#PiePartyGE: 2014 Edition

It seems eons ago since the last Pie Party. In truth, it was a year and a half ago and sadly Hurricane Sandy ripped through NYC days after that event. But with a renewed city and on an actual spring day Jackie Gordon and Ken Leung organized another fantastic event at GE Monogram Design Center on midtown's east side.

The GE Monogram Center is basically the dream kitchen of anyone who likes to cook and for those in the food blogger/media community it is Shangri-La. The anticipation for this event was building and with the Parade of Pies list on Ken's site lips were smacking staring at the compendium of what would be available.

Weeks leading up to Pie Party, attendees got emails from sponsors being overly generous in offering items to help us bake our pies. Butter and/or cheeses from Kerrygold. Utensils from OXO. Tupperware to pack leftover pies for later consumption from Snapware and that's in addition to the goodies provided from sponsors Anolon, Harvard Common Press, Dub Pies, Jarlsberg USA, Wüsthof (as well as OXO, Snapware, and Kerrygold). THANK YOU ALL for your kindness.

Upon entering the GE Monogram Center the staff was readily recognizable and decked out all in black ready to help. Need something heated? Done. Need extra serving materials? Done. Need your stuff put away? Arms out to take it for you. They were ready to help at a notice and even cleared away plates to wash/rinse off for you to take home. It was amazing how generous and professional everyone was.

There was a nice backdrop for anyone and everyone to take a picture of your pie. As Jackie said she wanted this year's Pie Party to be like the Oscars of Pie Parties!

Like last year savory pies were set along the window facing 58th Street and the sweets had a much larger display (needed) in the center of the establishment. Sponsors Anolon, Dub Pies, Wusthof, and Kerrygold set up shop inside where we could view (or really drool) over their presentation of goods and in the case of Jarlsberg, Kerrygold, and DUB Pies we got our pie pre-game on by eating cheese and crackers, fruit platters, mini DUB Pies (my fave beef and cheese was in attendance) while hors d'oeurves were also available from roaming GE Monogram staff. But don't fill up on snacks! There are PIES here! Savory was bumped up. A good deal available. I added to the savory mix again with a Tortilla Pie a la Martha Stewart since most of my materials were packed and I needed something easy and hearty to make. (Next year I'm thinking empanadas, if time permits.)

The sweets table steadily filled up with space being made every minute to accommodate the expanding array of desserts.

Chef Tageré gave a demonstration and praised Kerrygold butter as the butter to use for crusts. (As bloggers we couldn't agree more.) Then she revealed a fantastically delectable looking savory chicken pie with some cheese on top and we were antsy for that and other pies. And then...it was officially pie time! The masses ran or sauntered (some with a game plan already). I had my eye on the sweets from the minute I walked in but then Margaret had to bring a short rib pie and Sekita had to do crab cake pies so I quickly tasted those and then delved back to the sweet side. No regrets, friends.

First things first was getting those portable pies. Angela of Mind Over Batter's strawberry-cheese hand pies were like a homemade Pop-tart but ten times better because her crust was thick, sweet, flaky, buttery and perfect! Ken made a sweet and a savory pie and I got into that gorgeous tart before it was gone. His crust was also fantastic. There were gluten-free pies and cream pies and many, many more tarts. Colleen of Souffle Bombay and her daughter Samantha both made sweet tarts and I have to say I was lucky to taste Samantha's confection of a Blueberry Lemon Tart.

Susan of Girl in the Little Red Kitchen did a cookie pie with caramel with duck fat. Jennifer of Bake or Break brought a scrumptious nutty, brown sugar pie. Rhonda Kave of Roni-Sue's Chocolates in downtown Manhattan paid tribute to her daughter Allison's debut cookbook First Prize Pies by making her buttercrunch pie that was still warm from the oven and a gooey masterpiece! There was...So. Much. Pie. And you couldn't eat it all but it was gorgeous to look at and phenomenal to actually eat.

The crowd was happy, cheerful, and supportive everyone delving in. The savory side was practically demolished from Eryn's picnic pie to the large mac n' cheese pie with bacon topping to the guacamole pie and a nice quiche.

There was a vast amount of fruity tarts/pies especially Autumn's gluten-free plum pockets and Jackie's lemon bruleed gluten-free pie. And surprisingly not as much chocolate. Perhaps because spring was in the air, and it was humid, inspiration was more for summery/spring-like flavors.

To top it all off there were also the generous gift bags that newcomers to Pie Party were astounded by, more jaw drops. And there were temp tattoos from OXO (still have mine) and lots of giveaways for tweeting/instagram (using hashtags of course), and just all-around fun and appreciation to be surrounded by fantastic food and wonderful people in a lovely space.

I am already looking forward to the next Pie Party and am more than enthused about this one. I just had my leftover pies last night and regret that I couldn't have another piece of pie to indulge in. But there's always next time and it's Saturday, which means NYC Bake Sale is happening, now, so you KNOW there'll be sweets there.

I leave you with smiling faces...

Kickstarter Home Stretch for @DrunkBakers: Pie, Cupcakes, Cocktails 7 Days a Week

Kickstarter is all the rage these days. We can fund shows, movies, publications, and the list keeps growing. Well, I support this latest venture by Allison Kave & Keavy Blueher of Butter & Scotch.

Allison was one of the first baking interviews I did and I'm a HUGE fan, as you know, of her pies. S'mores, apple, peanut butter pretzel, candy apple, strawberry basil, all of it goodness in dessert-form. And I've been introduced more to the desserts they've collaborated on (like the sticky toffee trifle) and the diversity of Keavy's mini cupcakes. So, what is this Kickstarter for? A storefront in Brooklyn!

Admittedly, my selfishness would love for them to open a store in Queens but hey dessert and cocktails on the regular? That's right. If you ordered Allison's pies or Keavy's cupcakes online you won't have to anymore. No more waiting for food fairs to spring up in warm climate or for fancy events where they are like Village Voice's Choice Eats. You'll be able to acquire these treats regularly.

Both ladies have built their businesses from being available for those in-the-know to their confections becoming signature desserts in NYC. How can you not have had the hot chocolate pie or the maple bacon cupcakes? And you haven't tried the pie shake?!? [fanning myself] Y'alls need to rectify that ASAP.

The money from this Kickstarter will pay for the essentials like equipment for one as they seek to create Brooklyn's first dessert & cocktail bar. (They need an oven to make more cupcakes!)

Allison & Keavy have been getting lots of great press, Butter & Scotch has already been named as having one of the Best Desserts of 2013 by the Village Voice. They're well known in the food community and are just super nice and generous ladies. Love 'em. I really hope to see the $50,000 fulfilled within the 8 days left on the Kickstarter as of this post, so everything can come full circle for them. You can claim some fantastically cute and/or tasty items based on the donation amount.

Whether one person reads this post and donates or 100 do every bit really does help and the more word spread the better in these last days. Need I remind you about Kickstarter? If you don't get the pledged amount you get nada, so let's bulk up those numbers! I mean in all honest who does not like pie or cupcakes or cocktails or popcorn (yes, they do popcorn too!) cool portraits in crayon or all of the above?

Interview with Allison Kave of First Prize Pies (Keeping baking in the family, yet sharing the secrets of good, fun pie-making.)

I first learned about First Prize Pies when watching PBS's Food Curated one lazy Sunday. Not only was I happy to hear about another NYC bakery but seeing a friendly face talk animatedly and lovingly about her passion for pie made me excited to try her creations. Then I had the pleasure of meeting founder Allison Kave at Jackie's Pie Party Live last October.

Allison was super-friendly and very generous in her pie knowledge when I asked her about crust techniques (me being super insecure about my own attempts). And I got a first taste of my new obsession in one of her trademark pies. I went on to purchase several pies from Allison's shop. And I'm telling you now I intend on trying many more.

Allison was kind enough to answer some questions and provide great pictures! I am super-excited about her revelation of creating a cookbook. It's on my mental 'must have' list.

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First Prize Pies is a relatively new company. And I see that food runs in your family. Did you find it difficult to start up First Prize Pies? Or did you find it easier to start a new business with culinary arts running in the family coupled with how much the Internet and social media have become?

Running a small business is always a difficult proposition, but having my mother and brother to consult with for advice was definitely an enormous help. I bake out of my mom's shop, Roni-Sue's Chocolates, and that also saved me a lot in terms of the start-up costs of renting a kitchen. My first big piece of press was an article in DailyCandy, and that definitely launched me into a new level in terms of sales and recognition—I can't overstate the impact that the web and social media have had on my business.

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It’s great that you offer in-home instruction on pie making. After having a pie themed party some of my friends actually made pie for the first time, which was great. But many seemed intimidated by pie making in general let alone baking. Did you find that when you made pies initially there was a learning curve or did you really delve into it?

I've been baking since I was a kid, so my learning curve was really gradual. It was something I always enjoyed doing, and starting as a young novice, I didn't feel much intimidation because I wasn't expecting much of myself! I just embraced it for the experience and the pride I felt in my results. As the years went on, I got more serious and took baking classes and pushed my technique. Pie baking has always been an outlet for my creativity, and a meditative practice as well. I try to encourage my students to let go of their inhibitions and insecurities about achieving the perfect crust, so they can focus on actually enjoying the experience.

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What do you think is the most important part of a pie? Is it the crust, the filling, or how both work together? Have there been pies that you have created, or tasted, that didn’t work because filling and crust weren’t gelling together?

Pies are all about the relationship between the crust, filling, and topping (if you're using one). I don't think any one element is more important than the other, and I'm very passionate about finding the most complementary flavors and textures possible. With cream and custard pies, sometimes a cookie crumb or graham cracker crust is best, other times a pate brisée  is better. It's all about tasting and testing to achieve that perfect harmony.

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Speaking of elements of a pie, I notice you sell your pie dough online. Not to ask any hard-fast secrets but do you have a preference in regards to lard, butter, Crisco, or a mixture in making pie crusts? There seems to be a key balance in capturing the right texture and taste, especially for old-school fruit pies.

My standard, go-to pie dough (the one I sell, and the one I teach) is a pretty classic pate brisée, made with high-quality, high butterfat European-style butter. I used to use a combination of butter and leaf lard (the very fine, lighter lard from around the kidneys of a pig), but once I started making a larger volume of pies I simplified things to work for a larger group of consumers. All-butter crusts require slightly more care to achieve that perfectly flaky, light texture, but it is definitely possible and I think my pies prove that! It's all about keeping things cold, using quality ingredients, and having a very gentle hand when making the dough.

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One of my favorite pies of yours is Jay’s Apple Cider Cream Pie, as well as the S’mores Pie. You created the Samoa pie based on the popular Girl Scout Cookie. Now that spring is rolling around, or has kind of arrived, what will you be working on with the new crop of items in-season? Do you tend to create new pies by season or try to offer a good amount year-round?

Sadly, spring has definitely not arrived yet! It feels like it has as we're in February and not even wearing hats, but it will be awhile before I have a new crop of good local fruits to work with. The first ingredient of spring is always rhubarb, which is one of my favorite flavors in the world. As it takes awhile for strawberries to come into season to hang out with the rhubarb, I always roll out my Rhubarb Frangipane as the first springtime flavor. The warmth of the toasted almonds, sweetness of vanilla, and bite of orange zest really enhance the rhubarb's natural tartness. I get soooo excited when I first see those pink stalks show up at the market! As for seasonality, I have some flavors that I offer year-round, but many that are season-specific and only available for a short window of time.

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Do you think you’ll have a storefront for First Prize Pies in the near future or do you prefer to have it available online with the delivery/pick up option?

I like the flexibility of things as they are now, but I would love to have my own shop one day. It's all a matter of finding the right space, and the financial backing to make it happen.

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Beyond Twitter, Facebook, and your website are there other social networking sites (like Tumblr or Food Blogger Network) where people can get more information or connect with First Prize Pies and where you may appear in regards to markets, food festivals, and such?

Twitter, Facebook, and firstprizepies.com are the best places to find out what I'm up to right now. I'm in the process of building a blog that will be available through my website, which I'm really excited about. I'm currently working on my first cookbook, and I plan to use the blog to track my progress, get my friends and customers involved in the recipe-testing process, and host some short instructional videos for home bakers. I can't wait!

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Thanks so much, Allison for agreeing to an interview, sharing your knowledge of pies, and providing great web-ready pics! I'll be preparing my credit card for the rhubarb frangipane as well as the First Prize Pies blog.