Time to Taste Pies

As I've been working on this min-pie project (with my friend Stephanie) for about two months now, it seemed like it was getting to be time to take our creations out for a spin.  So we sent out the evite to a friendly audience before we could change our minds.

We take our pie tasting very seriously.  There were surveys to be designed, the pie menu to be selected, etc.  Did we overthink it a little bit?  Of course. Boy was Saturday a long long day of pie making.  Pie is a time intensive business.  Mini-pies just amp that up by a factor of.. maybe 3x?  I didn't wake up on Sunday morning thinking "oh yeah pie tasting day".  I woke up thinking "must bake pies, must bake pie NOW".

We had good canine companions keeping us company along the way, even if there was a little subtle competition for dominance.

We made 6 different pies, 2 fruit (apple, blueberry), 2 savory (greek spinach, bbq chicken), 2 cream/custard (key lime, toffee).  3 different crust recipes made an appearance in this spread too.  And I'm pretty proud of the outcome.  Not perfect, but a darn good first tasting!

I had this idea that people would come after lunch, that the savory pies would go uneaten, and people would politely nibble a little dessert.  Stephanie thought I was wrong, and she was right.  People came ready to EAT some pie.  Many pies.  Pie for lunch, pie for dessert, and extra pie to taste "just to make sure you get feedback on everything".  It was great- wonderfully enthusiastic group who dutifully filled out their surveys for every flavor they tried. 

 
One friend even reversed herself from her initial comment of "Nice to meet you Stephanie.  I know Karen, so you must be the baker."  Seriously.  I myself will bounce back from it someday soon.

The real surprise of the day?  Spinach was the most highly rated flavor!