Food and Drink

Eat More Pie! Ideas for a Spectacular Pi Day

National Pi Day PiesIt’s National Pi Day y’all, and if you sit around and talk to my husband enough about pie, he is likely to tell you about the time he tried to teach a Furby to say “Eat more pie.” Today is a great day to follow that suggestion. Whole Foods is offering $3.14 off the costs of pies from their bakery and their take and bake pizzas. We’ll be picking up one of their pies…and taking advantage of a local Italian restaurant’s $3.14 Pi Day special. 

Meanwhile, there are lots of good pie recipes out there for those who want to make their own pie (something I’d totally be doing if I didn’t know in advance today was going to be crazy busy). Here are some of my favorite recipes – for National Pi Day – or any day.

Cooking Light’s Peanut Butter Pie

Peanut Butter Pie
Image courtesy of Cooking Light

I made this pie for the first time this past Thanksgiving. Cooking Light’s Peanut Butter Pie recipe was, I think, my second-favorite pie that I’d made. This pie was light, fluffy, and delivered that peanut-butter flavor that we all love to find in the middle of chocolate-peanut butter cups.

I did make some adjustments when making this pie. Every ingredient was organic, including the whipped topping substitute (they have a really tasty coconut-based whipped topping.) 

This pie is really quick to make – and the recipe makes two – so you can have one today for Pi Day and another in a few days (if your pie makes it that long). 

Coconut Cream Pie 

Coconut Cream Pie
Image courtesy of Cooking Light

Anyone who knows me knows that coconut cream is my absolute favorite pie. Why not make a coconut cream pie, like this one from Cooking Light, for your Pi Day enjoyment? I LOVE this recipe – especially since it uses a vanilla bean rather than vanilla extract.

You can leave off the meringue, if desired I did because I’m pregnant and in addition to avoiding wine, I should be avoiding meringue (and, well, puddings and custards if we’re honest – BUT – I figured the meringue was pushing it more.) 

Because many of the commercial brands of coconut have added preservatives, I chose to use an unsweetened brand that I soaked in a simple syrup before toasting. Let me tell you, that was delicious!

Yogurt Pie with Grape and Black-Pepper Compote

Yogurt Pie with Grape and Black Pepper Compote
Image courtesy of Bon Appetite

Before you write this off, stay with me for a moment. This pie was delicious. In fact, I’ll be so bold as to say this is a great ending for a meal that is delicate – like a whitefish main dish. It also would be great paired with a Riesling or even a Gewurztraminer or Ice Wine.

This yogurt pie from Bon Appetite is both unique and delicious. It comes highly recommended. I used Mi-Del’s organic ginger snaps for the crust, and they worked really well!

Strawberry Pie

Strawberry Pie
Image courtesy of Inspired Taste

I haven’t tried this pie yet, but it looks amazing and I saw that organic strawberries are coming into the store now. I have some strawberries. I also have pre-made pie crusts and some of that coconut whipped topping I mentioned. This just may get made today. 

While Inspired Taste’s strawberry pie uses a homemade pie crust, I don’t see why you can’t use a pre-made one if you have one available. That way, you can focus only on making the inside of the pie – and that looks delicious!

What’s Your Favorite Pie for National Pi Day?

Please share your favorite National Pi Day pie recipes in the comments. I’m always looking for pies to pin to my Pinterest boards!

 

Ronda Bowen

Ronda Bowen is a writer, editor, and independent scholar. She has a Master of Arts in Philosophy from Northern Illinois University and a B.A. in Philosophy, Pre-Graduate Option, Honors in the Major from California State University, Chico. When she is not working on client projects from her editorial consulting business, she is writing a novel. In her free time, she enjoys gourmet cooking, wine, martinis, copious amounts of coffee, reading, watching movies, sewing, crocheting, crafts, hanging out with her husband, and spending time with their teenage son and infant daughter.

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.