pies | Jama's Alphabet Soup

Posts Tagged ‘pies’

kathi appelt: a sweet memory

Posted in author recipes, pie recipes, poetry potluck 2012, tagged baking, dessert, food poems, national poetry month 2012, pies, poetry on April 10, 2012 | 65 Comments »

#9 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2012.

Poetry is the home for all my yearnings
each poem a separate room
where wandering words
find a cool bed, a bowl of soup

where names of trees and cities
and people I know who want to know
knock on doors, ring bells,
invite me in for coffee and a rhyme

~ from “Homeroom” by Kathi Appelt (Poems from Homeroom: A Writer’s Place to Start, Henry Holt, 2002).

I’m thrilled and honored to welcome multiple award-winning poet and author Kathi Appelt to our Potluck today. As you can see by the opening stanzas of “Homeroom,” Kathi is a poet after my own heart.

A good poem makes us feel as though we’ve come home — to our own doubts, sorrows, joys, fears, wonder, gratitude. There is nothing quite like a room of carefully arranged words that invites you in for a quick visit, only to inhabit your soul forever.

I love the poem Kathi’s brought today, not only because it’s about pie — but because of its transcendent beauty. It speaks of that quiet inner space where love, memory, and longing converge. How would you build a room strong yet gentle enough to hold a fleeting moment in time? This poem is a flutter in the heart, a sweet reflection hovering in our imaginations.

Emma on her wedding day.

Kathi: I adored my husband’s grandmother, Emma. She was a wonderful cook, and her pecan pies were a staple of our holidays. Right after we were married, she wrote down her recipe for me, and I’ve had it ever since. Several years after she passed away, at the age of 96, I found myself baking her pies for Thanksgiving. Seeing her handwriting, with the faded ink, made me want to “toast” her in the best way I knew — with a poem.

via DansPhotoArt

Pecan Pie

Emma was my grandmother too,
tied through wedding vows to
her youngest grandson my one true love.
On her back porch, she held my
hands and sang ancient
nursery rhymes in German, her very
first tongue. The songs, her soft,
steady voice, called up hummingbirds
hovering just above
pots of lantana and marigolds.
Now what’s left is a scrap of paper,
the whispy blue ink
turned brown, her recipe
for pecan pie. Each time I fold in
the butter, chop the
pecans, measure the light brown
sugar, same shade as the ink,
she holds my hands,
hums an old tune about the
little girl down the lane. My kitchen heats up.

Next thing I know, there are hummingbirds.
A slice of pie, a cup of coffee,
a language I don’t know, but still it comes
to me. We hover there,
our tiny wings, our rapid hearts,
our solitary belief in sugar and pecans.

Thanksgiving, 2002
Copyright 2012 Kathi Appelt. All rights reserved.

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I can’t even imagine the fall holidays without baking one of Emma’s pecan pies. And whenever I bake one, I feel like Emma is right there in the room with me. It’s a sweet feeling, like I have an angel on my shoulder. I make these pies every year for Christmas and Thanksgiving.

via LOL

Southern Pecan Pie

1 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter (stick) melted
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 unbaked pie shell

Mix sugars and flour, beat in thoroughly, eggs, milk, vanilla, butter. Fold in nuts. Pour into pie shell. Bake 40 to 50 minutes in 350 degree oven.

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Kathi Appelt is the award-winning author of more than thirty books for children and young adults. Her picture book, MISS LADY BIRD’S WILDFLOWERS: HOW A FIRST LADY CHANGED AMERICA (HarperCollins, 2005) was given the “Growing Good Kids Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature.” In 2003 Appelt won the Irma and Simon Black Award for Excellence in Children’s Literature, given by the Bank Street College of Education, for her picture book BUBBA AND BEAU, BEST FRIENDS (Harcourt Brace, 2002). Her memoir, MY FATHER’S SUMMERS (Henry Holt, 2004) won the Paterson Prize for Young Adult Poetry.

Her first novel, THE UNDERNEATH, a haunting story of love and survival in the pine forests of East Texas, has been described by reviewers as a “classic.” It was named a National Book Award Finalist, a Newbery Honor Book, and most recently awarded the PEN USA Literature for Children Award.

Ms. Appelt was presented with the A.C. Greene Award by the Friends of Abilene Public Library, which named her a “Texas Distinguished Author.”

In addition to writing, Ms. Appelt is on the faculty in the Masters of Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

Her newest book is KEEPER, published by Atheneum, 2010.

She and her husband Ken live in College Station, TX with four adorable cats, Django, Peach, Hoss and Jazz. They are the parents of two even more adorable sons, Jacob and Cooper, musicians who both play the double bass. For more information, check her website: www.kathiappelt.com.

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SURPRISE DOOR PRIZE!

Kathi has generously offered to send one lucky reader an autographed copy of her beautiful picture book, My Father’s House, illustrated by Raul Colon, published by Viking (2007).

For a chance to win, please leave a comment at this post no later than 12 noon (EDT) Saturday, April 14, 2012. Winner will be announced on Sunday, April 15th, along with the other door prize winners.

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Previously: Menu/Giveaway/Door Prizes, April Pulley Sayre, Mary Quattlebaum, Helen Frost, Linda Ashman, Gail Gerwin, Martha Calderaro.

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This post has been linked to Beth Fish Read’s Weekend Cooking, where all are invited to share food related posts (fiction/nonfiction/cookbook/movie reviews, photos, musings, recipes, etc.).

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ta da!: cakespy presents sweet treats for a sugar-filled life by jessie oleson

Posted in book reviews (all genres), cookbooks, tagged baking, cakes, cakespy, cookbooks, cookies, desserts, female entrepreneurs, jessie oleson, novelty cookbooks, pies on October 17, 2011 | 9 Comments »

As Cakespy herself would say, “Like OMG!”

Prepare yourselves for the ultimate SUGAR RUSH: Jessie Oleson’s very first cookbook, CakeSpy Presents Sweet Treats for a Sugar-Filled Life, is officially out! Can you think of a million ways to say ADORABLE!?

Longtime readers of this blog know I’ve been a big Cakespy fan for the last three years. It’s been such fun (a decidedly

photo by Mike Hipple

delicious vicarious thrill) to follow Jessie’s ever-burgeoning career as an author, artist, “adventure” baker, gallery owner, savvy businesswoman and primo blogger.

As Head Spy of her very own Dessert Detective Agency, whose mission is “Seeking Sweetness in Everyday Life,” Jessie has proven that following one’s passions, working hard, consistently cultivating a positive outlook and transmitting mega-watt joy can reap sweet, sweet rewards.

(more…)

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friday feast: barbara’s back!

Posted in author recipes, pie recipes, poetry friday, tagged barbara crooker, food poems, mothers, pie crusts, pies, poetry on August 12, 2011 | 23 Comments »

credit: Sifu Renka/flickr

Happy Poetry Friday!

It’s been awhile since my last Friday Feast, and I’ve missed the soul-enriching nourishment afforded by beautifully crafted poems. Only fitting that since the last poem I featured at the old LiveJournal blog was by Barbara Crooker, we begin the 5th course of alphabet soup in this new cyber kitchen with another of her food poems.

The subject? Pie Crust!

Oh yes, my Quest for Pie continues. ☺ And I am a crust person through and through. Not to say I don’t love all the fillings — it’s just that a light flaky crust defines a pie. Such a difference between bland cardboard or soggy goo, and perfectly baked, golden richness — just the right soft crumble, gently yielding its precise measure of flour, fat, and water, alerting your taste buds to pastry nirvana.

credit: TheCookingPhotographer/flickr

Making good shortcrust pastry is an acquired skill, a tricky proposition that requires flawless technique, practice, and that indefinable something only obtainable through the touch of human hands. And if they’re your mother’s hands? Then it approaches the sacred, a place where loving memories, family pride, and a desire to distill the essence of childhood prevails.

MY MOTHER’S PIE CRUST
by Barbara Crooker

Light as angels’ breath, shatter into flakes
with each forkful, never soggy-bottomed
or scorched on top, the lattices evenly woven,
pinched crimps an inch apart.
My ex-husband said he’d eat grasshoppers
if my mother baked them in a pie.
Smooth tart lemon, froth of meringue.
Apples dusted with cinnamon, nutmeg.
Pumpkin that cracks in the middle
of its own weight. Mine are good,
but not like hers, though I keep trying,
rolling the dough this way and that, dusting
the cloth with flour. “You have to chill the Crisco,”
she says. “You need a light touch
to keep it tender; too much handling
makes a tough crust.”

Gather the scraps, make a ball in your hands,
press into a circle. Spread thickly with butter,
sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, roll up, slice, bake.
The strange marriage of fat, flour, and salt
is annealed to ethereal bites. Heaven is attainable,
and the chimes of the timer bring us to the table.

credit: Bella Dolce/flickr

Barbara: My favorite recipe comes from Betty Crocker (for whom I am sometimes mistaken — I even got a check from a magazine once, made out to her):

for an 8 or 9 inch double pie crust:

1-3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup oil (I use a heart healthy blend)
3-4 T. ice water

Stir the salt into the flour. Add oil, mix with a fork until the particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle the ice water in, a tablespoon at a time. Gather into a ball, divide in half.

(This part is my special trick:) Wipe the counter, place a sheet of waxed paper down. Place ball of dough, top with another sheet of waxed paper. Roll into a ball two inches larger than your pie plate. Peel off the top sheet of the waxed paper. Use a small paring knife to help you. Remember that this is like Play-Doh; any tears can be pinched or squished back together, and you can’t hurt the crust!

Invert, and place the pie crust round in the pie pan. Peel off the bottom sheet of waxed paper (which is now on top). Pour in filling. Repeat with second crust. Once it’s in place, crimp the edges together, either with a fork, or pinch it with your fingers. Cut slits on top to vent the steam. Brush the crust with milk (I use a small paint brush), sprinkle with sugar. Most pies bake at 425 for 45 minutes, but this will vary depending on your oven.

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I’m anxious to try Barbara’s (Betty’s ☺) recipe, because I like to avoid hydrogenated fats (Crisco). My experience has taught me that using all butter makes the dough (though flavorful) hard to handle. A Crisco crust is great for flakiness and making lattice tops. I’ve used half-butter and half-Crisco to good results. Barbara agrees that the oil recipe probably wouldn’t work as well if you’re attempting to make a lattice top crust. But certainly for a single crust French Apple Pie, custard, pumpkin, or lemon meringue, the oil crust is fine. BTW, the wax paper trick really works!

Hmmmmmmmmmm — here’s something to inspire you to make a pie this weekend:

credit: Dan4th

♥ Today’s Poetry Friday host is the Shockingly Clever Coffee Maven, Karen Edmisten. Coffee goes well with pie, yes? As does tea and lemonade and milk and water and juice and champagne and raspberry cordial and pencil shavings (just checking to see if you’re paying attention).

♥ To prove how daunting making a good pie crust can be, check out this post by Dorie Greenspan. Seems even she’s been terrified of rolling.