I have a confession – I was at the store yesterday and bought 3 sugar pumpkins. I am always anticipating making a bunch of pumpkin pies each year, but realized that’s my go to pie. I really need to expand! I admit, I also missed a cookbook from my previous post about my top 5 pie cookbooks of this year. I saw a recipe for “Raspberry Custard Crumble” and was pretty much sold on Janell Parsons’ You Wanna Piece of Me?: Pie Cookbook. (via Amazon; affiliate link)
I trust that the creator of the franchise “The Pie Hole” knows her pies. Not only that, but the narratives in this cookbook is quite entertaining. I wouldn’t expect anything less! It feels like you’re baking with a down to earth friend. To put it bluntly, Janell is hilarious throughout the book. Now baking pies is exceptionally fun.
Her recipes are fairly simple, but quirky. Such as pie poutine with pie fries (dessert) or bacon cheeseburger pie. Not only are the recipes unique and fun, but it includes vegan and gluten free crust instructions! Even if she’s a bit of a goof, she does take her pies seriously and wants us to enjoy them as much as she does. Honestly, I’m already starting to think of recipes of my own just by looking through You Wanna Piece of Me? (via Amazon; affiliate link) As you can tell, if you are trying to be good this year and diet, this might not be the pie cookbook for you.
All of the pies are photographed beautifully! The pictures are bright and big – I’m getting hungry just looking at them. One thing I noticed about her photos versus others is everything isn’t over the top. The centerpiece is the pie, rather than the pie being drowned in all the decorations surrounding it. I can envision the pie on my own table, with my own utensils, etc. It’s elegant and rustic simultaneously.
There are more than 100 pie recipes in Janell’s cookbook. They range from breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert pies. Now we can all expand our pie knowledge and have it for every meal (which might be too much). She happily shares tips and tricks that she has learned over her years of baking pies. Again, how she writes is really enjoyable and easy.
Janell is right, pies are great for all times of the day. Most of all during potlucks or big gatherings. It’s incredibly easy to throw a beautiful pie together and package it. For now, we can at least practice and get the technique down by the time we all can have large get togethers again! Make sure to pick up You Wanna Piece of Me?: More than 100 Seriously Tasty Recipes for Sweet and Savory Pies (via Amazon; affiliate link) before the holidays and stuff your pie hole!
~Kaiti
