Mmmmmmm...Pie!

[Mutagen]

I generally don't like anything on my pie. I like the pure unadorned pie experience, warmed/heated if appropriate to the type of pie. I've occasionally done the apple-pie-and-cheddar thing (hi NJ roots) but I'm just as well without the cheese.  

[kateln]

I love this book on pie making if anyone is interested.

So I have a confession here. I make an amazing apple pie...but I hate apple pie. No seriously, can't stand the stuff. I learned to bake it because my dad loves it, but honestly, I like apples raw with a bit of peanut butter.

That said, I do make (and enjoy) a kickass pecan pie.

[discoprincess]

I never heard of raisin pie.

I never heard of pie with cheese either.

Ice cream with pie can be good. I never really liked whipped cream or Cool Whip (and I won't have it on a Frappuccino either).

[chonies]

Sandra Bullock's sister's book! I've read one of her other books and loved it.

ETA: I can take Cool whip if it's on a midcentury-type dessert contrivance, but otherwise, no hu-way.

[LAX]

Our of curiosity I once made a mock apple pie on the back of the Ritz Cracker box. It was a whole lotta Why God, Why? Why make a fake apple pie from crackers when the real things are readily available and so much better. I should look into the history of that pie. Maybe it was invented by bakers suffering from a shortage of fresh produce or something?

BTW, my go-to places for pies are Nick Malgieri's How to Bake, and Cook's Illustrated. Best advice I ever got from Cook's was to include cold vodka with the pastry liquid. I don't remember the science behind it but it does make the crust just that much flakier.
ETA: Here's the Cook's Illustrated vodka recipe. I've also used rum when I was out of vodka and it worked just as well.

[chonies]

Re: Cheddar and apple pie. I just called my Bergen County, NJ mom and she said she never had it, and she doesn't remember seeing it in restaurants or at diners, and it wasn't a thing. I went to college in NJ and don't remember it. She seemed to be baffled by but vaguely familiar with the concept, sort of like people unaccustomed to tamales. Must investimagate further...

The pineapple chess pie turned out okay, but will probably taste better tomorrow after it's been chilled. I combined two recipes and used eggs, sugar, crushed pineapple with juice, lemon juice, cornmeal and flour. Oh, and a stick of butter. !!! I think it had too much butter, honestly, or at least it did when it was served warm because it was greasy. The flavor was pretty good, and the custard was sexy. I might experiment further, but it was definitely a make-again. It was rich and creamy but it also had a fun, retro kind of feel.

[jmart]

Re: Cheddar and apple pie - My grandmother loved this. I tried it once and it weirded me out.

My friend's grandmother from Western Canada used to make us Flapper Pie. I still can't get mine to taste like hers. We suspect recipe tampering so hers would always be remembered as being better (we actually caught her doing this with her chili sauce and called her on it, ha ha).

[biondetta]

My dad is southern and my mother is Scottish (and they live in the south), but they sometimes have cheese with their apple pie.

My great-grandmother had pecan trees in her yard and I remember picking them so that she'd then make pecan pie. Every Thanksgiving, I have to have pecan pie.

[chonies]

If I proposed a road trip to investigate the apple pie + cheddar cheese thing, I would have it crowdfunded and then make a documentary. My Massachusetts-raised coworker has an adult-onset dairy concern and looked mournful when I asked him about it this morning. He spoke wistfully, and he identified it as Mass, NH and Vermont, and probably Connecticut "but definitely not Rhode Island." Jane and Michael Stern had an article about a colonial inn that baked the cheese into the pie in CT, too.

I don't know why I'm obsessed with this. I clearly need a new hobby.

Oh! Pie update: refrigerating the pineapple chess gave it a nice texture but it's still not pineapply enough.

ETA: I just asked my very southern (but not sheltered) coworker about cheddar cheese and apple pie, and he looked at me as like this: D: He'd never seen it, never heard of it, and was horrified by the idea.

[hamhock]

I am a big fan of NY cheesecake...dry, crumbly, tall...and anything else, no-bake, cheesecake-flavored has always been sacrilege!
BUT my SO loves him some no-bake cheesecake. In compromise, I found a good no-bake cheesecake from scratch on allrecipes.com. I don't understand the Jello No-Bake cheesecake mix...you have to mix the filling with milk and make your own crust anyway. The recipe on allrecipes calls for whipping cream and cream cheese, vanilla, confectioner's sugar. It's just as easy to mix that and it's not full of weird things.
I spent way to much time thinking about this.

ETA: We are waaay harmonious in our love of key lime pie and pecan pie!