Pie!

Over the last few days, I have had occasion to make several pies.  I made a pie for a gathering we had this last weekend, and I think it is new favorite summer pie recipe.

I used the Joy of Baking Berry Pie recipe you can find here, except I used a 9-inch tart shell instead of a pie tin because my pie tin is old and banged up and my tart shell is new and pretty.  It worked great!  I was afraid the pie would bubble over or be burned because it was thinner than a normal pie tin, but nope, perfect!  Sooo good.  The picture doesn't do it justice, because it was taken on my husband's Ipad in the middle of a party.

Then, yesterday I used the leftover pie dough and berries to make a mini berry tart for my friend Kali, who is awesomesauce and came to visit me at lunch today.

I also made a chocolate pie for my co-worker (boss? the chain-of-command at my office is a bit strange, but he's vaguely boss-like) as a consolation prize and thank-you for being such a good sport about the pie in the next paragraph.  I used the Joy of Baking Chocolate Pie Recipe here, but I had some problems getting the filling to set, and ended up cooking it for about 20 minutes, rather than 3-5.  Annoying.  So next time I'll probably try this Smitten Kitchen version instead.

Finally, I made an incredibly gross faux pie to throw in my co-worker's face.  You see, he "won" the pie-in-the-face fundraiser contest we had for the office food drive, and as a result, he got a pie in the face.  To minimize liability, I went with a flimsy foil disposable pie tin filled with instant banana pudding and whipped topping.  Again, I couldn't get my pudding to gel.  What is with the pudding in this house?  Also, instant banana pudding is gross and smells like Laffy Taffy.  My co-worker was a good sport about getting the thing all over his face, but did not elect to share his yummy chocolate pie with any of us spectators.  Can't say I blame him.