A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

I barely passed geometry in grade school, but I can certainly get behind Pi Day. Each year, Pi Day is on 3/14 – get it? So I did some research to tell you where you can buy all the best pies to celebrate the day. I mean, we all have to do our part right?

So my fellow bloggers and I (together we are “Go Local Boston“) got together to taste test and photograph some pies last week. Check out their blogs here:

Nancy from Capability : Mom

Kim from KimWorld and Family Friendly Boston

Leah from Leah’s Life: Pearls and Oysters

If you’re out doing some grocery shopping for snowmageddon, make sure to stop at your local farm to kill two birds with one stone. If you stop over at Pemberton Farms you can get a Key Lime Pie from The Pie Guy. Key lime is one of my favorites! Wilson Farm in Lexington is my new favorite place to shop. Not only do I buy tons of prepared foods (don’t judge) from them but they also have a great bakery and nice selection of specialty goods. They make their own mixed berry pies (top photo – pie is in the bottom left hand corner with the lattice crust) which are delicious. I bought the smaller size which could totally be considered an “individual” size – I won’t tell.

Another favorite of mine is Verrill Farm in Concord. They have my very favorite pies – apple crumb. I almost don’t want to let you in on these pies because I love them so much and sometimes they run out! They have so much more than pie at Verrill, check out their website for fun classes and events.

Feeling like you don’t trust yourself with a whole pie at home? Head over to Rosebud American Kitchen and Bar for a good meal and a slice of pie for dessert. Oh, and you can totally take home a whole pie with you too! (again, not judging) The flavors this month are mocha cream (the filling is SO dreamy), blueberry crumble, peanut butter fudge, Dutch apple and cranberry pear. Stay tuned for a blog post about my meal here!

Leah recently introduced me to Hi Rise Bread Company, they have locations in Cambridge on Mass Ave and Huron Ave. They have delicious sandwiches and a killer baked goods counter. I love, love, love the vanilla bread (I’m drooling as I’m thinking about it – order the end piece, trust me!) but they also recently had these tasty lemon meringue pies that look (almost) too good to eat!

New on our radar, thanks to Kim, is Shoofly Pie Baking Co. Get this, it’s a PIE DELIVERY company!! That’s right, delivery! Kelli makes these beautiful pies – I am SO impressed with lattice crust. My heart broke a little bit when we had to cut into her pie, but it was so worth it. I almost forgot it was a cherry pie, the filling was so dark – it was like no other cherry pie I’ve ever had. Beautiful whole cherries – you won’t be sorry. Pie flavors change weekly, this week’s pies are as follows:

Savory – Cauliflower Manchego Rosemary: Creamy cauliflower with earthy manchego, rosemary and red onions baked in a traditional flaky crust.

Sweet – Malted Double Chocolate: Silky malted milk chocolate pie baked in a dark chocolate crust.

Pies come in two sizes, a small 5″ pie and a large 9″ pie.

One of my recent favorite meals I had was from Southern Kin Cookhouse in Assembly Row. See my post about them here. We went back just to taste the other flavors of pie. You can get a slice for $7 or a whole pie for $36. Pies come in the following flavors:

Buttermilk Pie: vanilla and lemon scented buttermilk custard with nutmeg

Pappy’s Mud Pie: chocolate fudge pie with chocolate ganache and crumbled almond praline

Georgia’s Peach Crumble Pie: with caramel sauce and chantilly cream

Key Lime Pie: with toasted meringue and candied lime

Coconut Cream Pie: with toasted coconut and bourbon toffee sauce

Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Pie: with chocolate ganache sauce

There isn’t a pie here that I didn’t like. Ok, well that’s not entirely true. I’m not a coconut kind of gal, so I didn’t try that one. The key lime pie, above, was AMAZING. I love the meringue top – it just adds a whole other dimension to the pie. I can never go back to having it without. The pie filling was sweet and tart and the meringue was light as air.

I didn’t read the description of the mud pie before we ordered it, so I was surprised at its consistency. I was thinking it was going to be an ice cream pie, but was really pleasantly surprised when this came out. This is fork licking delicious – I wanted this one all to myself!

Petsi Pies has both sweet and savory pies. I’ve known about them for a long time, they never disappoint. Above is the bacon, leek and gruyere pie. Delicious, perfect for a brunch! This was a great addition to our taste test because it gave us a break from all the sweet pies! They also offer a spinach ricotta with pie nuts and a roasted vegetable and goat cheese savory pie. Did you know they make chicken pot pies? They come in two seizes, a 5″ and a 10″. See the top photo, middle row on the right with the chicken on it. Loved the consistency of the filling, not runny at all.

So cherry pie has always been my dad’s thing. Me, I’m a pure apple kind of gal. That is, until I had Petsi’s cherry crumb pie. There’s just something about it, I can’t put my finger on it, that I just love. Stop in to Petsi for a slice, or pick up a whole pie. If you need a whole pie, best to order ahead – give them 48 hours.

The banana chocolate cream pie is not one that I would normally gravitate to, but the one was light, and not too banana-y. Look at all that beautiful whipped cream!

Some popular savory pies can be found at KO Pies, either at the shipyard or in South Boston. You pop these beauties right out of the tin and eat them with your hands. Check out this cute instruction manual on how to eat their pies. We tried the classic beef, the curried vegetable, the lamb shank, the pie of the month which was a pulled pork and a beef stew. Enjoy a hot one on location or pick up a few frozen ones to go! Let me just tell you that the pie crust is AMAZING. It’s light and flakey, you could put any filling in it and it would be delicious. Worth noting is the sausage roll at KO Pies, and while not an actual “pie”, it should not be missed!

I couldn’t have a review of pies and not include Centerville Pie Company. I mean, they ARE Oprah approved! Check out my post about them here. The bottom left is the Cape Cod Crunch pie, only offered in their store in Centerville. Can’t make it to the Cape? Don’t worry, their delicious savory chicken pies can be found in your local grocery store in the freezer section.

And last but certainly not least, Ever So Humble Pie Company. I pick them up from Volante Farms in Needham or Brothers Marketplace in Weston. Their jumble berry pie my favorite, with cranberries, strawberries, blueberries and orange zest. Here are just some of the other flavors they offer:

New England Apple – Freshly peeled apples tossed with brown sugar and spices, heaped high beneath our delicate, flaky crust.
Wild Blueberry – Flavorful and juicy wild blueberries, kissed with lemon, nestled inside our tender, flaky crust.
Black & Blue – Two of summers most flavorful berries – blackberries and blueberries – together in one pie with fresh lemon and cinnamon.
Blue Barb – Plump and sweet blueberries partnered with tart rhubarb and a dash of orange zest.
Blue Raspberry – Tart red raspberries together with sweet, juicy blueberries enhanced with fresh lemons and a touch of cinnamon.
Cherry – Tart, Michigan grown cherries enhanced with a dash of pure almond oil.

Did I miss anywhere? Let me know where your favorite pies are from!

Disclaimer: The Shoofly Pie Company delivered a complimentary cherry pie and hand pies for this piece. We were guests of KO Pies and our 5 pies were provided complimentary (but we bought and walked out with a dozen frozen ones 😉 ). As noted in my previous post, my pies at Centerville Pie Company were provided complimentary.

Tags: dessert, holiday, pie