Pi Day 2017

Pie holds a special place in my heart and honestly Pi day may be my favorite holiday, and yes it absolutely is a holiday. You see it was one of the very first things I ever baked. In my early college days, I was living affordably in New York City (well Flatbush Brooklyn Really...) with a roomie in a one bedroom that basically made our kitchen her bedroom. This made my very first kitchen a quite awkward space. Till one day I had a very pretty boy coming to stay with me.... I decided right away I wanted to impress him with my baking skills and braved the awkward kitchen to learn how to bake a pie. A trip to William Sonoma and THE prettiest pie pan ever (which has traveled with me from New York, to London, Boston and Now Los Angeles.) and potentially the biggest book on pie ever and I was off to bake my first pie, or well my first thing ever really baked without the supervision of my Paps! I read chapters and chapters on how to make the perfect pie crust, and still to this day I use this all butter crust recipe. You see, pie was the first thing I baked, my first achievement and my first foray into a world of baking adventures. <3.14

So I always celebrate Pi Day. In fact, I like to use Pi Day as a day to experiment with a whole new pie. Last year I made my first Pecan Pie, the year before was a no bake coconut cream pie, and this year was a Lemon Meringue Pie!  I've never made one, to be honest I'm not sure I've eaten many, but living in Southern California with a Lemon tree that will not stop, I knew exactly what pie to make this year. 

I have to admit, Lemon Meringue is a trickier pie. One has to whisk both the lemon custard and the meringue for quite a long time, it requires a watchful eye and note to self it requires a lot more tapioca starch than it does corn starch. (Corn Allergy)

But boy is that lemon custard still tasty. The Meringue came out perfectly, I would do nothing different. I didn't make the recipe for a mile high lemon meringue but I got one. I used Patti Dall'Armi's recipe from Martha Stewart and boy did the Meringue come out perfect. 

Kai's All Butter Pie Crust

1 1/2 Cup Flour
1 1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Stick Cold Unsalted Butter
1/4 Cup Cold Water (Or Less) 

1. Combine Dry Ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Cut in Cold Unsalted Butter and using your hands crush better into peasize chunks in the flour. 
3. Add in half the water and begin to form into a dough, you may not need all the water here so work remaining water in one tablespoon at a time. 
 

4. Form dough into a ball and flatten. Wrap in Clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. As crust is butter based this can refrigerate up to 5 days but must be thawed out for 30 min before use for butter to become workable again. 
5. Use this to make your favorite pie recipe, or like I did with Patti's Lemon Meringue.