The American Pie Council (APC) is excited to roll out National Pie Day this January 23.

photo courtesy of ralph and jenny

This year, the APC is encouraging pie lovers to show their “pie-triotism” by sharing a pie with a hero in their life. Whether it’s baking or buying a pie for a member of the military or their family, the local fireman, teacher or your parent, the gift of pie is a sincere gesture of kindness. APC members are also offering coupons on to make buying or making a pie more affordable, as well as offering their own special pie day activities. For details, go to www.piecouncil.org or friend them on Facebook.

The act of sharing America’s quintessential dessert brings with it an extraordinary heritage. In many homes family recipes go back for decades and, quite often, special kitchen utensils have been passed down over generations. As with family reunions and special get-togethers, what takes place in the kitchen also brings families together as children and parents and husbands and wives experience the pleasure of working together and creating something special for someone else.

This year’s championships are April 23-25 at the Omni Championsgate Hotel in Celebration, Fla. Commercial, Professional, Amateur and Junior Chef pie makers will compete throughout the weekend. The Great American Pie Festival sponsored by Crisco® is held in conjunction with the championships, April 24 and 25 at Lakeside Park in Celebration and is free and open to the public.

This recipe for Ricotta Pie is definitely a departure from the usual pumpkin pie, but it’s still a nice treat for the holidays. This is an old Italian family recipe courtesy of Chef Anthony Cerrato, owner of Fiore’s Ristorante Toscana in Asheville, NC. (Asheville likes to think of itself as a bit of a Foodtopia thanks to its prosperous Farm-to-Table scene and nearly 250 independent restaurants in the area.) 
 
Ricotta Pie from Fiore’s Ristorante Toscana in Asheville, NC

photo courtesy of FoodtopianSociety.com

Pie Ingredients:
1½ c. barley3 lb. ricotta cheese

7 eggs

2 c. sugar

1½ c. heavy cream

2 tbsp. flour

2 tbsp. vanilla

1½ c. sweet chocolate chips

1 c. citron

Graham Cracker Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/2 cup melted butter

1/3 cup sugar

Directions:
Soak barley for 30 minutes. Boil water and cook barley for 20 minutes. Drain well. Add flour to coat barley. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all ingredients well, folding the barley into the mixture last. Grease a springform pan. Combine graham crackers, sugar and melted butter. Add graham cracker crust to the bottom of pan. Pour pie mixture into springform pan. Cook at 400 degree for 30 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350 degrees and cook for 30 minutes. Then, lower oven temperature to 300 and cook for 15 minutes. Turn the oven off, and let the pie stand in the over for 10 minutes. Take pie out and let it cool in refrigerator overnight. Serve the next day.

Thank you, Chef Cerrato, for this yummy recipe!

DESCRIPTION

Yogurt, lower-fat cream cheese and orange juice concentrate make this creamy dessert light and refreshing.

INGREDIENTS

1 Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crust (from 15-oz box), softened as directed on box
1 teaspoon sugar
12 oz (from two 8-oz packages) cream cheese with 1/3 less fat (Neufchâtel), softened
2 containers (6 oz each) Yoplait® Original 99% Fat Free mandarin orange yogurt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 can (6 oz) frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
1 box (4-serving size) cheesecake-flavor instant pudding and pie filling mix
1 container (8 oz) frozen reduced-fat whipped topping, thawed
 
DIRECTIONS

1.Heat oven to 450°F. Remove 1 pie crust from pouch; unroll crust on work surface. Sprinkle with sugar. With rolling pin, roll sugar into crust. Place crust in ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold edges under; flute. Prick bottom and sides generously with fork.

2.Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.

3.In large bowl, beat cream cheese, yogurt and powdered sugar with electric mixer on medium speed about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add orange juice concentrate; beat until well blended. Sprinkle pie filling mix over top; mix well.

4.Reserve 1 cup of the whipped topping for garnish. Fold remaining whipped topping into cream cheese mixture until well blended.

5.Spread orange filling in cooled baked shell. Refrigerate at least 1 hour until filling is set. Garnish with reserved whipped topping and, if desired, orange peel.

Enjoy!

It’s summertime and really hot… so my first choice for dessert is ice cream! Here is a very delicious recipe courtesy of Betty Crocker. Enjoy!

Creamy Orange Ice Cream Pie. photo courtesy of Betty Crocker Recipes

Ingredients:

# 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
# 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
# 2 pints (4 cups) orange sherbet
# 1 pint (2 cups) vanilla ice cream

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix and butter until well mixed (mixture will be crumbly).

2. Reserve 1 1/2 cups crumb mixture; set aside. In ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate, press remaining mixture over bottom and up side of plate; prick with fork. Bake 16 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

3. Meanwhile, on ungreased cookie sheet, sprinkle remaining crumb mixture. Bake 10 to 11 minutes or until edges of crumb mixture begin to brown. Cool on cookie sheet, about 30 minutes.

4. While crust and crumb mixture are cooling, place sherbet and ice cream in refrigerator to soften. Scoop half of softened sherbet over crust; spread to cover crust. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup crumbs. Scoop all of softened ice cream over sherbet and crumbs; spread to cover. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup crumbs. Scoop remaining half of sherbet over ice cream and crumbs. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup crumbs. Freeze until firm, 4 to 6 hours or overnight. Let stand 15 minutes to soften before cutting.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): If crust is too puffy after baking, gently press with back of spoon to flatten slightly.

Find more recipes at www.bettycrocker.com.

It seems that the American Pie Council is still looking for contestants as well as judges for this year’s Pie Festival, April 25-26. The Pie Festival is held in Orlando,Florida. Costs for the Never Ending Pie Buffet are: $10 adults, $5 ages 65 and up; $5 ages 6-12.

Organic apple and blueberry pie. photo courtesy of aloalosabine

Here are more details from the organizers:

American Pie Council Seeks North America’s Top Bakers to Compete in Prestigious 15^th Annual APC/Crisco® National Pie Championships 

APC Now Registering Amateur, Professional and Commercial Bakers, as well as  
Junior Chefs at www.piecouncil.org 

CHICAGO, IL (Feb. 2, 2009) – Calling all amateur, professional and commercial bakers as well as budding junior chefs — the American Pie Council (APC) is now accepting registrations for the 15^th Annual APC/Crisco® National Pie Championships to be held April 24-26, 2009 in conjunction with the Great American Pie Festival at the Ramada Orlando Celebration Resort and Convention Center in Celebration, Fla.

      Once a year, bakers of all skill levels, all ages, and all degrees of training, from all over the United States and Canada gather in sunny Orlando to celebrate the continent’s love affair with pie and to vie for Best of Show bragging rights — and often some serious prize money. Exciting new flavors and ingredients are regularly added to the roster, while more traditional pies like apple, pumpkin and cherry remain popular. Creative bakers in all categories are invited to dream up even more unique recipes in the “open” category.

      Amateurs are invited to enter the competition in one of 15 categories: Apple, Citrus, Crisco^® Classic Cherry, Crisco^® Classic Chocolate, Cream, Cream Cheese, Custard, Fruit/Berry, Nut, Peanut Butter, Pumpkin, Open, Raisin, sponsored by the California Raisin Marketing Board, Splenda and Sweet Potato. The overall Amateur winner will take home the Best of Show title and $5,000 in prize money, as well as a new Sears Kenmore range.  Sears has joined the event as a sponsor and is supplying amateur and professional winners with a brand new Sears Kenmore range so that contestants can have the latest, most desirable home appliance for taking their baking to the next level.  First place winners in each category will receive $200 cash, second place winners receive $150 cash and third place winners take home $100 cash. The entry fee is $15 per pie for Amateur members of the APC; $35 for non-members.
Read more…

Approx. $700 million in pies (approx. 186 million units) are sold in grocery stores every year. This does not include restaurants, food service or price clubs, only grocery stores. If you lined up the number of pies sold at U.S. grocery stores in one year, they would circle the globe and then some.

cherry pie. photo courtesy of Snutur

According to a 2008 survey by Crisco® and American Pie Council:
•Nearly one out of five (19%) of Americans prefer apple pie, followed by pumpkin (13%), pecan (12%), banana cream (10%) and cherry (9%)
•Pie just isn’t for after-dinner dessert. Thirty-five percent of Americans say they’ve had pies for breakfast. Pies as lunch (66%) and midnight snacks (59%) also have a popular following.
•When asked what dessert Americans would prefer a friend or family member bring to their house for a holiday dinner, pie was the winner with 29%. Cake (17%) and cookies (15%) rounded out the top-three spots.

Pumpkin pie was first introduced to the holiday table at the pilgrim’s second Thanksgiving in 1623.

Pie was not always America’s favorite dessert – in the 19th Century, fruit pies were a common breakfast food eaten before the start of a long day.

According to a 2008 “Pie Slice of Life” Survey, conducted by Schwan’s Consumer Brands North America, Inc., Carol Brady of The Brady Bunch was picked by 40% of survey respondents as the TV mom that would bake the best pie. The Cosby Show’s Claire Huxtable was second with 22%, Desperate Houswives’ Bree Van de Camp was third with 16 percent, Everybody Loves Raymond’s Debra Barone was fourth with 13% while The Simpsons’ Marge Simpson came in fifth with 8%.

The same survey also revealed that when asked “Who Makes the Best Pie?,” Mom rates highly (27%), and store bought convenience pie came in a close second with a 26% slice of the pie – beating out Grandma who garnered 17%.
This 2006 Four Points® Pie Portrait is an examination of how Americans enjoy their signature dessert, in honor of Four Points by Sheraton’s simple pleasures offerings: pie in all its restaurants, express pie via room service.

Pie By the Numbers
•36 million Number of Americans who identify apple pie as their favorite
•47% Americans for whom the word “comforting” comes to mind when they think of pie
•6 million Number of American men ages 35-54 who have eaten the last slice of pie and denied it
•27% Americans who believe chocolate pie is the most romantic to share with someone special
•1 in 5 Proportion of Americans who have eaten an entire pie by themselves
•113 million Number of Americans who have eaten pie for breakfast
•75 million Number of Americans who prefer to drink milk with their pie
•32% Americans who prefer no crust on top of their pie
•90% Americans who agree that a slice of pie represents one of the simple pleasures in life
•9% Americans who prefer to eat their pie crust-first
•7% Americans who have passed off a store-bought pie as homemade
•18% Men who say their wife makes the best homemade pie
•2% Women who say their husband makes the best homemade pie

Pie Personalities
If you love… You are likely to describe yourself as…
Apple Pie Independent, realistic and compassionate
Pecan Pie Thoughtful and analytical
Chocolate Pie Loving
Pumpkin Pie Funny and independent

Pie Preferences
•More than one-third of Americans have eaten pie in bed
•Nearly one in four women believe that they make the best pie – better than Mom or Grandma
•More than one-third of Americans have craved pie in the middle of the night
The first mention of a fruit pie in print is from Robert Green’s Arcadia (1590): “thy breath is like the steame of apple-pyes.”

The wet bottom molasses pie, Shoo-fly pie, was used to attract flies from the kitchen.
Oliver Cromwell banned the eating of pie in 1644, declaring it a pagan form of pleasure. For 16 years, pie eating and making went underground until the Restoration leaders lifted the ban on pie in 1660.

The wealthy English were known for their “Surprise Pies” in which live creatures would pop out when the pie was cut open.

At one time it was against the law to serve ice cream on cherry pie in Kansas.

“As easy as pie” is an American expression. In the 1890’s, “pie” was a common slang expression meaning anything easy, a cinch; the expression “easy as pie” stemmed quite readily from that.

Boston Cream Pie is a cake, not a pie.

Pies are favorite props for humor, particularly when aimed at the pompous. Throwing a pie in a person’s face has been a staple of film comedy since the early days of the medium, and real-life pranksters have taken to targeting politicians and celebrities with their pies, an act called “pieing.”

State Pies:
•Key Lime pie was just adopted in the state of Florida as the official pie in 2006.
•The state of Vermont adopted apple pie as the official state pie in 1999.

#########

Source: www.piecouncil.org Check out their website for more info on pies!

The origins of pie actually did not come from America, but has evolved over the years into what we now call the all-American pie. It is not something that was created to be American, but somehow, we have adopted this dessert as our own and commonly use the expression, “as American as apple pie.”

Lemon meringue pie. Photo courtesy of jennyvier

Pie has been around since about 2000 B.C. during the time of the ancient Egyptians. Between 1400 B.C. and 600 B.C., it’s believed pie was passed on to the Greeks and then spread to Rome around 100 B.C. The early Romans’ pies were sometimes made in “reeds” which were used for the sole purpose of holding the filling and not for eating with the filling.

The first pie recipe was published by the Romans and was for a rye-crusted goat cheese and honey pie. They must have spread the word about pies around Europe as the Oxford English Dictionary notes that the word pie was a popular word in the 14th century.

The early pies were predominately meat pies. Pyes (pies) originally appeared in England as early as the twelfth century. The crust of the pie was referred to as “coffyn.” There was actually more crust than filling. Often these pies were made using fowl and the legs were left to hang over the side of the dish and used as handles. Fruit pies or tarts (pasties) where probably first made in the 1500s. English tradition credits making the first cherry pie to Queen Elizabeth I.

Pie came to America with the first English settlers. The early colonists cooked their pies in long narrow pans calling them “coffins” like the crust in England. As in the Roman times, the early American pie crusts often were not eaten but simply designed to hold the filling during baking. It was during the American Revolution that the term crust was used instead of coffyn.

Over the years, pie has evolved to become what it is today “the most traditional American dessert.” Pie has become so much a part of American culture throughout the years, that we now commonly use the term “as American as apple pie.”

#########

This article is courtesy of piecouncil.org. The 2009 Great American Pie Festival will be held April 25 and 26 in Celebration, Fla., and will feature countless pie varieties and a never-ending pie buffet. It will be held in conjunction with the APC/Crisco® National Pie Championships (April 24-26), where commercial, professional, junior chef and amateur pie-makers will compete to earn the title of America’s best pie. Check them out for more pie related info!