive) slice of fresh pie and cup of coffee in this adorable little West Town pie shop.

Baltimore Birthday Pies

My friend Justin in Baltimore send in these birthday pie photos from our friend Anna's 30th birthday party. He said,

Here is some pie porn for you. I think Anna sent you a picture from this same occasion, her 30th birthday dinner in Baltimore. Needless to say, your pie day put us to shame, but here we have two delicious pies that are sorely missed, my savory vegetable with the birthday engraving, chickpeas, green beans, potatoes, carrots, onions, and assorted spices including fresh oregano and thyme...


as well as Bob's take on shepherd's pie featuring sweet potatoes, bleu cheese, peas, and I believe the meat was from a turkey.


Wish I could have been there! He also asked if I had a recipe for a vegan pecan pie. Anyone have a good one?

Piedmont Pi(e) Day Photobooth

Here's Emily O and Alex being silly in the Pi(e) Day photobooth (Pie Enjoyment Zone), set up and run by Ashley Melzer. You can see some photos from it in the Pi(e) Day post below, and the rest here. Also check out the Pi(e) Day write-up in Chapel Hill food blog Victus Populi.

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!

Pi(e) Day in Big Sky

Sadly Lora wasn't able to attend Pi(e) Day on the Piedmont this year, because she was off on a family ski trip in Big Sky, Montana. But have no fear! They are still celebrating pie there, with "Pie In the Sky."

Pi(e) Day in Ontario

A former Nelper and friend Kara sent in these photos of her family's Pi(e) Day celebration in London Ontario. She says,

We had our pie baking day on Friday, during which we cooked five pies--apple, blueberry, cherry, chocolate raspberry torte and a sweet pinto bean pie-- in addition to two dozen butter tarts (a Canadian treasure, our recipe for which is top secret!). Your nothing-in-the-house pie crust recipe has been a real hit with my relatives over the last few months. It made a lovely addition to my spinach and tomato quiche and the last two pies I made Friday.

We took some pictures of the pie enjoyment zone while we ate the chocolate raspberry torte.


The first picture is of my grandma looking skeptical before eating the pie and then her smiling afterwards.


Thanks for the recipes for the tart and the pinto bean pie! DELICIOUS!

Also, March 14th is Albert Einstein's birthday! The picture I've included is one of my favorites of him; I imagine this is what his PEZ would look like!

HAPPY PI(e) DAY!

Thanks to Kara for these sweet words and photos. For another Canadian pie story, check out this radio piece on PRX. Stay tuned for more Pi(e) Day documentation coming soon...

Pi(e) Day in Ithaca

My friends Angela & Ben celebrated Pi(e) Day in Ithaca yesterday with chicken 'n' kale hand pies with a cheddar crust and a heart...


I'll be posting some pics of friends' Pi(e) Day celebrations as I receive them and stay tuned for a re-cap of last night's lovely Piedmont Pi(e) Day celebration at Johnny's in Carrboro, NC. I also got news last night that my friend's Stacy and Chris had their own little cutie pi(e) baby yesterday!

Beware the pi(e)des of March today...a.k.a. pi(e) day food coma...

Piedmont Pi(e) Day in the Independent!

The spread at last year's Pi(e) Day on the Piedmont, held at Celebrity Dairy in Siler City, NC

Check it out! This year's upcoming Pi(e) Day party (5 days away!) is featured in the Independent Weekly! Link to the article, by Emily Wallace, here.

The celebration will be held at Johnny's in Carrboro, NC from 5:30-8:30 pm. There will be live music, a pi(e) walk, and a pi(e) photobooth. Check out our flyer here and Facebook invite here.

See you there, nerds!

Marina's Famous Pigeon Pot Pie

Illustration via State Library of Queensland

From guest blogger Marina Michahelles of Shoving Leopard Farm in Barrytown, NY...

You'll be asking for seconds.

I had an idea of what I wanted to eat but didn't have a recipe for it. This is what I did, and it was scrumptious.

Marina's Famous Pigeon Pot Pie
Ingredients
2 pigeons (ONLY country pigeons will do, well-fed on farmer's corn, etc.)
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Garlic
Salt & Pepper
Pomegranate molasses (regular molasses will do)
Meat broth
Sprinkle of zatar and oregano
Bay leaf
1-2 c. red wine
3 onions, diced into chunks
2 carrots, cut into rounds
Celariac, diced
5-6 potatoes cut into rounds
Butter
Cheddar cheese, grated

Directions
Meat portion of the filling:
 Clean pigeons, remove the breast meat (which is red like a duck's) and marinate in oil, vinegar, garlic, pepper, and pomegranate molasses overnight. The following morning, put the meat and its marinade in the crock pot along with meat broth (I used pig broth I had previously made), a healthy sprinkle of zatar, a bay leaf, oregano, red wine. Set the crock pot on high for a few hours, then on low. Total crock time, 8 hours.

Veggie portion of the filling:
In a heavy cast iron skillet, glazed onions with butter and olive oil. Add carrots, and a big piece of celeriac cut into small bits. When vegetables are soft, add potatoes (I used one Mila, a Magic Molly, a Troll, a Red Norland, a Red Maria...). Cover the skillet and keep flame on low. Flip the veggies regularly, checking for dryness, and add either butter or liquid from the meat to keep them moist. Total veggie time, 4.5 hours.

Crust:
Blind-baked a bottom crust using the Nothing-in-the House pie crust recipe in a deep 9" pie mold.

Putting it all together:
When the crust is blind-baking, combine the strained meat and the veggies in a bowl and add grated cheddar cheese, salt, and pepper. Fill the crust, covering it with a top crust and cut out a pigeon (or crust design of your choice). Bake the pie another 25-30 minutes to melt the cheese and bake the top crust.

Meanwhile,use the remaining broth and marinade from the meat to make a roux in the same cast iron skillet the veggies were cooked in.

The pie was served with roasted cherry tomatoes and Brussels sprouts. Mega-yum.

Pumpkin Pie Painting

My aunt Michelle did this lovely painting of a pumpkin pie slice with a dollop of whipped cream, and a few crusty crumbs. Yum!

P.S. 6 days 'til Pi(e) Day!

Countdown To Pi(e) Day...

Here's how we'll be celebrating Pi(e) Day (3.14) on the Piedmont...

No baby goats this year, but there will be a wide array of sweet and savory pies baked by the Pi(e) Day Baking Team; a Pi(e) Walk, walked in circumference 2pi(e)(r), live music by the Wildegeeses, and even a pie photobooth. We will be contributing our donations to CEFS in their efforts to develop a statewide youth food council.

What are your Pi(e) Day plans?

Pie For Baby

The sooner you develop your child's pie-baking skills, the sooner she will make pie for you! Stacy and Chris, who are about to have their own pie baby any day now, sent in this photo. Can't wait to meet the soon-to-be baker!

Shaker Lemon Pie by Mom and Dad

pie by my parents

My dad was so inspired by the Shaker lemon pie I made for Christmas dinner, that he bought a mandoline, so he that when he made his own, his lemon slices could be delicately thin. My parents sent along this photo of their first attempt with the mandoline and lemon pie. I wasn't there to enjoy it, but it sure looks delicious. My mom made the crust and my dad made the filling-- such parental teamwork! Good thing I called when they were assembling it-- they had almost forgotten to add the eggs...

Apple Persimmon Pie

Friends and I, huddled round pie. Photo by Stokes

Before I headed to the Midwest for the holidays, I had some friends over to my Chapel Hill apartment for a Wassail potluck. It was the first big gathering I'd had at my new place, and it was very nice to warm it up with dinner (including deviled eggs, polenta with porcini mushroom sauce, lentil stew, and spinach tart), drinks (oh the drinks: mulled wine, beer, wine, beer, wine...), and dessert (rum-soaked fruitcake, ginger cookies, and yep you know it, pie). There was also one (yes, just one) spot-on round of Mad-libs, lots of record playing, and some dice game, the name of which I can no longer recall.

I still had a plethora of Fuyu persimmons that I had collected from that aforementioned tree of undisclosed location, and from my friend Aaron, who had given me a whole bag-full when I ran into him a week or so before. I didn't have quite enough for a pie, though, so I combined it with just as many apples for an apple-persimmon pie. The recipe:

Apple-Persimmon Pie

Ingredients
Nothing-in-the-House Pie Crust
4-6 medium-sized baking apples (I used Granny Smith), cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
4-6 medium-sized ripe but still firm Fuyu persimmons, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger to taste
3 tablespoon corn starch
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Turbinado sugar, for dusting

Directions
1. Prepare the pie crust as per the directions. Roll out half of the pie crust into an 11-inch cirlce and fit into a greased and floured 9-inch pie pan.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine all of the filling ingredients and stir until well combined. Pour filling into the bottom crust.

3. Roll out the remaining crust into an 11-inch circle. Place over the filling and flute edges decoratively. Brush on an egg wash (the leftover half of a beaten egg from the crust) and sprinkle Turbinado sugar on top. Put the pie in the oven, 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 35 to 40 minutes longer. Filling will bubble and crust will be golden brown when finished.

  We enjoyed ours with maple whipped cream, which we took turns whipping with a hand-crank blender-- a fun party activity!

Michael Hurley Illustrates the Piebird

After I heard back from Michael Hurley about my post on his pie-themed songs and art, I asked him if he might be interested in contributing a post to the blog. He sent in this photo he took in Richmond, Virginia, circa 1995:

and included this note:

hi Emily,

here's a pic for the pie blog. it illustrates the use of the piebird, a ceramic inserted in the pie which spouts the juices as a venting function. we used to do pies with these piebirds and here is one cooling from the oven.

alla

michael

He said that he ordered them from a Tennessee general store catalog, and was glad that I was a piebird keeper. I must admit, though I own two pie birds, a black bird (like the one pictured at right) and a sparrow, I've never actually used them in a pie, always thinking that I'd rather keep in the steam and juice as much as possible. I think the bottom of my oven has suffered as a result; I might need to try my piebird soon...

It's An Old New England Custom...

...To eat pie for breakfast. Tay from Winooski, Vermont sent in these photos from the Rotary Pie For Breakfast at the Cambridge Winter Fest in the Lamoille Valley of Vermont. Here's what she had to say:

It was delicious, I had elderberry/apple, raspberry, pizza, and part of a slice of peanut butter pie.

Thanks for the photos Tay and for keeping the tradition alive!

Mincemeat Pie by Julie Shepherd-Powell

I was put in touch with Julie via my friend Lora, after she came back from her New Year's celebration, raving about Julie's mincemeat pie. Several people have asked me when I would start posting about meat pies, but I don't eat meat, so I thought this the perfect opportunity to bring in an expert. I asked Julie if she would be interested in writing a post about it here, and she graciously agreed.

A little about Julie Shepherd-Powell...she is a mom, wife, home cook, banjo player, flat-footer, and PhD student galore from North Carolina, currently living in Nonesuch, KY. Her and her family's ultimate goal is to become homesteaders in the mountains of Virginia and open a business called Happy Hog Lard featuring organic, free range, lovable pork, and, of course, lard.
Here's what she has to say about mincemeat pie...

Mincemeat Pie: How did I ever live without you?

I never gave mincemeat, or mincemeat pie, much thought until a couple of years ago when I was browsing through my King Arthur Flour 20th Anniversary cookbook that my mother-in-law had picked up for me at a yard sale. I’m not even sure what I thought mincemeat was before I came across this recipe—perhaps in my subconscious I had linked it to some sort of weird English dish that involved livers and other parts of the animals that were not in favor with my conservatively raised Southern palate. In recent years, though, I’ve expanded my culinary horizon and am always excited to try new, different recipes. And well, I’m a sucker for Christmassy things, especially when it comes to recipes with long traditions, and frankly, I’m a sucker for the old world and like to think people eating these traditional foods for hundreds of years. Maybe Jane Austin herself ate mincemeat, and who doesn’t love a good classic novel set in the English countryside?

So when I first came across this recipe for mincemeat around Christmastime in 2009, I knew I wanted to try it—but I was unable to find the time I needed to do it. So this past year when I came across the recipe for a second time, I decided I would be sure to make room in my busy schedule for it--it takes a few hours to put together (most of it is not “active”), and after cooking the filling, you need to let it set for at least 2 weeks in the fridge to let the flavors meld.

When I speak of mincemeat pie now, I am always trying to convey the amazing sweet, Yuletide goodness that it embodies—it basically combines tons of delicious dried fruits, spices, apple cider, maple syrup, butter (or suet- a type of beef fat that you can get from your butcher with a little advance notice), wine, and yes beef into a delicious filling that melts in your mouth. Made with a rustic cornmeal crust, and topped with a homemade bourbon whipped cream, it’s a tradition that will definitely be part of my family’s holiday cuisine for years to come. And be assured--despite the fact that I have gone on and on about Christmas, this pie is one to try in any of the cooler/cold months—plan ahead, and when you finally bake it and take your first bite, you’ll know why it was worth the wait.

Mincemeat Pie in a Rustic Cornmeal Crust with Bourbon Whipped Cream

The Mincemeat: (Make two weeks in advance)
Note: This recipe makes enough mincemeat for 2 pies, so if you want to make 2, you'll need to make the crust recipe twice

1 pound lean beef
1 quart apple cider
1 cup maple syrup
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon mace
¼ teaspoon cloves
½ cup (1 stick) butter or ¼ pound ground suet (I used butter, see note below about suet*)
½ pound dried currants (1 1/2 cups firmly packed)
½ pound golden raisins (1 1/2 cups firmly packed)
¼ pound fresh cranberries, cut in half (about 2 cups)
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
¼ cup "spirits" (I used wine, but brandy or bourbon would work well too!)

Trim the meat if necessary and dice it into small cubes. Pour the cider into a large saucepan and add the sweeteners and spices. Add the meat and bring this mixture to a boil, then turn down and simmer for about 2 hours, or until the meat is tender. Skim any foam that comes to the top during the first hour of cooking.

After 2 hours, turn off the heat and remove the meat with a slotted spoon. Add the currants, raisins, cranberries and lemon rind and juice to the hot cider/broth mixture. Let these steep while you mince the meat.

Return the meat to the fruit mixture, bring back to a boil and then down to a simmer for about 1/2 hour. Boil off enough liquid so the mixture is thick. Melt and blend in the butter at this point. After the mixture has cooled, add 1/4 cup of "spirits." This adds flavor and helps preserve the mincemeat. Cover and store mincemeat in a cool place (the fridge) for 2 or more weeks.

A word about suet: You can find suet, a special kind of beef fat, at your local butcher shop/market. Often he or she just needs to know in advance to put some aside for you when they are butchering beef. Don’t order the suet online—this is the kind that is used for bird feeders—it has other additives and is not safe for human consumption. OKAY, so what to do if you are using suet instead of butter—you will want to “mince” it up WITH the beef—and add it back into the broth/spice mixture when you add the beef back, and of course, skip the butter. Pretty simple. I plan to try it with suet next year.

Rustic Cornmeal Crust: (and preparing/baking the pie)
Makes a single crust for one mincemeat pie, this is a rustic crust—so you only need a single crust per pie

1 ¾ cup flour
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup cornmeal
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick butter (cold and cut into ½ inch cubes)
1/3 cup buttermilk

PLUS:
2 tablespoons milk
1 egg white
2 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Preparation:
To prepare pastry, combine flour and next 3 ingredients (through salt) in a food processor; pulse a few times. Add butter to flour mixture; pulse 4-5 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With processor on, slowly add buttermilk through food chute; process just until dough forms a ball.** Gently press dough into a 4-inch circle on plastic wrap; cover. Chill in the freezer for 30 minutes, or in the refrigerator for an hour. (Be sure to get the dough VERY chilled, but not so hard you can’t roll it out)

Preheat oven to 350°. Unwrap and place dough on a sheet of parchment paper, sprinkled with flour. Roll dough into a 12 or 13-inch circle. Your dough should be about 1/8 inch thick when rolled out. Place dough and parchment on a baking sheet (this is how it will bake—read on).

Arrange ½ of the mincemeat mixture (enough for one pie) in center of dough, leaving a 2-inch border. Fold edges of dough toward center, pressing gently to seal (dough will only partially cover the mincemeat mixture—try to make sure there are no holes in the edges, or you might have some juice spillage while the pie is baking).

Combine milk and egg white in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Brush dough with milk mixture; sprinkle turbinado sugar evenly over dough. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes- 1 hour or until pastry is golden brown. Let stand 30 minutes; cut into wedges, and serve with Bourbon Whipped Cream (recipe follows).

** Note: If you don't have a food processor, combine flour, sugar, cornmeal, and salt and cut in butter using a pastry knife, until the dough resembles coarse meal. Make a well in the center of the mixture and add buttermilk. Stir until dough forms a ball. Continue with instructions from here!

Bourbon Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1-2 Tablespoons powdered sugar (to taste)
1 Tablespoon (or more) good-quality Bourbon

In a medium bowl whisk/whip the heavy until soft peaks are just about to form. Beat in bourbon and sugar until soft peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, or cream will become lumpy and butter-like.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, Julie!

The Pie of By-and-By

Michael Hurley is one of my favorite musicians in the world. His songs have that perfect balance of rawness and beauty that makes for real musical honesty that I can't get enough of. He has been putting out records since his release First Songs on Folkways in 1964, but has successfully avoided getting popular (though I'd definitely call him famous, at least among music nerds). Another thing I like about his music is that he often sings about pies (and paints them too). I could go on for quite a while about his music and art, but since this is a pie blog, I'll cut to the chase.

Here is one of his album covers from Wolf Ways released in 1994:

It depicts his werewolf alter-ego, chowing down on what appear to be whoopie pies (?), with some double-crust pies on deck. Here is one of the pie-themed songs (and one of my favorites) on this album, though a different version, this one from his 1998 LP Long Journey:

Check out some more of his pie songs, Water Train and Hoot Owls on Hi-Fi Snock Uptown (1972, and re-issued on Mississippi last year), as well as the rest of his catalog as soon as you get the chance.

Oh that pie, the pie of by-and-by...

** ADDENDUM**
Just received this great message from Mr. Hurley himself about this post...

dear Emily;

thanks for having me on the pie blog. I remain a huge fan of pie. it and tea are about the only consumable vices left to my options. a apple, pear, strawberry, blueberry, pies with no sugar but with honey and a whole wheat crust, they can't kill ya in moderation. I go into this place...my most frequented restaurant in portland, an americanized burrito joint, and they always have two pies they are selling slices out of, baked elsewhere, last time it was the ginger/pear, I order my burrito to eat there and get a slice of pie to go for late night when all the restaurants are closed and I'm hungry again.

cheers

Michael