ABOUT:
The secrets behind pie guru Dani Cone’s signature handmade, all-natural miniature pies are revealed for the first time inside Cutie Pies. Whether you’re grabbing a perfectly portable Flipside on the way to work, enjoying a Piejar as a tasty afternoon treat, or looking for a fun and impressive dinner party dessert, Cutie Pies provides the perfect morsels to satisfy sweet and savory cravings alike.
Having learned the secrets to great pie making from her grandma Molly, Dani Cone is now on a mission to spread pie love to everyone. Her signature pies have been praised by Bon Appétit, DailyCandy, Sunset magazine, Seattle Magazine, Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, the Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly, the Puget Sound Business Journal (where she was named in the Top 40 Under 40), cakespy.com, delish.com, and many others. She sells her pies at her High 5 Pie and Fuel Coffee
locations in Seattle, Washington.THE BOOK:
Here's an excerpt from Grandma Molly's Introduction:
"PIE IN THE SKY
I like pie. I like pie not only for dessert, but for breakfast and for a sometime-anytime
snack. My favorite is blackberry. My most favorite—wild blackberry. Although a hearty piece of pie filled with tart apples bathed in sugar and cinnamon topped with a slice of sharp cheddar or a generous slice of delicate wiggly lemon with high meringue are also among my first choices.
Making pie is not something I learned in my mother’s kitchen. My mother made genius sponge cakes, beautifully sticky pineapple upsidedown cakes, and wonderful butter cookies she had to hide from us kids on the top shelf of the pantry to keep any for company. But not pies.
I tasted my first pie, accompanied by my mother, in Rhodes Department Store in Tacoma, Washington, in the late 1920s. We sat on the mezzanine, looking down at the busy first-floor aisles of clerks and shoppers and merchandise, indulging in what seemed to me at the time to be the most sophisticated dish in the world—apple pie à la mode. To me, “à la mode” translated to “oh là là.” I was an easily impressed kid.
Today, even though I’m a fully grown-up mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, what still excites me is the heavenly taste of a great pie.
CHAPTER 1: THE PERFECT CRUST—Grandma Molly"
CHAPTER 2: CUTIE PIES
"These little pies baked in a standard size 12-cup muffin pan are perfect single-serving sweet or savory treats. To make a hit, pile these little guys high on a platter at your next brunch or for the potluck when it’s your turn for dessert! It really doesn’t get much cuter than these! You can make Cutie Pies with any of the four pie crust recipes offered in chapter 1. Cutie Pies can be topped with a crumb top, a flat top, or a lattice top, or I like to leave the tops off and play around with a garnish. Garnishes can be just about anything— a slice of sharp cheddar cheese on the Very Best Apple Cutie Pie, or ginger-infused fresh whipped cream on the Pear-Cranberry-Ginger Cutie Pie. Be creative!"
CHAPTER 3: PETIT 5's
"Petit-5s are even smaller pies baked in a minimuffin pan: Stack ’em high and watch ’em fly! Bite-sized yet full of goodness, the Petit-5 is perfect as a side at any sort of gathering, or make a small batch for a family dinner dessert. Like the Cutie Pies, the Petit-5 shape works well with any of the four crusts in this book."
CHAPTER 4: PIE JARS
"Piejars are one o f our most popular items at High 5 Pie. They are a generous single serving, and pretty much take the cake (can I say that in a pie cookbook?) when it comes to a unique-innovative-novelty-cuteness item. I love to give piejars as gifts, since they look great as is or wrapped up in clear cellophane and tied with ribbon and a gift tag. Minimason jars are a neat size to keep around after the pie is gone: Refill them with pies or use them for collecting spices, jewelry, or odds ’n’ ends."
CHAPTER 5: FLIPSIDES
CHAPTER 6: PIE POPS
