On a recent trip to Brooklyn, pie artist and Instagram sensation Helen Nugent spotted something inspiring. It wasn’t a whimsically-shaped cronut or trendy new pizza she saw in a restaurant window, but the mesmerizing designs of the sidewalk sewer grates.
“They had this beautiful Art Deco quality to them and I thought, ‘That would make a great pie,'” says Nugent, founder of Pie-Eyed Girl and the popular Instagram @batterednbaked. “Inspiration can come from almost anywhere.”
Gardens. Forests. Mosaic tiles and wrought-iron fences. Self-taught bakers-turned-pie-designers like Nugent and Seattle’s Lauren Ko swear they are not theoretical mathematicians or even artistically-inclined. They just know how to translate their surroundings into stunning pie crusts that have become the envy of home bakers and professionals alike.
And now, they’re spilling their design tips, tricks and recipes in new cookbooks released just in time for the holidays. Whether you want colorful crusts or sweet or savory fillings, the recipes and techniques are made for mixing and matching — and making them your own, the authors say.
In “Pie Style: Stunning Designs and Flavorful Fillings You Can Make at Home” (Page Street; $22), Nugent provides 40-plus tempting recipes, from the deceptively-simple Rattan Chocolate Pecan Tart to the elaborate Thanksgiving Turkey Pumpkin Pie. The Food Network collaborator hopes her book will motivate more people to get their hands in pie dough and use pie crusts as canvases.
“Everybody wants to make a pretty pie, but they get intimidated by the process,” says Nugent, of Toronto. “They feel pie dough is beyond them. Maybe they over-mixed once and never tried again. Or the recipes are not detailed enough and ingredients are unattainable so it puts people off.”
With “Pie Style,” Nugent set out to change that. For starters, she gives bakers permission to use food processors instead of working the dough with their hands. She shares tips for success (chill, chill, chill) as well as common fails and fixes. Decorations flattened? Next time, prop them up with small balls of dough. Uneven browning? Egg wash in layers for a perfect, golden shine.
And those 3D designs? They’re made with affordable tools you likely already have: A chef’s knife and cookie cutters; a $6-impression mat if you want to get really fancy. Simple techniques, like using negative space, altering the placement of your pecans in that gorgeous tart, or making a stencil — Nugent will demo the bird stencil and the other steps of her Thanksgiving Turkey Pumpkin Pie Nov. 8 on Instagram Live — prove that stunning pie art doesn’t take high-level skill, just time, patience and a little creativity.
“It can be kind of meditative,” she says. “Put on a podcast and create what makes you happy.”
Ko, the self-taught Seattle baker famous for her Lokokitchen geometric pie art, knew when she made her first pie in 2016 that pretty leaf cutouts and other rustic designs weren’t for her. Despite failing calculus and crying over geometry, Ko found her bliss in the tangram, a Chinese dissection puzzle made up of geometric shapes arranged in varying combinations to form other shapes.
“Designs made with basic shapes and straight angles were much more accessible for me,” says Ko, a former nonprofit executive assistant who turned to pie between jobs. “And I’ve always loved art and color.”
It shows. At first glance, her new cookbook, “Pieometry: Modern Tart Art and Pie Design for the Eye and the Palate” (William Morrow; $32.50), is like a modern art coffee table book. But within Ko’s pun-driven writing, thoughtful instructions and 50-plus recipes, you’ll see there’s something for all skill levels. Truth or Square is mint chip ice cream in a basic Oreo crust, but the Andes mints are placed in alternating directions, like mosaic tiles or ceiling medallions.
Her Happy as a Gram, a tangy cranberry curd nestled in a speculoos crust, is decorated with triangles and trapezoids cut from kiwi, dragonfruit and mango for outrageous color and dimension. Tiles, cables, weaves and other patterns add to the striking look of Ko’s pies. Unique flavors — hello, Curls of Wisdom, a miso white carrot pie with a black sesame crust — add to the allure.
“I have the great gift of growing up in a family of phenomenal eaters,” says Ko, who finds recipe inspiration in her Chinese-Honduran roots and adventurous palate. That said, she believes in using what you have on hand and keeping your tool kit simple and affordable.
“Dragon fruit and passion fruit are my splurges and I make them stretch,” she says. “But you can start by punching out any fruit with different sized circle cutters or use a knife to make some triangles and lay them on your pie.”
It’s definitely her favorite part of the pie process. So much so that she won’t fault you if you want to buy a few pies at the store and practice your design skills. Tackling pie dough can come later.
“The main reason I got into this was the art and finding a way to express myself,” she says. “I find making pie dough really tedious and boring.”
The Link LonkNovember 02, 2020 at 09:50PM
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Instagram pie art: Tips, tricks and Thanksgiving recipes from social media’s best pie artists - The Mercury News
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