PieBox

Lemon, Blueberries & Kefir - A Delicious Spring Pie

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:35:17 -0400

Need a little mix up in your everyday baking? Try working with Kefir. We’ve spent some time making pie with Lifeway Kefir and it’s easy to work with, adds a nice health benefit AND produces fantastic flavor.

Not familiar with Kefir? No problem. It’s a creamy, probiotic dairy beverage similar to, but very distinct from yogurt. Lifeway Kefir is cultured for 14-16 hours, which gives it a high probiotic count (12 live and active strands) and amazing taste. It’s a nice substitute for buttermilk or heavy cream in baked custard pies.

Here is an amazing pie made with Kefir, but also check out Lifeway Kefir for more great pie recipes and ideas.

Lemon Kefir Blueberry Pie
Makes one 9-inch deep dish pie.

Ingredients

Pie Dough

1 ½ cups all purpose flour
4oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
4 tablespoons ice cold water

Lemon Filling

4oz (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup Lifeway Organic Whole Milk Kefir
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs

Blueberry Compote Topping

4 cups fresh blueberries, divided
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon honey

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350° F

Pie Crust
Combine flour and butter in a food processor. Pulse 7 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the cold water, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition. If dough seems too dry, add additional cold water by the tablespoon. Remove pie dough from food processor and mold into a circular disk. Cover and let refrigerate for at least 25 minutes.

Roll out dough on a floured surface and transfer to 9-inch pie pan. Trim any crust overhang, fold under and crimp the edges. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Place a large piece of aluminum foil on top of dough and fill with dry beans or use pie weights. Par-bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove the aluminum foil and beans or pie weights. Add the lemon filling (prepared in next step).

Lemon Filling
While the crust is par-baking, prepare the filling.

In a large saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk the butter, sugar and lemon zest until the butter is fully melted. Add the flour and continuing whisking until incorporated. Remove from heat and whisk in the lemon juice, Kefir, vanilla extract and eggs. Continue whisking the mixture until all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour the lemon filling into the bottom of the par-baked pie shell and return to the oven. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until filling has set. Remove from oven and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Add the blueberry compote, (prepared in next step) and return to refrigerator for 3 more hours before serving.

Blueberry Compote
While the pie is baking, prepare the compote.

Combine 3 cups blueberries, water, sugar and honey in a medium sauce pan. Stir coat the blueberries, then cook over medium-high heat for 10 -12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and stir in the remaining 1 cup of blueberries. Set aside until ready to top on the lemon pie.

Chocolate French Silk Pie From River Wildlife in Kohler, WI....

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:42:46 -0400

Chocolate French Silk Pie From River Wildlife in Kohler, WI. It’s outstanding..maybe even the best we’ve had..

Happy Pie Day!

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:16:43 -0500

Warm up with one of these super amazing savory pies, compliments of our good friend Chef Lindsey Shelton. Happy Pie Day!

Pie Day Celebration Recipe: Sweet Potato Pie

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:39:05 -0500

We can thank our friends in the south for the popularity of this delicious sweet vegetable custard. Sweet potato pie has actually been around since the colonial days and the general recipe hasn’t changed much since. It’s a great winter option when other fruits are not in-season. We’ve masted an amazing sweet potato recipe that’s worth the time and the calories.

Sweet Potato Pie

This recipe is for a 9-inch deep-dish pie. If using a smaller pie pan, you may have some filling left over.

Ingredients

Pie Dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon Rosemary Sea Salt
4 tablespoons ice cold water

Sweet Potato Pie Filling

3 sweet potatoes (about one pound)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon rosemary
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves + a pinch of ginger
2 eggs
1 tablespoon corn syrup
1/2 cup milk

Instructions

Pie Dough

Remove pie dough from food processor and mold into a circular disk. Cover and let refrigerate for at least 25 minutes.

Filling

Peel three large sweet potatoes and cut into small cubes. Place sweet potatoes in a medium sized stock pan and cover with water. Boil over medium heat for 20-25 min or until sweet potatoes become tender. Remove from heat, drain, and place in a food processor with butter. Process for 1-2 min, or until sweet potatoes are fully pureed.

Transfer sweet potato puree to a mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Add sugars, flour, sea salt and spices. Whip on medium speed for 1-2 min. Add the eggs one at a time and continue whipping on second speed for 1 minute. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides. Turn the mixer to low speed and add the corn syrup and milk. Mix for 1 minute, to ensure all the ingredients have combined. Allow filling to sit at room temperature for 15 min before baking.

Assembly & Baking

Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough on a floured surface and transfer to 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Trim any crust overhang, fold under and crimp the edges. Pour the sweet potato pie filling into the dough-lined pan. Bake on lower over rack for 50-55 minutes or until filling sets. Allow pie to cool completely for at least 2 hours before serving.

Pie it Forward

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 11:50:00 -0500

There is a very exciting thing happening in Memphis: The Mem-Pie project.

A Memphis local is “pie-ing it forward”. He made eight pies, put them each in a PieBox and gave them to eight different friends over the holidays. But this much loved gift came with very specific instructions:

Enjoy the delicious homemade pie
Make a new pie
Put it in the PieBox
Write your name and date on the box lid
Give it to a new friend with the same instructions

The recipients were thrilled and eager to continue the gesture. If you receive one of these PieBoxes, you will know immediately. Not only is there are list of who has had the PieBox, there are fun little sayings written all over.

Thank you Memphis for starting this fun initative And if you do receive one, we want to know… send a picture or a story. We would love to see where each end up.

Judging Pie

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:12:00 -0500

Judging a pie contest is literally a sweet job, but requires some serious decision making skills too! We were honored to be asked to judge the first annual South Side Pie Challenge earlier this month. It was an amazing event at William H. Ray Elementary School in Hyde Park. What was even better is that all proceeds from the event were donated to the Hyde Park & Kenwood Hunger Programs.

Thankfully, judging the nut catagory was not something to be done alone! Chicago Chef Cliff Rome and I took on the feat together. After tasting 20+ nut based pies we had to pick a winner. In the end it was an outstanding pecan pie titled “Eat this Pie” that brought home the blue ribbon. Kudos to the baker, Paige Reilly - her pie was so prefectly done we could have eaten the entire thing!

The competition was so intense in the cream pie category that I had to break a tie!

So many taleted bakers making crazy-delicious pies made for a fun day supporting a great cause. It was so hard to choose… But the good news is that the South Side Pie Challenge is putting together a e-cookbook that features all the winning recipes from the event. We will be sure share it as soon as it’s out.

Super Amazing (and Salty) Pies

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:17:00 -0400

We recently teamed up with our good friends at Beautiful Briny Sea to sell PieBox + Sea Salt combos on Fab.com. Sadly the sale is over, but these sweet and savory PieBoxes will for sale at Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market in Chicago this December.

This nice little co-op was a fantastic reason to create some super amazing pies using super amazing sea salts. Lucky for you, we will be sharing them all. If you don’t have Beautiful Briny Sea Salts, don’t fret.. you can substitue for regular sea salt, they will just be kind of (but still mostly) super amazing.

First up, Peach Pie with Honey Sea Salt Pecan Crumble.

Peach Pie with Honey Sea Salt Pecan Crumble

Ingredients

Pie Dough

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon Friends Forever Sea Salt
4 tablespoons ice cold water

Peach Pie Filling

5 peaches, pitted and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon orange zest

Crumble

3/4 cup old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 teaspoon Friends Forever sea salt
4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

Instructions

Pie Dough

Combine flour, sea salt and butter in a food processor. Pulse 7 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the cold water, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition. If dough seems too dry, add additional cold water by the tablespoon. Remove pie dough from food processor and mold into a circular disk. Cover and let refrigerate for at least 25 minutes.

Filling

Mix peaches, sugars, flour, honey and orange zest in a bowl. Turn the mixture with a spoon several times to ensure the peaches fully are coated.

Crumble

Stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, pecans and sea salt in large bowl. Add butter and rub into the mix with your fingertips (just like you would with pie dough!), pressing the mixture together until clumps form.

Baking & Assembly

Preheat oven to 400°F. Roll out dough on a floured surface and transfer to 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Trim any crust overhang, fold under and crimp the edges. Spoon the peach pie filling into the dough-lined pan. Sprinkle crumble on top, fully covering the peaches. Bake pie for 55-60 minutes or until filling is bubbling and topping is brown and crisp. Check pie after 25 minutes and cover the edges with foil if the crust or crumble seems to be browning too quickly. Allow pie to cool for at least 30 min before serving.

Good times at the Renegade Craft Fair Chicago

Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:08:57 -0400

PieBox was so excited to be a part of the Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago this year. We had a great time, and met so many awesomely creative and talented people. It was an amazing day, filled with insanely beautiful weather and lots of PieBox fans. We loved meeting you all!

Big thanks to everyone who came out… Hopefully if you stopped by the PieBox booth, you also meet our super cool boothmates… Beautiful Briny Sea. BEST SEA SALTS EVER!

For those of you who didn’t make it out this year, check out PieBox on Apartment Therapy, where we were featured as one of the favorite products at Renegade.

PieBox on Design Sponge! It was truly an honor to be in Kristina...

Sun, 19 Aug 2012 20:54:52 -0400

PieBox on Design Sponge!

It was truly an honor to be in Kristina Gill’s In The Kitchen With column on Design Sponge last Friday. If you haven’t seen the article, check it out by clicking the image.

The article includes a recipe for Adrienne’s Blackberry Balsamic Pie with Sea Salt Walnut Crumble… easy to make and tastes delicious!

Pie in the park… PieBox makes it possible. We love going...

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 10:39:00 -0400

Pie in the park… PieBox makes it possible.

We love going to the farmers market, buying what’s in season, then baking a pie to take somewhere. Right now, blueberries are in season and plentiful at our local farmers market. So last week, we loaded up on blueberries, made an insanely delicious pie, then packed a picnic and headed for the park.

Using fruit that’s in season and sold close by, will add flavor that you can’t get anywhere else. Fruit seasonality is really dependent on where you live but here’s what you can typically expect in the Midwest:

Apples: July - October
Blackberries: July into August
Blueberries: July into August
Cantaloupes: August and September
Cherries: June and July
Grapes: August and September
Peaches: July and August
Pears: August - October
Plums: July and August
Pumpkins: September through October
Raspberries: June into August
Rhubarb: April through June
Strawberries: June and July
Watermelons: August through September

Try this making this blueberry pie, then taking it somewhere…

Blueberry Pie

Ingredients:

Pie dough to prepare two pie shells (see our previous post on 3-2-1 dough)
½ cup sugar
1/4 cups brown sugar
2.5 tablespoons quick cook tapioca
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons almond extract
4 cups fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Mix all the above ingredients into a large bowl. Line the pie dish with one pie crust, then pour in the blueberry mixture. Roll and cut the remaining pastry into wide strips, and make lattice top. Crimp and flute edges, then bake the pie for about 45 minutes, or until bubbling and crust is golden brown. Cool for at least 30 min. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Make it, then take it: 3…2…1 Pie Dough Now that you...

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 18:29:00 -0400

Make it, then take it: 3…2…1 Pie Dough

Now that you have a PieBox™ you’ll need to make a pie to take somewhere!

The underdog in pie is the buttery, flaky crust. People often fear pie dough, which is understandable, it can be tricky. We are here to change that. Now, this isn’t great Aunt Millie’s secret pie dough recipe, but it is a basic formulation - and the one that we use at PieBox all of the time.

3 oz of flour (3/4 cup)

2 oz butter (1/2 stick)

1 oz of water ( 2 tablespoons)

Yes, it is that simple - remembering the numbers 3, 2, 1. This formula is enough for one pie shell. If you want to add a lattice or top shell, guess what… you just double it to 6, 4, 2. We always recommend making a little extra dough, just incase..

Pie dough can be made the good old-fashioned way, by hand. But it can be also made using a food processor. Either way, the butter needs to be cut in to small chucks and cold. The water needs to be cold too.

If making dough by hand, combine the butter with the flour and use your fingers to press it into the flour. You can also use a pastry blender. When the flour looks mealy, add the water and stir with a wooden spoon, until a ball is formed. Press down into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 25 min.

If using a food processor, add the flour, then drop in the butter and pulse for about 20 seconds. Add the cold water, say some magic words and presto-chango, you have pie dough. Take it out of the food processor, press it into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 25 min.

When it’s time to make that delicious pie, just roll out the dough onto a floured table and transfer into a pie pan.

See, not so scary afterall. Questions? Just ask, we promise we’ll answer: info@piebox.com

ALB - PieBox Pastry Chef

Today is an exciting day… PieBox™ is alive and well, which...

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 18:07:00 -0400

Today is an exciting day… PieBox™ is alive and well, which means that picnics and BBQs across America are about to get better. Why? Because now you can safely and stylishly bring pie.

Get one on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/piebox (or just click the photo)

Welcome to PieBox. PieBox™ is a reusable raw pine box designed...

Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:34:00 -0400

Welcome to PieBox.

PieBox™ is a reusable raw pine box designed to safely transport pie. Whether you’re driving, biking, taking the bus or even just walking, PieBox will keep your pie safe and intact wherever you go.

Every PieBox is handcrafted in Chicago and made from chemical-free, raw pine.