Fancy Pies

A dear friend's daughter got married recently. November 11, 2011 to be exact. 11-11-11. It was a spectacular affair, what with all the vintage decor and the lace and pearls. Susie and I made pie for this event. Pie for over 300. That means 43 pies. Took us 14 hours and 2 ovens (thank you AnnaMarie!) and we had a ball. I truly enjoy doing this sort of thing and I especially love doing it with Susie.

As I said, we made 43 pies. Five of them were for display on the food tables. The others were for cutting into individual servings. In keeping with the vintage and pearls and lace theme, we decorated each piece with pie pastry flower cut-outs and candy pearls. We used 2 different flower shapes, and each shape had 3 sizes. We also used a leaf cookie cutter, 3 sizes. The candy pearls were almost white, made by Wilton.

This is Susie. And lots of tiny flowers cut out of pie pastry.

 Susie. Isn't she cute?

 One pie...waiting to be pearled.

 Mock Pecan Pie (the label on the food table said "Not Pecan Pie." How marvelous. Made exactly like Pecan Pie but with no nuts. Oatmeal instead of pecans. Just as delicious. Really.

We baked them about half way done before adding the flower cut-outs, so they didn't sink and get covered with with pie goodness. See the grid in the background on the counter? We cut out lots of these and we used them as guides for flower placement. The quest is to get flowers on each piece but not cut them when the pie is cut and served.

 These are my hands. =) We used a paint brush to apply egg white

 (pasteurized so we didn't risk killing anyone =D )

to each flower before adding the candy pearls, to hold the pearls in place. 

Egg white makes splendid glue.

 Millions of flowers covering a Cherry Pie. This took Susie about an hour.

 These are the 5 display pies.

 Buttermilk Pie (for display).

 Not Pecan Pie (for display).

 Brown Sugar Pie (for display).

 Apple Pie (for display). This one didn't take as long as the cherry, but it took a while.

 Display pies in the front. Pies to be cut and served in the back.

 Apple and Cherry Pies. Individual pieces decorated.

 Not Pecan Pie for individual servings.

 Buttermilk Pies for individual servings.

 Lots and lots of pies. You can't really see it, but we notched the edge of the pie where it would eventually be cut. We used the cardstock guide for placement.

 Cherry and Apple Pies.

 Not Pecan Pie.

 Brown Sugar Pie.

 Buttermilk Pie.

 Display Pies. Apple front and center.

 Brown Sugar Pie.

 Not Pecan Pie. Or Oatmeal Pie. Or Mock Pecan Pie.

 Buttermilk Pie. I'm sad it cracked. Just a little.

One more time...the lovely Not Pecan Pie. Because it was lovely.

 For Thanksgiving I made a Pecan Pie. I used these cute tiny little acorn and leaf cutters to decorate the edge.

 Cute little leaves. Cute little acorns. I used a knife to cute the leaf veins and the acorn tops.

No need to be too perfect with this. Just a few little slashes here and there is enough.

It really is quick and easy. Really.

 Leaves and acorns arranged around the edge of the pie.

 I baked the pie about half way done before adding the leaves on the edges.

 They don't fall in. And they don't get too brown.

Making fancy pies really isn't much more difficult than making plain pie. Cut up a little pie pastry and arrange it to your liking. Takes a few extra minutes. I love the details. A few extra minutes is worth it. So pretty.

Thank you, Patty, for the privilege. Thank you, Susie, for working with me. I love you both.