My great-great-grandmother on my mother's side was named Princess Teske. And she had a story to match the name. She was kicked out of her Amish community when she voluntarily left to marry a nice Catholic boy. It was her blood that sang in my veins the first time I drove through the mountains of Pennsylvania Dutch country on the early morning leg of a college road trip, the mist in the valleys below pink with the rising sun. It felt like home, and I knew I would return. A few years after that, I did move to nearby Maryland.
Read MoreApple Sour Cream Pie
The first pie I mastered was Door County Cherry Pie. This was the pie we had at every holiday while I was growing up and is still my favorite. When I moved to Maryland, those tart little Door County cherries were no longer available to me, and I had to relearn cherry pie with the larger, sweeter bing cherries that are so readily available out here. While I struggled with the unfamiliarity of these cherries and tried to get some of that tart cherry flavor I grew up with into my pies, I eventually began looking to other fruits. And, in my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook, I found what would become the signature pie of my early days as a wife - Apple Sour Cream pie. I made this pie so many times it became My Pie. And, even though I haven't made it in years, I still think of it that way.
Read MoreShooting Star Pie
It's officially barbecue season, and nothing tops off an afternoon of grilled meat quite like a home made pie. I've been working on my pie decorating skills, using cookie cutters to cut shapes into the top crust of my pies. For Memorial Day, I tried something different.
Read MoreHoliday Baking: Old School Pumpkin Pie
I've never made a pumpkin pie. This is primarily because I've never had a pumpkin pie that I like as much as a good fruit pie. So, for the holidays, my counterpart gets what was traditional for my family growing up in close proximity to Wisconsin's cherry orchards - a nice tart cherry pie. Even on Thanksgiving.
Read MoreHoliday Baking: Mary Cherry Christmas Pie
When my counterpart and I started discussing Christmas dinner a few weeks back, I knew I wanted a cherry pie. I grew up in Northeast Wisconsin, and we spent our Christmases with my grandparents and cousins in Sturgeon Bay on the Door Peninsula, where orchards of tart cherries littered the landscape from Brussels bordering Kewaunee County in the south up to Gills Rock on the northern tip of the mainland where a ferry could take you to the islands on the very northern tip between Upper and Lower Michigan. Every Christmas, every holiday, ended with a tart cherry pie.
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