Question of the Day: How many celebrate a BIRTHDAY with a PIE instead of a CAKE?

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diannecerkvenik64

Well-known member
My son Joe loves, LOVES, pumpkin pie and since he was little he has always preferred a pumpkin pie with a candle instead of a cake ~ and... since I prefer lemon meringue pie over any other dessert ~ I took a cue from Joe and now I celebrate my birthday(s)with a lemon meringue pie.

Does anyone else do this ~ I had this discussion with a group of friends and they said they never heard of this and think its not a birthday celebration without a cake. I said why not if you prefer pie over cake then it should be the BIRTHDAY BOY/GIRLS choice.

What do you think????? Curious to know smileys/smile.gifsmileys/smile.gif

 
I only truly like a few cakes so growing up my mom usually made me pie, cookies

or cheesecake and even now when we do my birthday at work we get cheesecake.

 
I always wanted pie as my birthday cake,used to drive my Mother crazy(yes, I HAVE to be different smileys/wink.gif

 
Ooh - I love that stuff! Which recipe do you use? I use the Cook's Illustrated one with some tweaks.

 
I'll have to check out CI's... our recipe is most authentic - none of that canned milk stuff.

It's like a lemon meringue only with lime.

Key Lime Pie
McCalls Magazine, Jan 1992

1-1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (original recipe... I use a regular pastry crust)
1/4 cup butter, melted

1-1/4 cups + 6 tbl. sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup Key lime juice (no substitutes - I use Nellie's)
1 tsp. grated lime zest
3 large eggs, separated
1-1/2 cups boiling water

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg. In bowl, combine crumbs and butter. Mix well and press over bottom and sides of 9” pie plate - using the bottom of a glass helps. Bake 8 minutes and cool. (you can always used a regular baked pie crust).
2. Make filling: In saucepan, combine the 1-1/4 cups sugar, cornstarch, lime juice and zest; mix well. Whisk in egg yolks. Gradually stir in the boiling water until blended. Over med-hi heat, bring to boiling, whisking; cook and whisk for 4 minutes until thick. Pour into bowl and carefully stand this bowl into a larger one filled with ice and water to cool the mixture. Pour filling into crust.
3. Raise oven temperature to 425 deg. In electric mixer bowl, at high speed, beat egg whites, adding remaining sugar mixed with 1 tsp. cornstarch, slowly until stiff peaks form; spread over filling to cover completely. Bake 4 min. or until golden.
Chill at least 8 hours before serving. (never sits that long in MY house *g*)

NOTE: I don’t use the meringue topping -- I use real whipped cream, whipped with 1 tbl. powdered sugar.

 
Cyn, do you already have the recipe? The tweaks I make are minor, ie, I use

a little less zest, 1 Tbsp instead of 4 tsp, and a little less juice, ie, 1/2 cup juice strained instead of 1/2 cup strained juice. And I use regular limes, which the recipe recommends. In addition, I use my own graham cracker crust, which has a little less melted butter and doesn't use sugar - I bake it at 350 F for 8-10 minutes instead of their 325 F for 15 - 17 minutes.

 
I have the key lime juice and she sometimes also sends limes.

I don't have the recipe- just use a standard one and add extra zest.

 
I baked cakes for my husband for YEARS until he finally told me he really likes pie better!

Now I usually do a mixed berry pie--strawberries and blueberries with a mix of cream cheese and whipped cream in a graham cracker crust. His birthday is in July so it's a perfect summer dessert.

 
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