It’s Pi Day!
What better way to celebrate Pi day than with these cute hand pi(e)s!!
These mini pies were an adventure to say the least. I really struggled with these ones, and nearly gave up. When I first tried to make them, I couldn’t get the dough to come together. It was frustrating, and I was honestly disappointed because I have made pie dough from scratch before, so I was upset that this time it wasn’t working. This was a different recipe but I was confident I would be successful. I decided it would be a good idea to take a break, so I focused on doing other things, with the resolve to revisit the pie situation later in the day.
Well, later in the day turned into 8:30pm and I finally decided it was time to make pies. I had spent all day thinking about how I wanted to approach these pies, and decided I wasn’t about to let a failed dough stop me. I pulled out a different crust recipe and started over. This time I had success! The dough came together just as it was meant to and I knew everything would turn out alright. While the dough chilled I worked on making the peach filling.
The filling was a good exercise in patience, as I waited for everything to come together. I’ve also learned the importance of tasting everything, and in this case I felt the filling needed a bit of something. I quickly looked up spices that go well with peaches and decided on a bit of nutmeg. It was perfect! I found the peach filling to be quite delicious on its own, and looked forward to the combination with the buttery crust.
By this point it was close to 9:30pm and I was starting to wonder if I should wait until the next day to continue. However, I was wide awake and ready to bake. I’m glad I decided to keep going, because rolling out the dough was exactly what I needed to work out my frustrations from earlier in the day. I was also very excited to assemble everything, since I’d never made mini pies before. Having already worked out my frustrations and moved on to a more positive mindset, I was able to laugh off my next mishap with these pies.
When it came to filling the pies and crimping the edges, I followed the recipe exactly. The immediate issue I noticed was that my filling was being pushed out as I crimped the edges. There was peach everywhere and I couldn’t help but laugh. I reminded myself that what really mattered was how they tasted, not how they looked (although they did turn out cute). I continued working and cleaned up the mess before I decorated the tops. Cutting the pi symbol into the tops was probably my favorite part, as it required all of my attention so I was able to tune everything out of my mind while I worked on them. Once finished, it was time to put them in the oven, and I was so excited!
These pies ultimately turned out pretty good, and were certainly worth all of the issues I ran into. I enjoyed the combination of the warm buttery crust with the peach filling. They were still delicious days later, and every time I took a bite I was reminded of the success I had in trying again. Making these pies was certainly one of my more trying baking endeavors to date, but they were so worth it. I’m already looking forward to my next kitchen adventure!
