Heres a bit of mischief: About seven percent of Americans have passed off a store-bought pie as their own creation.
This figure was provided by the American Pie Council, the sponsor of National Pie Day, which is Monday.
The idea behind giving pie its own special day is to encourage us to celebrate by either baking or buying a pie.
Now, if there were anyone in central Iowa who would seem to be a likely candidate to bake on National Pie Day it would be Christine Montalvo of Windsor Heights.
When asked how many pies she bakes a year, she responded by saying, Oh, my gosh, I dont know. Probably more than 100.
And, for the record, Montalvos pies win prizes. She jokes that she owns so many Iowa State Fair ribbons that she could make a quilt of them. And she has finished first in several categories at the national pie-baking championship, which is sponsored by the American Pie Council and held every April in Florida.
But she wont be baking this year on National Pie Day. Her job as a technical sales specialist will put her on the road, away from her two wall ovens.
Montalvo is not worried. She rarely goes for long stretches without spending time in her kitchen.
It is something I have to do for relaxation, Montalvo said of baking. It gets my brain to stop.
Some of her pies are straightforward. Others, such as her chocolate cherry cordial Pie, are a bit more elaborate. The pie took first-place honors in 2011 at the annual America Pie Council/Crisco National Pie Championships.
It really is a very pretty pie. It would be good for Valentines Day, Montalvo said, adding, I really like to make pretty pies.
A longtime cooking enthusiast who often had to be pried away from the stove as a little girl, she took up baking seriously enough to enter contests in the mid-1990s.
At first, I started entering just because I was competitive, Montalvo said, recalling that she was not an instant success. But once she got her first taste of victory, she was sold on contests.
While some home cooks tend to specialize in baking, Montalvo likes to branch out. Last summer she won $500 for a lime-tequila marinated flank steak recipe in a competition sponsored by Tones Spices.
Chris makes very good pies, said State Fair judge Dianna (Zaiger) Sheehy. But she also does well with a lot of other things that she likes to cook.
For the past six years, Montalvo has rented a house in Florida. She takes family with her to participate in the national championships. One of her favorite activities, she said, is to take any leftover pies to a nearby fire station.
I just pull up and start unloading the trunk, she said. I get lots of help.
While Montalvo is delighted with the national championship honors she has claimed, she believes the competition is more difficult at the Iowa State Fair.
To me theres nothing more prestigious than winning a pie contest at the Iowa State Fair, she said.
The standards and judging tend to be more difficult at the State Fair, Montalvo said.
Some people bring pies in those aluminum pie pans to the nationals, she said. You wouldnt do that in Iowa.
State Fair judge Sheehy agrees. It would be difficult, for example, to pass off a store-bought pie as homemade, especially at the State Fair, she said.
I bet down in Florida they might get fooled, she said. But thats not going to happen in Iowa, Ill tell you.
Chocolate Cherry Cordial Pie
This recipe from Christine Montalvo of Windsor Heights won first place at the 2011 America Pie Council/Crisco National Pie Championships.
Crust 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour ½ cup sugar ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa ½ teaspoon salt ½ cup Crisco shortening, frozen and cut into pieces 3-4 tablespoons ice water Filling 5 cups frozen cherries 1 cup sugar ¼ cup cornstarch 2 cups semisweet chocolate morsels ½ cup whipping cream ¼ cup butter, cut into pieces 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1/3 cup powdered sugar 1 large egg ¼ teaspoon almond extract 8 maraschino cherries with stems 1 cup whipped cream 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Crust
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In food processor combine flour, sugar, cocoa and salt. Pulse to blend. Add Crisco pieces and pulse until mixture resembles corn meal. Add water and pulse until dough just comes together. Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill about 1 hour.
3. Roll out dough to a 12-inch circle between 2 pieces of parchment paper. Spray bottom and sides of a deep dish 9-inch pie plate with cooking spray. Ease crust into pie plate. Trim edges and flute. Set aside. Make filling. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool.
Filling
1. Place the cherries in 3-quart pot. In small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch until well blended. Stir this into the cherries and stir until everything is evenly combined. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture starts to thicken and boil. Let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract. Set aside and cool completely.
2. Microwave chocolate morsels and cream in a bowl until chocolate begins to melt. Whisk in butter until smooth. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes, whisking occasionally, or until mixture is a spreadable consistency.
3. Spoon half of chocolate mixture into the baked pie crust. Cover and chill remaining chocolate mixture. Spoon cooled cherry mixture evenly over chocolate mixture in pie crust. Set aside.
4. Beat together cream cheese, sugar, egg and almond extract at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Pour evenly over cherry pie filling. Bake for 30 minutes or until center is set. Remove pie from oven and cool on a wire rack. Cover and chill for 8 hours.
5. Microwave reserved chocolate mixture for 1 minute. Stir until spreadable. Dip cherries in chocolate mixture and let them firm up on a sheet of wax paper for 15 minutes before decorating pie.
6. Spread remaining chocolate evenly over top of pie. In large bowl, whip cream and sugar until stiff peaks form. Pipe around edge of pie; place cherries around pie.
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Tags: Perfect Pie, Pie