January 23rd is National Pie Day. If you have free time today, bake a pie. It can be sweet or savory (pot pie, shepherd’s pie, vegetable pie, etc.)

February 23rd is National Pie Day, an annual celebration of pies launched in the mid-1970s by Charlie Papazian, a nuclear engineer, brewer and teacher from Boulder, Colorado.

He also founded the Association of Brewers and the Great American Beer Festival, and wrote The Complete Joy of Home Brewing.

He must have been a major pie enthusiast as well, since he declared his birthday, January 23rd, to be National Pie Day.

Papazian is currently 70 years old, and we hope he enjoys slices of his favorite pies today.

News of the “holiday” spread (in those pre-social media days). Since 1986, National Pie Day has been sponsored by the American Pie Council, which holds its National Pie Championships every spring. The competition is open to amateur, professional and commercial bakers.

The American Pie Council is an organization committed to “preserving America’s pie heritage and promoting America’s love affair with pies.” Membership in America’s only purely pie-focused national organization is open to all.
 
 
WHAT ABOUT PI DAY?

Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th, a date that corresponds to the first numbers of the mathematical constant, pi.

If you’ve forgotten high school math, pi is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The number is constant, no matter what the size of the circle.

The first 10 digits of pi are 3.1415926535. Pi has been calculated to over one trillion digits beyond its decimal point.

For March 14th, bakers and mathematicians alike have fun baking pi-themed pies (photo #3).
 
 
TREAT YOURSELF TO A VIEW OF PIE AS ART

For a dazzling view of the most impressive pie art, take a look at the work of Jessica Leigh Clark-Bojin, also known as The Pieous.

Check out her website, Pies Are Awesome (photos #1 and #2).
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PIE

Who created the first pies? Here’s the scoop.
 
 
FIND ALL THE TYPES OF PIES IN OUR PIE GLOSSARY.
 
THE HISTORY OF PIE

AMERICA’S FAVORITE PIES

HAVE FUN DECORATING PIES

[1] The Eiffel Tower pie.

[2] A pie portrait of Betty White (both photos by The Pieous | Pies Are Awesome).

[3] For Pi Day, March 14th, bakers have fun riffing on the pi symbol (center of pie). The first 10 digits of pi are 3.1415926535. Here’s the recipe from The Instructables.

[1] An elegant two-crust blueberry pie, with a sprinkle of decorating sugar (photo courtesy King Arthur Flour).

[2] Cut-outs are an easy way to decorate a one-crust pie (photo courtesy American Pie Council).

January 23rd is National Pie Day, a celebration for pie lovers everywhere.

Few of us would pass up a piece of pie because it had a plain top crust. In fact, bring it here right now, and a cup of coffee, too.

But if you’re a pastry artist like Lauren Ko of LoKo Kitchen, every pie top is a canvas, every pie an opportunity to create a new work of art. See her Instagram page for even more beauties.

Consider then twelve pies below. Some have top crusts, some don’t.

Each has its own personality, made with:

 
For two crust pies, lattice and cut-outs (photo #2) have long been popular. The top crust lends itself to all sorts of craft work.
 
There’s even more of a canvas with a one-crust pie, such as:

 
Some one-crust contenders, like chess pie, pecan pie and tarte Tatin, are already so sweet that a counterpoint of crème fraîche, slightly sweetened sour cream or slightly sweetened/unsweetened whipped cream is a better choice.

Others, like Bavarian cream pie, black bottom pie and nesselrode pie, already have too much going on up top.

[3] Twelve beautiful pie tops by Lauren Ko, @LokoKitchen.

January 22nd is National Blondie Day, a confection also called blond brownies and butterscotch brownies. (To add to the confusion, May 9th is National Butterscotch Brownie Day.)

The shape and texture are similar to chocolate brownies, but the ingredients are different.

 
Blondies tend not to be frosted, since the brown sugar is sweet enough. However, chocolate ganache is a nice (if messier) alternative to chocolate chips (photo #3). Since the beginning of recent food trends, some bakers use salted caramel ganache or dulce de leche.

Blondies differ from white chocolate brownies, since the latter have white chocolate in the batter. We’ve encountered some blondies with chocolate chips called Congo Bars, but accurately, Congo Bars have both chocolate chips and walnuts; coconut can be substituted the walnuts.

Like brownies, blondies are bar cookies cut into rectangles or squares. They’re great as a base for a sundae, topped with butterscotch, caramel or chocolate sauce.

We know the history of brownies, but where did blondies originate?
 
 
THE HISTORY OF BLONDIES

Like brownies, blondies originated in the U.S. We’re just not absolutely certain of their creator.

As bar cookies evolved in the late 19th century, molasses was a popular sweetener. Molasses bars were a popular treat.

The first person publish a recipe for the brownies we know today was Fanny Farmer, in the 1896 edition of The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook (the history of brownies).

But that recipe contained no chocolate; it was essentially what we today call a Blondie.

According to Food Timeline, blonde brownies predate the chocolate version by about 10 years. Around 1896, a molasses-flavored bar cookie (no chocolate, cocoa or chocolate chips) called a brownie appeared. The name celebrated the elfin characters called Brownies, created by Palmer Cox and featured in popular books, stories, cartoons and verses of the time (the Eastman Kodak Brownie camera was also named after these elves).

According to another source, in the 1906 edition of her cookbook, Farmer published an updated version of her cookbook that included a blondie recipe and a brownie recipe, both called brownies. Alas, we’ve only been able to get our hands on the 1896 version, reprinted and available on Amazon (link above), so we can’t do our own fact-checking.

After the later introduction and popularity of chocolate brownies, the molasses brownies became known as blonde brownies. Subsequently, some bakers started to substitute brown sugar for the molasses, providing a butterscotch taste and a new name, butterscotch brownies.

[1] Blondies with pecans, served with dulce de leche. Blondies can have a finer crumb (texture) if cake flour is used instead of all-purpose flour (photo courtesy Valrhona).

[2] A classic, rustic blondie with chocolate chips and walnuts (photo courtesy King Arthur Flour).

[3] Blondies iced with chocolate ganache, at Baked NYC.

Although we grew up in the food wonderland that is New York City, we don’t recall seeing a blondie or a butterscotch brownie until the mid 1970s or early 1980s.

Then, some time around then, an artisan bakery whose name, alas, we can’t remember (and is no longer in business) began selling packaged blondies, brownies, chocolate chip cookies and other baked beauties in small grocery stores and delis. The line was superior to anything else being sold—and we believe that they introduced New York to blondies on a commercial scale.

If you’re that bakery and are reading this, tell us your name…and thanks for the memories!
 
 
BLONDIE RECIPES

[1] Our mother and grandmother always served olive oil and vinegar in cruets, so people could serve themselves at the table. They’re becoming a thing of the past, as salads come pre-dressed from the kitchen—or as more people use commercial dressings (photo courtesy Flavor For Life).

[2] The easiest switch is to serve EVOO with bread, instead of cholesterol-packed butter. You can add a splash of lemon juice or seasonings to enhance the oil—that’s what commercial bread dippers do (photo THE NIBBLE).

[3] For tastier homemade chips, use olive oil instead of canola or other neutral oils (photo courtesy My Name Is Yeh | California Olive Ranch).

It’s still the month for resolutions, our annual hopes of changing parts of our lives for the better.

Adding more extra virgin olive oil to your life is one way, switching out less healthy fats.

EVOO is a heart-healthy fat, high in polyphenols. It can lends extra flavor and textures to your favorite dishes.

Olive oil is a versatile ingredient, and can replace other fats like butter and canola oil in almost all recipes, for a health boost.

Think bread with an EVOO dipping oil instead of butter. Eat salad with an EVOO vinaigrette instead of creamy, heavy dressings. Use it as a pasta sauce.

Here are three suggestions from California Olive Ranch to swap in extra virgin olive oil.
 
 
1. BAKING

Using olive oil in baked goods may seem strange to Americans, but it’s the fat used in Greece, Italy, southern France and the other olive oil-rich lands around the Mediterranean.

EVOO adds a nuanced flavor to sweet treats, keeps cakes moist, and adds a luscious crumbly texture to crumbles.

Some baking recipes will call specifically for extra virgin olive oil, but you can also substitute olive oil in recipes that call for butter for the flavor and health benefits.

Try these recipes:

 
 
2. HOMEMADE VINAIGRETTE

Homemade vinaigrette takes two minutes to make, at a mere fraction of the cost of buying bottled dressing. And no bottled dressing can beat the taste (or the quality of ingredients) of a simple homemade vinaigrette.

Here’s a recipe that uses lemon juice instead of vinegar. It’s more sprightly. You can substitute lime juice, which is a classic Mexican variation.

Homemade Vinaigrette Ingredients

 
Preparation
Just place all ingredients in a sealed jar and shake to combine. Is so easy: How can you not make your own vinaigrette?
 
 
3. SAUTÉ & FRY

It’s not true that you shouldn’t cook with extra virgin olive oil. It’s perfectly suitable for frying, poaching and sautéing.

The accurate statement is that you shouldn’t cook with your $20 bottles of it—save the pricey bottles for salads or drizzling.

Good olive oil will stand up well to high frying temperatures. A general rule of thumb is that the higher the quality of the oil and the fresher it is, the higher the smoke point will be.*

Quality olive oil has a high smoking point upwards of 425°F, well above the ideal temperature for frying food of around 350°F. See the comparison chart below.

In addition to frying eggs in olive oil, EVOO is a great choice for a simple stir-fry.
 
Can we entice you to make this recipe for Olive Oil Sweet Potato Chips?

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*A high quality oil loaded with antioxidants will hold its form longer, while a lower quality oil with high free fatty acid content will smoke at a lower temperature.
  

On a freezing day like today, cook something that will stick to your ribs. One option is the Mexican dish, posole (also spelled pozole).

While Americans eat lots of burritos, enchiladas, tacos and tostadas, not many outside the Southwest are familiar with posole, a dish made from hominy.

Posole means “hominy” in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs. It’s a cross between soup and stew (here’s the difference between soup and stew).

Hominy, which is cooked like beans, is made from shelled, dried maize (corn) kernels that have been treated with an alkali—lye or lime solution—in a process called nixtamalization, that makes the kernels puff up.

The kernels are then washed to remove the excess solution, the hull, and often the germ. The hominy (photo #3) has a chewy texture and is often likened to the flavor of a corn tortilla.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF POSOLE

The Aztecs believed that humans were made out of masa (cornmeal dough) by the corn gods. Since maize (corn) was a sacred plant for the Aztecs and other Mesoamericans, posole was a special-occasion dish.

There’s a gruesome bit about the origin of the dish, in the footnote* below.

Posole was mentioned in the Florentine Codex by Bernardino de Sahagún, a 16th-century Franciscan friar, missionary priest and pioneering ethnographer of the Aztec culture.

In modern times, posole remains a beloved dish throughout Mexico. It is considered festive and and is commonly enjoyed for special occasions—Christmas, Independence Day, weddings, etc.—but can also be dished up whenever you feel like it. You’ll find specialty restaurants called pozolerias in Mexico.

The dish is spelled pozole or posole in different parts of the country.
 
 
RECIPE: POSOLE ROJO (RED POSOLE) WITH CHICKEN

This recipe for classic Mexican posole (poe-SO-lay) comes to us from Rancho Gordo, our favorite source for dried artisan beans and related products.

It uses dried hominy. Don’t be tempted to use canned hominy: It cooks up with a rubbery or gummy texture.

Posole Rojo is Mexican comfort food, a stew of shredded pork or chicken and hominy in a red chile broth. Aside from the time it takes to soak and cook the hominy, the recipe is easy to make—and it’s loaded with authentic Mexican flavor.

Posole Verde is made with green chiles. Posole Blanco, has no chiles in the broth but is served with a salsa of manzano chiles on the side.
 
Ingredients For 6-8 Servings

[1] Posole typically is an overnight affair: up to 10 hours to soak the hominy. This recipe from Budget Bites gives you a version that takes just 30 minutes.

[2X] Posole with four garnishes. Here’s the recipe from Food & Wine.

[3] Hominy from heirloom corn, at Anson Mills.

 
Preparation

1. HEAT the oil in 5-quart pot over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook until soft. Add the tomato paste, chile powder and oregano, stirring until all ingredients are warmed through and well mixed.

2. ADD 4 cups water, the broth and the posole. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer and cook for half an hour.

3. ADD the chicken, stir, and then add salt and pepper to taste. Serve in individual bowls with garnishes on the side, so each diner can use his/her favorite toppings.
 

To Cook Dried Posole

1. SORT through and rinse the posole/hominy. Soak from 6 to 10 hours in cold water, then strain. In a large pot…

2. ADD the soaked posole (about 2 cups), 3 quarts of water and a roughly chopped onion. Bring to a hard boil for about 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer for about 4 hours. The posole will flower, like popcorn, when it’s finished.

3. STRAIN and use in any recipe calling for cooked posole. You can freeze any extra drained, cooked posole.
 
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*Mesoamerican people conducted ritual human sacrifice. Originally, pozole was made from the meat of prisoners whose hearts had been ripped out in ritual sacrifice. After the Spanish conquest in 1519, cannibalism was banned and the meat in the dish was replaced with pork [source].

†New Mexican red chile powder and Mexican oregano are available from RanchoGordo.com.