Geeky Pies

Blog Recap, Childhood Memories and Almost Spring!🌼☀️

March 3, 2019 by Pies & Prejudice 10 Comments

Hello Friends!

I hope you’ve been having a good winter so far, and if you’re lucky you got to sneak away somewhere warm and sunny. If you did, I think you may have forgotten to bring me? (Whoops!😂)

One thing is for sure–we’ve had WAY too much snow and it just keeps on coming. We’ve even broken a few records for snowfall amounts this winter (trust me, these are not the kinda records you want to break lol). Meanwhile, the cherry blossoms are coming up in BC!! (Bastards😁). I’ve been wanting to call my brother in Vancouver to catch up but I think I’ll wait ’til our deep freeze is over. I just can’t bear to hear about their t-shirt weather while I’m wearing long johns and four layers every time I step outside. Update: I took a risk and called him anyway and they’ve recently got snow. HA! I feel a little better now.

I am SO looking forward to Spring. Who’s with me? I’ve got a Spring Counter on my blog now (and by “now” I mean since last October), so you can count down along with me. 18 days, people! It can’t come soon enough.

I guess you’ve probably noticed a lot of crickets around here lately, hey? I figured it’s about time I shared an update as it has been a couple of months. As most of you know, last year was a pretty crappy one with the loss of my mom and some work/career changes as well. So, after the busy holiday season I finally had some time to kick back, relax, and re-evaluate where I was going and make some changes. One of them is this blog (again).

It was a little over a year ago that I decided to turn my blog into a food blog. I was baking way more than travelling at the time and I’d always wanted a food blog so it seemed like a good idea. But clearly (ie: crickets) it’s not going very well. Ya’ll know I love to bake but I just don’t spend enough time in the kitchen to keep coming up with new recipes. Most of my food blogging friends share several recipes each week whereas I’m lucky if I post one per month. I loved being part of the Recipe Round Up and a big thanks to my friend Kelly ‘Cereal Bar Queen Extraordinaire’ who graciously invited me to join the fun. It encouraged me to share more recipes but I still struggled to keep up.

It also doesn’t help that most people don’t like to bake pie. Pastry can be really finicky and it usually takes a lot of practice before it doesn’t drive you crazy. I’ve been baking pie for years and it still drives me crazy (ha ha). As a result not a lot of people have been trying my recipes– which is the main purpose of having a food blog, really #majorblogfail.

As you can probably tell by my geeky pies, I enjoy designing pies more than anything. But for some reason no one else wants to go to the trouble of putting Darth Vader, Superman or Doc Brown on their pies!!? What is wrong with you people? 😜

….Wait a minute, Doc… Are you telling me you built a time machine…out of a PIE??

So you’ll see a few changes to this blog as I’ll be posting more lifestyle-related content such as travel, local stuff, fun stories (quite a few people have recently told me really they enjoy my stories–who knew?), fitness & sports (I just joined a tennis/squash club at my local gym!) and, of course, loads of nostalgia. Especially anything 80s-related (with or without a geeky pie).

Now that I’ve officially declared this not a (designated) food blog anymore, I can go back to random ramblings and road trip stories now, right? (please say yes). It’s funny because I’ve been wanting to share some of my recent travels but I’ve hesitated because this is supposed to be a food blog haha. Thanks for (hopefully) sticking around, guys. I hope all my foodie friends will still visit, too. Because you know that you can ALWAYS count on me to bring you back in time with my nostalgic pies. No DeLorean required.

Ok, it’s time for my winter recap. I really don’t want to say ‘Holiday’ because that was so long ago now. But since I started writing this post at the end of January (let’s blame my friend Al for going away to NZ for most of February which made me extra busy, shall we? haha) I technically made the cut. You might recall how I feel about Christmas talk (or holiday movies) once January is over. But no more holiday talk after this post, I promise!

You’d better go grab a coffee as you may be here awhile 😁Because you have nothing better to do with your Saturday or Sunday than read my ramblings, right? (here’s where you lie and say “no, no, of course not” haha).

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Cranberry Pie, New England & U.S Thanksgiving: Plymouth, MA

November 28, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 5 Comments

Hello Friends!

You know we’re officially into the Holiday Season when American Thanksgiving is here (and gone). I hope all my American friends had a fabulous Thanksgiving! Since our Thanksgiving was over a month ago, I decided to make a Sweet Potato pie…to help you guys celebrate, of course. (See bottom of post for my American Thanksgiving Tribute pie. It’s really ‘corn-y’!)

Now that ya’ll have had your fill of pumpkin or sweet potato pie (is that even possible?) how about something new and different to kick off the holiday season?

I’m thinking this lovely Cranberry Pie with a Cinnamon Gingersnap Crust might do the trick.

Recipe below post.

If this pie doesn’t help make your spirits merry and bright, I don’t know what else will.

The colour is so vibrant and the filling is super creamy and tangy. It’s similar to a lemon curd (aka Lemon Meringue Pie), but with cranberries added for a little extra zip and colour. If you like lemon tart, you’ll love this pie.

With American Thanksgiving just recently, it reminded me that I haven’t even shared my New England trip from last fall with you guys yet. So this post is long overdue.

Note: you might want to go grab yourself a coffee as you could be here awhile (surprise surprise).

Before we commence with the road trip festivities, I just wanted to thank you all for reading my blog. A few people recently told me they enjoy my posts and even look forward to them (!??!). Hearing this totally made my day!! I also really appreciate the comments on my posts as well, thank you guys. I appreciate the feedback, which also reassures me that someone is reading my ramblings. SO now I’m inspired to write more often, I just have to work on slightly shorter posts, I know, I know. (um…maybe next time? haha).

So without further ado, let’s head to the Thanksgiving Capital of the World shall we? Because it’s not every year, I get to celebrate Thanksgiving twice. Boo ya!

Last Fall, Billy and I were on the East Coast visiting family and en route home we took a detour through New England as we still had a few days left of our vacation. We decided to head to Plymouth as we’d been to Boston and Cape Cod before, but neither of us had been to Plymouth. And since it was close to American Thanksgiving, I couldn’t think of a better place to spend it than in the spot where it all began: Plymouth Rock.

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock (hee hee), you probably know that Plymouth Rock is the site of the very first harvest feast (aka Thanksgiving) shared by the Pilgrim settlers & Wampanoag peoples back in 1620. While Historians disagree about a few of the details of what really happened over 400 years ago on the shores of Plymouth & Cape Cod, it’s still pretty amazing to be standing on the same shore where the Mayflower first landed on American soil (although they first arrived in nearby Provincetown, apparently). Since I’m a bit of a history buff, I couldn’t wait to check out the rock in the, er…. flesh.

Let’s hit the Open Road. Hello, New England!

After a wonderful lunch with Billy’s parents in Saint John, NB, we packed up the car, said our goodbyes, and then we were on our way toward the border. After crossing at St. Stephen’s we were finally in beautiful Maine. We stopped several times for obscure roadside attractions and, of course, I had to take plenty of photos.

If you haven’t been to New England in the Fall yet, you need to see what you’re missing. The spectacular show that the trees put on for us at this time of year is beyond stunning. And we do get our fair share of pretty fall colours in Ontario so it takes a lot to impress me (foliage-wise, anyway).

I was speechless–which rarely happens. Let’s just say Billy really enjoyed a quieter drive for a change 🙂

Not too surprisingly, it’s busier here in New England during the Fall than in the summer. So if you’re thinking about coming to check out the leaves sometime, you’ll need to plan your trip a little in advance (we may or may not know this from experience). Hotels and B&B’s are booked solid on weekends from September right through to Christmas, especially in Vermont. I might write a post on my fall New England trip to (hopefully) inspire you to come check it out. If you’ve never been here in the Fall before, you are in for a treat.

As we got closer to Portland, it was starting to rain quite heavily. Since we’d been on the road for almost 8 hours by that point, we decided it was time to stop for dinner. We also wanted to find a hotel for the night as we’d originally planned to camp at the KOA. But neither of us were overly excited about camping in the rain at all.

We parked on Main Street in Downtown Portland and enjoyed a walk along the old cobblestone streets of this beautiful historic town. After wandering around for awhile we found a great little brew pub (Sea Dog Brewery) for dinner. We had a delicious meal and tried a couple of local brews as well. It was so nice to relax after being on the road for most of the day.

Before getting back on the road, we stopped at the Dunkin’ Donuts to grab a coffee. I also wanted to get online briefly to check out hotels. Since we were going to arrive in Plymouth fairly late, I wanted to book a room for that night–especially since we needed one that allows dogs. Traveling with your pooch requires a wee bit more planning than the road trip style that we’re used to (aka ‘winging it’). Camping is often a great option when you’re travelling with your dog, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate at this time of year.

We found a Hampton Inn in Plymouth that not only had great reviews, it was pet-friendly as well. Their pet fee was quite a bit higher ($35 per day) than the usual rate ($20-25) that we’ve paid at other hotels, even within the same chain. You know you’re in Cape Cod when….

We were back on the road and in a few hours we arrived in Plymouth! We checked into our hotel, unpacked the car and then took Mittan for a walk to stretch her legs as she’d been cooped up in the car all day. When we got back to the hotel I decided to do some research online to find out what there is to see and do here in Plymouth (besides the rock, of course) since we hadn’t planned to come here at all.

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Thanksgiving & Maple Sweet Potato Pie

October 29, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 6 Comments

Money can’t buy happiness, but It CAN buy Sweet Potato Pie!

Happy Pie Season…er I mean Fall, everyone!

Even though it was a couple of weeks ago, I hope all my fellow Canadian pals had a wonderful Thanksgiving. As you can imagine, that’s my busiest weekend of the year (because we all know Thanksgiving is about the PIE, right?). I must have made a gazillion pumpkin & apple pies for the holiday this year which was fabulous. So, it was time to change it up and do something a little different.

Say hello to Pumpkin Pie’s closest cousin: Sweet Potato Pie! It’s very similar in colour and consistency to pumpkin pie but a tad sweeter and slightly more orange-y in colour. I roasted some sweet potatoes and then added maple syrup, brown sugar, butter, cream, fresh nutmeg & cinnamon.

Move over Pumpkin Pie, you’ve got a new contender! (recipe after post)

After delivering the last of the Thanksgiving pie orders, I took the rest of the holiday weekend off. It was a bit of a tough one as it was my first holiday without my parents. So there were loads of memories of our holiday family gatherings swirling around through my brain, especially since I’d been at their house painting the dining room the previous week.

As you can see in this pic from a few years ago, our Thanksgiving dinners were terribly boring (ha ha!)

It’s crazy how fast things can change but I’m glad to have the wonderful memories. Thank goodness I had lots of baking to do that weekend so I was nicely distracted. I’m also very grateful for my lovely friends who invited me out to join them in their celebrations, or just out for coffee (Love you, guys! xo).

Billy and I both had Thanksgiving Monday off work (actually, it was our FIRST day off together since July!!) so we took a road trip to beautiful Merrickville, Ontario. It’s just a short drive from Ottawa and the perfect spot for a hike with the pup and to check out the Fall colours (Merrickville post is coming soon!).

I may have cheated on my GF diet that weekend and had way too much stuffing and pumpkin pie. Whoops! It felt like I had the flu (although without the nausea or fatigue) and it took me almost a week to recover. Never again! (Evil gluten)

If the test for Celiac didn’t involve a camera going down your throat AND also forcing you to eat tons of gluten (the only accurate tests to diagnose celiac, apparently), I’d have done the test already. The food was delicious but just not worth the agony. If you don’t have food allergies count yourself lucky (especially during the holidays) 😀 Thankfully I know a baker who makes GF desserts so I really have no excuse to cheat hehe Now, let me tell you about this Pie…

Sweet Potato pie is a Southern favourite and a popular dessert for American Thanksgiving. It’s often made with molasses but I decided to go with maple syrup instead since I love maple with my Fall desserts. A lot of folks top their sweet potato pie with meringue but there’s no way I’m ruining a good pie with meringue (yuck!). While meringue might look pretty, I find it flavourless, personally. Thanks but no thanks. (I usually slide the meringue off my lemon meringue pie as quickly as possible haha)

But marshmallow fluff or whipped cream? Pile it on!! If you can’t do dairy, coconut whip is amazing, too. Either way, I hope you enjoy this yummy pie. It might just become your new Fall favourite as well.

Have a great week everyone!

Dana xo

Maple Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

1 Store bought or homemade 9" pie crust
Whipped cream for topping.
2 1/4 cups sweet potato puree preferably roasted
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs + 1 yolk room temperature
1 1/2 cups half and half or coconut cream
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract
3 tablespoons regular or brown butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400F
In large saucepan combine the cooled sweet potato puree. Mix in sugar, maple syrup, butter, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently. *This is not a necessary step, you can just mix these in a bowl instead, however cooking the purees with the sugar and spices adds a much nicer flavour to the filling. Cook for about 10 minutes, until mixture has reduced and has thickened .
Remove from heat and add vanilla bean extract. Allow to cool.
In large bowl, whisk eggs, half & half (or coconut milk/cream). Slowly add the cooled puree mixture and stir to combine. For best results, pour the custard mixture into a strainer over a large bowl or pot. This will prevent your filling from little eggy bits or extra-stringy pumpkin pulp. Not a necessary step but makes for a smoother filling.
Pour the pie filling into an unbaked pie crust. If you're worried about a soggy bottom you can either blind-bake your crust first or brush egg white onto the crust and bake for a few minutes before adding the pumpkin mixture (which will create a seal between the crust and filling). Allow pie crust to cool before adding pie filling.
Place pie on a baking sheet (in case of overflow) and bake at 400F for 10 minutes then reduce the oven to 300 and bake for another 40-45 minutes. Remove from oven when mixture is mostly cooked but looks slightly wobbly in the middle. It will continue to cook after it's removed from the oven.
Cool pie at room temperature for at least an hour, and then place in fridge for a least a few hours to set. If you try to cut it before this time, it may be more like a pudding than pie. It's hard to do, but you gotta be patient with a custard pie. Even if you don't want to and can't wait to dig in.
Top with fresh regular whipped cream or coconut whip, sprinkle some nutmeg on top and enjoy!

End of Summer, Coffee & Pumpkin Spice Latte PIE!

September 18, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 14 Comments

Hi Folks! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I can’t believe it was the last one of the summer. Where did the season go? How are we into mid-September already? I bet you are asking the same questions.

I’m going to interrupt the recent peach programming (Peach Pie, Peach Cupcakes) on my blog lately to bring you something completely different. Anyone else have pumpkin on the brain these days?

Well if you were in Ottawa last weekend, you probably did. We had a cold snap and it only reached 13C (8 overnight! Brrr) when it’s normally closer to 25C at this time of year. I think it was more of a shock to the system after a recent bout of 43 degrees.

But I really can’t complain about our weather because it could be a lot worse. I hope all my friends in the Carolinas are staying safe right now. The damage, flooding and destruction from Hurricane Florence is just devastating. I’ve been thinking of you and sending prayers your way xo.

Well, summer is back with a vengeance here in Ottawa (it was 40 degrees here yesterday!) and we still have a couple of days left to enjoy it. But I’m already in pumpkin mode and there’s no going back.

Don’t tell the Anti-Pumpkin Spice Police, but I even ordered my first PSL of the season last weekend. I was meeting a friend at Starbucks and it was a bit chilly out so I caved. Plus, I figured that if Mother Nature is going to make me wear jeans and a sweater —when it’s still summer –then it should be okay to order a pumpkin coffee, right? (Come on fellow pumpkin lovers, I know you’ve got my back).

We sat on the patio sipping coffee and soaking up the sun while we caught up, it was just perfect. Our summers up here aren’t long enough as it is, so a bit of chilly weather ain’t gonna keep us indoors. Plus, we had our pumpkin coffees to keep us warm 😀

And I didn’t stop there. I also baked my first pumpkin pie of the season as well. And not just any pumpkin pie, I made one based on my favourite fall drink.

Behold: The Pumpkin Spice Latte PIE!

It tastes exactly like the drink, but in pie form. (Take that Starbucks! he he)

The pumpkin filling (made with roasted pumpkin) is swirled with a vanilla bean cheesecake mixture to resemble the ‘foam’ on the drink, and then I sprinkled it with more pumpkin spice (cinnamon and fresh nutmeg) to bring out the pumpkin-y goodness. After baking it, I let it cool and then drizzled it generously with salted caramel. SO GOOD! Make this pie (recipe below post) and you might never go to Starbucks again (well, for the fancy drink, anyway).

The Story of the Famous Pumpkin Spice Latte

I find there are basically two kinds of people: 1)Those who love pumpkin spice and, 2) those who hate it.

With Fall just around the corner, the anti-Pumpkin Spice jokes are now out in full force. They started as soon as ‘the drink’ came out for the season, not too surprisingly. Some are funny and quite clever, such as this sign for an Oil Change company I saw recently that says: ‘It’s Back… Pumpkin Spice Oil Change! hahaha

You can laugh all you want at us pumpkin fanatics, but deep down I bet you’re secretly a pumpkin spice fan, too. Sure you may not imbibe in pumpkin lattes regularly, but I’ll bet you’re the first to dive into a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, right? I knew it! Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me (maybe). If you don’t really like pumpkin, then I think you’re just crazy. Just sayin’…
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Just Peachy! Bourbon Peach Cupcakes

August 20, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 9 Comments

Juicy peaches, creamy buttercream and a generous glug of bourbon….all in one delicious treat? YES PLEASE.

Let’s celebrate the end of summer with a Bourbon Peach Cupcake, shall we? Even better if you’re sitting by the lake with a view to go along with it #nottooshabby

Happy Monday, all! Or, more specifically…happy CUPCAKE MONDAY! (sorry I’m shouting but I can’t help myself when there’s cupcakes involved).

We’re having a Cupcake party today and you’re invited!

My friends’ Kelsie @The Itsy Bitsy Kitchen & Zainab @A Classic Twist came up with this marvelous idea to start off (every) Monday with cupcakes and now it’s an official Instagram hashtag. I can’t think of a better way to start off the week… can you?

If you’re a cupcake fanatic as well, join in the fun! My bloggers friends and I have come up with some delicious cupcake creations (see the end of this post for links) that will have you in the kitchen whipping up a batch in no time. Or suddenly craving cupcakes, anyway… (haha).

While I do make pies more than anything else these days, I still do lovvvvvve a good cupcake–especially fun, delicious cupcakes with seasonal fruits (or..chocolate).

As you may have guessed by these cupcakes (and my recent Peach Pie), I’m all about the peaches these days. Being fairly close to the Niagara region definitely has its perks. Did you know Niagara grows more than 80% of Canada’s peaches? Our markets are now overflowing with these scrumptious beauties so it’s the perfect excuse to bake all of the peachy desserts.

Peaches are one of my favourite fruits (peach pie is one of my top faves, actually), but–sadly– I can’t eat too many of them at once because they bother my digestive system. Peaches, and other stone fruit, are a high fodmap food which some folks (such as myself) are very sensitive to. If I eat 2 big slices of peach pie, I will sound like a trucker for a week (trust me, it’s not pretty). Luckily I share my baking creations with friends often– that way I don’t eat them all myself 😀 (thank goodness).

If you’re a peach fan like me, you don’t need to stop at peach pie or cupcakes, either. How about a glass of peach wine? Oh yeah!!!

If you find yourself in Niagara, mosey on over to Konzelmann Estate Winery where you can sample the most amazing peach wine. It’s worth the trip alone—even if you’re not a big wine drinker. Their peach wine tastes like summer in a glass…

Not a big wine fan? Ok, let’s go for a peach cider instead.

We’re gonna head over to County Cider in Picton, Ontario (Prince Edward County in South Eastern Ontario) and grab a pint while relaxing on one of their Adirondack chairs. And the view of the lake is just a bonus!

Now this is how you summer.

So, enough peachy booze. Let’s get back to peach cupcakes….

There’s not too much you can do to improve a fresh peach pie or cupcake unless, of course, you add bourbon (back to the booze—oops! Hmmm, you’d almost think I was a hardcore drinker reading this post haha).

Like my peach pie, I decided to throw some bourbon into my peach filling and loved how it really took the flavour up a notch. There’s just something about the combination of bourbon and peach that is quite magical. Now if you’re from the south, I’m probably preaching for nothing because you probably only ever eat peaches with a few glugs of bourbon, right? 🙂 (silly question, I know).

I took my favourite vanilla bean cupcake (GF), filled with a spoonful of homemade bourbon peach pie filling and then topped it with a cream cheese buttercream, a fresh peach slice and then drizzled some more filling on top. It’s creamy, boozy PEACH perfection!

If you’re on the peach bandwagon, like me, you’ll lovvvve these cupcakes. I’m pretty sure they will make your Monday better….or any other day of the week, really. But this is a pretty good ~~excuse~~ reason to get your cupcake on…. just sayin’.

The only thing better than peach cupcakes (peach wine, peach cider, peach pie…etc etc) on a hot summer day? Hanging out with a bunch of cute furry friends at the lake. Before I share my peach cupcake recipe and my blogger friends’ links, here are a few pics of puppies and flowers around the lake–just for fun.

Cupcakes AND puppies? There simply isn’t a better way to spend your MONDAY.

Dogs for days! Definitely not a bad day at ‘the office’ 🙂

Want some more cupcake inspiration? Join us for a #CUPCAKEMONDAYS party. Here are a few more cupcake creations I think you’ll love. Click through the links to see the recipes. And don’t forget to check out hashtag on Instagram for endless cupcake inspiration. You’re gonna love Mondays from now on, we promise!

Chocolate Banana Cupcakes from Itsy Bitsy Kitchen

Brown Sugar Toffee Cupcakes from Kelly Lynn’s Sweets and Treats

Piñata Cupcakes from A Table Full of Joy

Chocolate Cherry Chip Cupcakes from Love in My Oven

Mojito Cupcakes from Nourish and Fete

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week, everyone!

Dana xo

5 from 2 votes

Bourbon Peach Cupcakes

Delicious vanilla cupcakes with a bourbon peach filling and topped with a cream cheese buttercream. It's summer in cupcake form!

Ingredients

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

1 ½ cups Gluten-Free flour Packaged or your own mix
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum omit if it's in your flour mix
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter room temp
2 large eggs room temp
½ cup milk any--cow almond, cashew, coconut etc.
1 Tablespoon vanilla bean extract or reg vanilla

For the Cream Cheese Buttercream

1 cup butter room temp
1 package 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar or use more if you like your frosting really sweet
1 Teaspoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon vanilla bean extract or regular vanilla

For the Bourbon Peach Filling

3 fresh peaches chopped
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1 Tablespoon bourbon
1 Tablespoon salted butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 Tablespoon Cornstarch + 2 Tablespoons water
1/2 tablespoon vanilla bean extract or regular vanilla

Instructions

For the Bourbon Peach Filling:

In medium saucepan place peaches, water, sugar, bourbon, and cinnamon. Cook over low heat until peaches soften and absorb the liquid.
Whisk together cornstarch and 2 Tablespoons water in a small bowl.Gradually add to the peach mixture, stirring constantly. When mixture thickens, add butter and vanilla. The peach mixture should have a jam texture.
Remove from heat and allow to cool in the fridge until ready to fill cupcakes.

For the Vanilla Cupcakes:

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners.
In medium bowl add flour mix and whisk well (I always whisk gluten-free flour really well first), then add sugar, baking powder and salt.
Add butter to the flour/sugar mixture and, with a hand mixer, beat on low-speed until thoroughly mixed. It will be crumb-like in texture, similar to coarse sand. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and mix until blended.
Pour in the vanilla and then slowly add milk. Beat on medium for about a minute or so, until batter is fairly smooth (since GF flours don't contain gluten, you don't have to worry too much about over-mixing). If batter's too thick, gradually add an extra couple of teaspoons milk (you probably won't have to add extra milk if you're using reg vanilla extract). Batter should resemble a soft frosting when it comes together.
Fill liners with batter to almost ¾ full. Bake for about 17-20 minutes--but I usually check them in about 15 minutes. When they're slightly golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, they're done. Allow them to cool completely.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

Using a mixer, beat the butter on high for a minute or two until it's really creamy.
Lower mixer speed and gradually add confectioners sugar. I add about a half cup at a time to gradually incorporate the sugar into the butter (and it's less messy that way, too).
Add cream cheese (yes, after the sugar) and mix only until incorporated and smooth (you don't want to over beat once you've added the cream cheese).
Add lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Place in fridge until ready to decorate cupcakes.

To Assemble Cupcakes:

Hallow out the centre of each cupcake. Fill with cooled peach mixture--about a tablespoon per cake (or enough to mostly fill the hole). You can use a pastry bag or a small spoon works quite well, too. Reserve a few spoonfuls of the filling for the top, if desired.
Frost cupcakes and drizzle reserved peach filling on top of each cupcake.
Garnish with a slice of peach, if desired. Enjoy!

Fresh Blueberry Pie & Tribute to my Mom

July 21, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 12 Comments

Blueberry pie. It’s gotta be the ultimate dessert of summer, especially during the height of blueberry season. And it’s even better un-baked because the fresh blueberries completely shine through. It essentially tastes like summer on a plate (the flowers and twisty lattices are optional).

This was my mom’s favourite pie. Which leads me to my next bit of news….my mom passed away unexpectedly last week 🙁

I started writing this post awhile ago to share my favourite blueberry pie recipe but I hadn’t finished it yet as my summer has been off to a busy start, especially with my new market. But in my original post I’d been enjoying reminiscing about how my mom loved blueberry pie, our summers together as a family at the cottage while growing up, and the amazing blueberry pies we used to always get at a bakery on the way to our cottage. But with my mom’s recent passing, this post has suddenly turned into a tribute instead.

There’s nothing like losing both of your parents to make you feel so lost and unrooted. I’ve never felt more alone in my entire life, especially while sitting in my parents’ house (aka my childhood home) going through all their belongings. I was expecting them to walk in the door any minute and catch me going through their stuff. The day after my mom’s passing it suddenly dawned on me: I’m officially an orphan now.

But I’m finding solace and comfort in knowing that I was blessed to have my parents as long as I did (some people aren’t so lucky) and I’ve got so many wonderful memories of them to treasure.

I’m still trying to make sense of it all while my brother and I are cleaning and organizing their paperwork, getting the house ready to sell, cancelling everything and planning the funeral—all whilst grieving and trying to cope with her loss. Through this process, I’m also realizing how much my mom had still been grieving my dad (who had passed away 5 years ago). She kept everything of his and nothing had changed in their house since he’s been gone– it was almost like he was still there. I know grieving takes time and everyone moves at a different pace (and I’m sure one never really gets over the loss of a spouse) but I hadn’t realized how bad it was and that my mom may have been more depressed than she’d let on. While doing some reading on grieving (for my own benefit), I learned that my mom may have been experiencing ‘Complicated Grief‘–which is a prolonged and more intense form of grief that also incorporates depression. If you know someone having trouble getting over the loss of a loved one (especially years down the road), do some research on this. There is tons of great info and resources that may help.

Last week, when my mom hadn’t returned my calls for a couple of days and a worried neighbour called me to tell me her newspapers were piling up, I knew something was very wrong. I called a good friend to come over with me and she suggested (thankfully) that I call the police to do a wellness check. …

Back to the 80’s. Hello Strawberry Shortcake PIE

June 16, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 9 Comments

Hi friends! Summer is almost here and it’s finally strawberry (and rhubarb) season. Hurray!!

Let’s celebrate with a Strawberry pie, shall we? Even better if we can add a touch of
nostalgia by going back to the good ol’ 80s. Chock full of fresh strawberries and rhubarb, this is the perfect summer pie. It’s totally delicious… to the max!

(Recipe at bottom of post— strawberry shortcake doll is optional 🙂

So, who else had one of these dolls growing up?

If you’re like me, you not only had Strawberry Shortcake but all of her friends as well. Remember Lemon Meringue Pie? Blueberry Muffin? Or, what about Huckleberry Pie? I had all of their wonderful scents waffling into my nostrils on a regular basis. My mom used to say that my room smelled like a fruit salad. It’s no wonder I’m a pie baker now (ha ha).

Did you know that Strawberry Shortcake was created for greeting cards in the late 70s? She was created by artist Muriel Fahrion when she worked at ‘American Greetings’ card company. The original Strawberry Shortcake doll was designed by her sister, Susan and back then she was a simple rag doll with big freckles, red curls (made out of yarn) and a matching strawberry-printed bonnet and dress. In 1979, toy manufacturer Kenner Products licensed the character and created the first official toy doll.

In 1980, Strawberry Shortcake was all the rage and anyone who was anyone back then had one of these dolls and all her delicious-smelling friends. They also came with a little pet and ‘Custard’ was Strawberry Shortcake’s kitty. If you’re feeling nostalgic go google “modern Strawberry Shortcake doll’….I’ll wait ( I can’t share the photos here as some bloggers have been sued for sharing photos even with a link and sources).

She sure has changed a lot from 1982, hey? I can’t say I’m overly surprised though, as that was a long time ago. I’ve also heard that the modern Strawberry Shortcake comes with a cell phone now… instead of a cat. Crazy!

After the Strawberry Shortcake rolled out onto the shelves in the early 80s, an animated TV show soon followed suit— mostly to push the toys. Anyone else remember the show? I used to watch it quite often, at least whenever the Smurfs weren’t on.

A remake of the show came out in 2003 but because I was in college then (and way too old for shows about dolls, no less), I never watched it and have no idea whether it was any good….or how it compared to the original show.

In the first show, Strawberry shortcake’s home was a ginormous shortcake surrounded by strawberry vines. Not long after she moved out of the shortcake and into a fancy mansion (not bad for an 8-year old, holy cow!).

And if you loved Strawberry-Shortcake, you can’t forget about the town’s ‘villian’: Purple Pie Man. He was always devising half-baked (pun intended) plans & get-rich schemes to take over Strawberry Shortcake, her friends and their village. Most importantly, though, he wanted to steal all the fruit (gasp!). He might have been the bad guy, but boy did he ever smell amazing. Yum.

Despite his name, Pie Man wasn’t a great baker at all. But he did have a magic pie plate which enabled him to spy on the Strawberry Shortcake village. Man, I gotta get me one of those. Uh…er, for baking… Yeeeaahhhh, that’s it! 🙂

Okay, this was fun to walk down memory lane (you guys are still with me, right?) but let’s get down to the REAL strawberries. And rhubarb. With this amazingly delicious pie. Who’s with me?

Happy Strawberry season, lovelies! Please let me know if you do try this pie.
Love,
Dana xo

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

A delicious summery pie chock full of fresh strawberries and rhubarb in an all-butter crust.

Ingredients

1 recipe pie dough half for the bottom crust and the half for a lattice top or pastry designs (I make flowers)

Filling

4 cups fresh or frozen strawberries if using frozen, do not thaw
2 cups chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup tapioca starch can use cornstarch instead
3 tablespoons salted butter cut into small pieces
1/2 tablespoon vanilla bean extract or reg vanilla
1 teaspoon orange extract* optional but highly recommended
1 cup fresh not frozen halved strawberries for the top*--not necessary but it adds a nice freshness to the pie

Instructions

Preheat Oven to 350F
Roll dough onto a floured surface and fit into a pie plate, saving the rest of the dough for a lattice top or cutting out designs for the top. Place in freezer while putting together the filling. If using a store bought bottom crust, keep in freezer while preparing the filling.
In large bowl place rhubarb, sugars, cinnamon, salt and tapioca starch. Allow to sit for 1/2 hour and then drain juices.
Add fresh or frozen strawberries, lemon juice, vanilla and orange extract (if using) and mix. Dot with small pieces of butter and lightly combine.
Pour/ladle filling into the (unbaked) pie crust, careful not to overfill. Add a lattice top or pastry designs
Bake for about an hour, or until the crust is browned and the filling is bubbling. If the top & sides start to get too browned during baking, cover with foil or a pie shield.
Allow pie to cool completely, preferably overnight, before slicing. Strawberry pie needs more time to thicken as it can be very liquid-y when it comes out of the oven.

Salty Air, Lighthouses & Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

June 1, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 1 Comment

Greetings, friends.

I’m in beautiful Saint John soaking up the sun & the salty air and enjoying the beautiful lighthouse-studded coastline. We’re visiting Billy’s family and having a great time here on Canada’s amazing east coast.

Our trip started over a week ago when Billy took me to Vermont to celebrate my turning a year older (my 25th birthday uh… AGAIN? haha!). And then from there we continued Eastward toward the White Mountains of New Hampshire and then up the coast of Maine before heading back into Canada.

When we got to Saint John it was fairly cool & rainy and it felt more like March than late-May (Brr!). There was even snowstorm warning in the Eastern part of the province and Newfoundland got a whopping 30 cm of snow! (Eeek). Thank goodness we didn’t get any of the white stuff, just overly cold weather for a couple of days before the temps started to rise again. We’ve been enjoying spending time with my guy’s family and I even got to do some of the cooking and baking. Which is handy because after a week on the road, I was going through severe baking withdrawals, ya’ll. But I’ve talked about this on my trip to the coast last September. I know many of you can relate 🙂

Since it’s been a whirlwind of a trip, I haven’t had much time to blog or post on social media unfortunately. But, at the same time, I’ve really enjoyed the wee break. So it’s about time I get caught up (slowly but surely) and I thought I’d start with sharing a few photos of our trip so far.

Here’s the pie I made for Billy’s parents as a thank you for their wonderful hospitality.

Strawberry Rhubarb is always a favourite. And for good reason….it’s freaking delicious! And it’s even tastier when it’s made with fresh rhubarb from the garden and pretty flowers on top. I’ll share the recipe in my next post!

Is there a better pie to celebrate summer’s imminent arrival? I love strawberry rhubarb pie so much that if I could find rhubarb (even frozen) in the winter, I’d be making this all year long. While I can’t find frozen rhubarb anywhere in Ottawa (any time of the year), I’ve seen tons of frozen rhubarb in the grocery stores here in Saint John!! Hmnnnnn…

If we weren’t going back to Ontario via the US, I would happily taken some of the rhubarb Billy’s parents offered us to bring home. But after having my grapes confiscated at the border once (from Vancouver to Washington), I decided it’s not worth the risk. At least at this time of year, fresh rhubarb is plentiful in Ontario. I just need to buy truckloads of it and freeze it for the rest of the year. Now to find a bigger freezer….and maybe a bigger house? HA

Anyone else love rhubarb as much as I do? I can’t wait to bake all the rhubarb pies when I get home.

Without further ado, here’s a few photos of our lovely time in New Brunswick so far. Happy almost-June, friends!

You cannot visit the East Coast without seeing at least one lighthouse. This one is Mittan’s favourite.

It’s been a wonderful visit with Billy’s folks

You have to walk the boardwalk at least once while you’re on the Saint John Harbour. Or, maybe run it the whole way— like our happy pup.

Spring has finally sprung out here on the coast. Which is good because we’re only weeks away from summer.

My little Monkey and I had fun wandering around St Stephen–the gorgeous little town that greeted us after crossing the border.

Have a great rest-of-the-week, all!

Cheers, Dana xo

Waterfalls, Hikes & Lemon Strawberry Tart

April 29, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 8 Comments

Hello, everyone!

I hope you’re enjoying the start of Spring. Or, if you’re in Ontario you may be impatiently waiting for it to start like I am. We even had an ice storm recently—in late-April (!!). Mother Nature, are you drunk? Someone needs to tell her it’s almost May. We did get some warmer weather for a few days last week but we’ve gone back to single digit temps this weekend. Brrr. At least it’s not snowing, so there’s that.

Since we’re skipping Spring this year, I’m now ready for Summer….AKA Strawberry Season. If there’s one fruit that screams summer to me, it’s the lovely strawberry. When I tell someone that I bake pies, the first thing I usually get asked is: ‘What’s your favourite kind of pie?” It’s so hard to choose, but if I was gonna choose my ultimate fave is strawberry balsamic.

But I also love lemon pie (without meringue #thankyouverymuch), especially if it’s combined with strawberries. I made this luscious lemon tart last week (during our Ice Storm–Ugh!) and after just one bite, I forgot all about the nasty weather outside at the time. This pie tastes like summer… on a plate.

A few years ago, I worked at this Italian restaurant and the pastry chef often made this incredible lemon pie with sliced strawberries and a coulis drizzled on top. She was a wonderful baker and really inspired me to start baking. I loved her lemon pie and I would often enjoy a slice with a glass of vino after a busy shift. So when I finally learned how to bake, I came up with my own version of her wonderful lemon tart. Now it’s one of my favourite summer desserts.

So we’ll get to this lemon pie recipe shortly, but first let me tell you a bit about my recent trip. Just scroll down to skip my ramblings if you just want the recipe. But then you’ll miss some cute puppy photos and some awesome waterfalls…just sayin’.

I didn’t get much ‘recreational’ baking in during Easter as I went away for the holiday (and the week following), and I had quite a few pie orders leading up to Easter. A big thanks to everyone who ordered pies from me for the holiday. I really appreciate the business. You guys are the best! xo

I did manage to squeeze in one Easter pie before leaving town to share with friends: a Peach Pie with brown butter, maple and cinnamon. I know, it’s not exactly the typical Easter flavour, but the design more than made up for it. Because nothing says “Happy Easter” than Darth Vader with cute bunny ears, right?

The force is strong with this pie. Won’t you join me on the Dark Side with this yummy pie? I can keep going, but I’ll spare you the endless Darth Vader quotes hehe. Impressive, most impressive. Ok, Ok….I’m done.

So… after visiting family and friends for Easter, Billy and I did a short detour through Upstate, New York before heading home. I’ve been wanting to go to Ithaca for a long time, but somehow this town kept eluding me every time I was on a road trip in the area.

Ithaca is a small town just south of Syracuse and is known for its spectacular gorges and waterfalls. The slogan for the town is clever and quite fun: ‘Ithaca is GORGES!”. It sure is. If you like waterfalls (who doesn’t?), you will love with this town.

Can you believe this waterfall (at Buttermilk Falls State Park) is a 5-minute walk from our hotel on the main drag? Not too shabby at all

We lucked out with the weather on this trip. While the week leading up to Easter was cold and snowy, it warmed up right in time for the holiday weekend.
…

Movie-themed Pies & That Time I Was on the Set of a Christmas Movie

February 28, 2018 by Pies & Prejudice 2 Comments

*sorry about the multiple posts & notifications today, I’m having some technical issues with wordpress…seems to be fixed :D*

Hi Guys!

I hope you had a lovely Valentine’s Day. How are we almost at the end of February already? Spring is less than a month away now and the start of Daylight Saving (my favourite day of the year!) is less than 2 weeks away. Yes! I am beyond excited.

Since spring is just around the corner, I figured I’d better share my holiday pies ASAP. Usually the cut off for anything-Christmas (for me, anyway) is early January. So this is probably already too late but a few folks have been asking about my holiday pies so I figured I’d better catch you all up. If you can believe it, several of my closest friends aren’t on social media (Facebook, instagram etc!??) so they have been clearly missing out. Just pretend it’s still January when you’re looking at my Christmas pies, OK?

We had a pretty cold start to winter and at one point in early January it was colder in Ottawa than the North Pole… AND Mars! (Seriously). Thankfully though, the rest of winter has been quite mild and we haven’t had much snow, either. We even got to 10 degrees recently– which is pretty sweet considering we’re usually at -20 in mid February. Not too shabby at all.

But I’d still rather be Arizona if I could choose…Just sayin’. My friend Kelsie, who lives in the sunny state, is keeping her eye out for any houses-for-sale on her street for me (just kidding–I wish!). That way I can be a taste-tester for all her wonderful creations. She is the Queen of amazing dessert combos (check out her blog, I seriously drool at every dessert she comes up with). I’m making her Irish Cream/Coffee brownies for St Patrick’s Day, I can’t wait. They look incredible! I’m pretty sure she’ll make the best neighbour EVER (hee hee!).

I love Christmas but as soon as the holidays are over, I don’t want to see anything Christmas-related until next November. You cannot make me watch Elf with you in April and Hallmark doesn’t tempt me with their “Christmas in July” series at all (yep, it’s a thing). Not gonna happen. It’s bad enough some people blog about the holidays in late February (hehe). But really… who in their right mind wants to see Christmas decorations (or snow for that matter) in the middle of July? It’s just plain wrong.

Which leads to my next story….

A few years ago I was in Vancouver driving down a scenic highway enjoying a beautiful, warm summer day (in early July) when suddenly I came across snow. LOADS of it–we’re not talking about the little pile you see at the back of a hockey rink during the summer. And this was nowhere near the mountains on the north shore of Vancouver, either (which can get some snow in the summer). This was near White Rock–close to the the BC/Washington border. This area doesn’t get that much snow even in the winter (well, they get a wee bit but it doesn’t stay long).

It looked like summer everywhere else— except for this particular street. Weird. And the houses and trees were completely covered in the white stuff. Was I hallucinating? Or was I having some sort of strange delusion?

I know some folks leave their Christmas lights up all year-long, but this was way too many lights for the summer. It looked more like a Christmas village.

Judging by the quizzical look on my friend Jorge’s face, he was seeing this too. Perhaps we’ve entered the Twilight Zone? Or mayyyyvbe we were in an X Files episode? The show was filmed in Vancouver, after all (I was a huge fan of the show and did an X-Files tour the first time I was in Vancouver! #nerdalert). But the show ended a few years earlier so this probably didn’t have much to do with the FBI or aliens.

“I’m not saying this might be aliens but….it’s aliens.” I chuckled, channeling Mulder.

It turns out we weren’t too far off. We later found out that this was a film set, but there was no Mulder or Scully to be found anywhere (unfortunately).

Intrigued (and nosy as all heck), we pulled over to the side of the road so that we could fully investigate this odd phenomenon. And we weren’t the only curious folks, either. There were several cars parked along the side of the highway and many other people walking around checking out this strange sight.

My nosy-ness came in handy. As we started walking closer to the main house, a couple of friendly guys walked over and started chatting with us. They were part of a film crew (location scouts) and we were actually standing on a movie set. Yep, they were filming a Christmas movie! Now this was exciting.

I looked pretty chilly standing beside the (fake) snow in my summer outfit, don’t I? Brrr.. Don’t worry, it looked cold but it was actually 25 degrees (which is actually fairly warm for Vancouver).

Do you guys remember a holiday movie that came out a few years ago with Danny De Vito and Mathew Broderick? It’s called ‘Deck the Halls’ (2006) and it’s about two neighbours fighting over who has the best Christmas decorations. One of them (De Vito’s character) had decorations that were ‘so bright it could be seen from outer space!!’

Yep, we were on the set of THAT movie. WOOO! …