• yellowbird531 on April 05, 2021

  This book is layed out in a way that is extremely difficult to follow. A ton of information but you will be flipping back and forth multiple times for every recipe. It seems like many of the recipes were not tested... had issues with the way the instructions asked me to make lemon curd (even though I know better, I followed and ended up with scrambled eggs) and things like not tempering chocolate before incorporating. Bake times seem consistently way off. Great ideas and flavor inspirations, but the recipes and execution need work.

• tarae1204 on November 26, 2020

  My actual cooking times for pumpkin mascarpone pie and chocolate sugar pie (p 232) are taking longer than what is stated in the book (my oven thermometer confirms correct oven temp). McDowell published a chocolate mint sugar pie recipe on food52 on 9/25/20 that has some significant differences: https://www.google.com/amp/s/food52.com/recipes/84007-mint-chocolate-chip-sugar-pie-recipe/amp. That more recent recipe uses different proportion cream and milk, chopped chocolate instead of cocoa powder, and a longer bake time. I wonder if this would fix the problems I’m having with chocolate sugar pie in the book. Fantastic results using her approach to pie crust making!! Very flaky.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• All-buttah pie dough

  • Astrid5555 on January 04, 2021

    Can only repeat Lepa’s comment. Watch the youtube video as well and you will have pie crust perfection!

  • Lepa on December 13, 2020

    I made my best pie crust ever with this recipe. I can't figure out if it was the recipe or Erin's youtube video that shows how to tell when the dough is properly hydrated. This is something I have struggled with in the past. This crust was flaky perfection and I was so proud of it!

• Key lime-coconut cream pie

  • hirsheys on March 14, 2021

    This came out tasty, though I will fiddle with it if I make it again. I made a graham cracker crust and used about half a batch of whipped cream, which I sweetened only halfway (and next time, I'd leave out the sugar in the whipped cream entirely). There's some discrepancy in the volume and weight measurements for the key lime pie recipe, so I just used volumes - I ended up using a full can of sweetened condensed milk. The key lime overpowers the coconut, so it's worth seeing if there's a way to increase that flavor (coconut in the crust? all coconut milk in the custard?) and I'd also like to figure out a way to get rid of the pieces of coconut, because I don't love that texture. ETA: the coconut flavor is stronger after a day or two.

• Grapefruit curd

  • tarae1204 on January 23, 2021

    I made this recipe for grapefruit curd using pink grapefruit juice. Its tasty but not very firm. I think its odd that it called for four egg yolks and no full eggs. Pretty much every curd recipe calls for a combo of egg yolks and full eggs. No harm in using a tried and true curd recipe (maybe not this one) if you want to continue with one of her wonderful looking curd based pie recipes.

• Apple pie

  • Lepa on December 13, 2020

    The apples here are in a spicy caramel sauce. You have to let the apples sit for forty-five minutes and then cook them before adding them to the crust and baking the pie. It was good and my family raved about it but I think I prefer a plainer apple pie where I can taste the fruit more and that doesn't have all the fiddly steps.

• Basic nut crust

  • khopkins1012 on January 10, 2021

    This was easier to make than a traditional flour-based crust. I used pecan chips that didn’t even need to be chopped. We enjoyed the deep, toasty flavor of this crust.

• Any-fruit crumb crostata

  • j.va on March 04, 2021

    Great concept that's delicious in execution. I used blueberries and they worked perfectly, setting up enough to hold together when sliced, but not so much so that it felt gelled. The crust directly under the fruit gets soft by day 2, so try to eat this the day of or the day after for the best structural integrity.

• Blueberry swamp pie

  • taste24 on April 05, 2021

    Out of this world pie. My dad, who is usually a chocolate/caramel/nut kind of guy, said this is best pie he has ever eaten. I made the crust in the food processor, let it chill overnight, and par-baked the next day (about 15 hours before I baked the full pie). It was a breeze to roll out and par-bake - her pictures on over/under done par-baked shells was really helpful. The filling was really easy to put together. It has the perfect amount of lemon blueberry goodness, the custard lent a great creaminess, and the streusel on top tied it all together perfectly. Will be making this one over and over.

• Brown sugar chess pie

  • MollyBelle on February 14, 2021

    Wow! I was sure this recipe wouldn't turn out when I added the milk. Very thin. Took longer to bake but came out a winner! Made with all-butter crust and under-whipped cream. Loved it.