Piepalooza - The Perry Pi Day Party

I ate very, very well last week!

My social butterfly-dom was in stellar form, with fabulous friends, good causes to support, and great food ... :)  Coffee dates on Monday and Thursday, Piepalooza to support the Perry Nursery School for at-risk children on Wednesday, Temple Beth Emeth's Brisket Bake-Off on Saturday, and the Zingerman's Tour de Food Gatherers on Sunday - wow.  Boy, have I had fun!

Today, I'll tell you how great it was to have pie at dinner and to start my meal with dessert.

I was one of two judges for the Cream/Custard/Meringue category at Piepalooza, so I was the giddy taster of chocolate, coconut, lemon, pumpkin, peanut butter, and cream pies ... sigh.  So much love and care had gone into the entries!  Each was delicious in its own way, truly - I was a very happy camper, and seriously challenged in weighing each offering against the others.

When the points were tallied for my division of the competition, the charming picnic basket pie carrier - emblazoned with a tag announcing that it was the prize for "Best Tasting Pie" in its category - was awarded to the beautiful, rich, decadent Chocolate Cream Pie (above) prepared by June Geise (left). Her sorority sisters - who were wonderful, welcoming volunteers at the event - were so thrilled for her!

A fresh raspberry pie won in the Fruit category, while a Toll House pie won the "catch-all" Other category. And yes, despite my feet hurting in brand new gorgeous red pumps, I boogied over to try both of those fabulous achievements ... as well as a divine pie baked by Lia Dykstra (whose mom, Marcia, is on the Perry Board of Directors and is responsible for my invitation to the party - thank you!), which had a shortbread crust, a marzipan-like layer of almond filling, and a topping of raspberry jam ... and a creamy, peanut buttery pie prepared by fabulous teacher Sheila Metz (whose class of little ones prepared individual cherry cheesecake tarts for the competition) ... and a luscious rhubarb pie (I adore rhubarb!) ... and a rich pecan pie ....  Oh, I think I sampled a good 75% of the 20 entries, once they were divvied up to serve to all the guests!

And then there was dinner!!!

Dinner consisted of lovely finger foods and hors d'oeuvres ... here, let me show you:

Zingerman's donated some beautiful pies for the Pie Walk:

And I even won my chosen auction item: a beautiful basket with a birdhouse that has a chili pepper decor (perfect for a Food Floozie's yard!), a tiered tea candle holder, a membership to English Gardens, and flower seeds to spiff up my back yard this summer ... yay!

Now I'm going to run a marathon and do a wheat grass fast to recover from the week's hedonism ... yeah, pffft!  I'm already looking forward to next year's Perry Nursery School fundraiser - a celebration of cakes and cupcakes!

Pi Day - Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Today is Pi Day - a cause for celebration!

If you can count off even a few digits of pi beyond the standard 3.14 that we mere mortals remember, today is your day.  If you're a nerdy chick like me - who watches the National Spelling Bee, who actually read (and loved!) a book about a man who read the entire Oxford English Dictionary, and who can still recite the Lord's Prayer in Old English after learning it decades ago - then you're in good company with other folks who are celebrating the cerebral.  And if you like pie - and who doesn't? - then we're all having fun today!

There are savory pies, sweet pies, pot pies, hand-held pies, double-crusted pies, graham cracker crust pies ... an entire array.  And they're all welcome to come to the party!

In honor of this auspicious occasion, I concocted a new recipe cobbled together after looking through many old ones.  I mulled over the possibilities, but then simply worked with what I had in my pantry rather than schlepping to the grocery store for new and different ingredients.  Sometimes the path of least resistance is the one to follow.

This pie is rich and gooey, sweet and crunchy ... it isn't particularly beautiful to look at, and yet it's simply sublime.  Served with ice cream, it's a bit reminiscent of a sundae topped with thick caramel sauce, then made more decadent with peanut butter cookies and marshmallow rice cereal treats crumbled into the mix ... oh, yeah!

This Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Cream Pie is an ideal treat for Pi Day.  But if you're looking for a variety of temptations to serve, here are some other offerings for today's festivities:

Molly Goldberg's Lemon Meringue Pie

Pork Pie

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Indiana Cream Pie

Brownie Ice Cream Pie

Peanut Butter Pie

Ooey Gooey Peanut Butter Cream Pie

Crust:
1-1/2 cups sugar cookie crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

Filling:
1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup peanut butter-flavored Multi Grain Cheerios, lightly crushed (a fabulous marketing gift to play with!)
1 miniature Butterfinger candy bar, crushed
ice cream or whipped cream for serving, optional

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar and butter; press into a greased 10" pie plate, then refrigerate while making the filling.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, peanut butter, and condensed milk.  Stir in the flour, Cheerios and candy bar.  Pour into the prepared crust and bake for 25 minutes until the filling is golden but still a bit wobbly when the pie is gently shaken.  Let cool completely.

Cut into 12 slices and serve with ice cream.