Rachael from pizzarossa was our lovely June 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she had us whipping up delicious pies in our kitchens! Cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate pies, even crack pies! There’s nothing like pie! 🙂

I think pies have to be tied with bread for being my favorite things to bake, so I was totally down with the challenge this month. Rachael required us to make all the pie pastry ourselves, and gave us four different kinds of pies to choose from this month: the infamous Crack Pie from Christina Tosi of the Momofuku Milk Bar (kind of like a massive buttertart or pecan pie (without the pecans) in an oatmeal cookie crust), the Italian crostata di marmellata (a jam-filled affair made with an Italian pie crust called pasta frolla), a sinful chocolate and caramel tart (with an egg yolk- and sugar-enriched pâté sablée crust), and a good old double crust fruit pie (with a tender, flaky pâté brisée). I ended up making a blackberry-maple crostata, a strawberry rhubarb pie with a buckwheat-sourdough pâté briseé, and a chocolate caramel tart with hazelnuts. The Crack Pie is on the menu for the next barbeque or gathering I am invited to!

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