I've never been overly fond of fresh blackberries, but after reading that the baked fruit is wonderful, I decided to give this pie a whirl. I'm glad I did- it's delicious. The baked fruit does seem to have more flavor than fresh. The recipe states that frozen berries are of a type that have softer seeds, and that was true with my (frozen) fruit.

My fruit was tart (and the recipe adds lemon) so there wasn't enough sugar in the pie for us. We sprinkled some on afterwards, but next time I'll taste it before baking.

For the crust, I chose the sweet cream variation of the basic flaky (all-butter) crust. I liked this variation even better than basic flaky, very tender from the cream, and delicious as well. Not sure if it will displace my favorite cream cheese crust, but almost.

I made a lattice crust, partly because I didn't have the fluted oval cut-outs that make the sketches of the two-crust pie so appealing. But also because I wanted the practice. I think there is more evaporation with the lattice than with a vented two-crust pie, and after looking at other recipes, I would reduce the corn starch by 1 - 1.5 tsp if making this again.

So far, this is my favorite recipe in the book, it's a fabulous pie. Every year we freeze concord grapes so that we can make this pie several more times after the Fall grape season is over.

It's a very liquid-y/juicy pie, and for me sometimes bakes up a bit messy, so the picture is of this pie with all the components prepared separately and then assembled. The "top crust" was two grape leaves baked on a sheet pan and place on top of the pie just before serving.

The pie pairs very nicely with lemon, either lemon whipped cream or lemon ice cream.

Just sublime. Best tasting pie crust I've ever had- leaps and bounds ahead of all-butter crusts. There's an updated version on the author's blog that uses heavy cream instead of water for added tenderness, which is great if you're using all-purpose flour instead of lower protein pastry flour.

This tart is for the pastry cream lover, and that suits me perfectly. It's a layer of vanilla-rum pastry cream encased top, bottom and sides with an almond cookie crust. There's something pleasing about the way this is constructed, I find myself wondering how to make other pies into some version of this simple, elegant presentation.

The next time I make this I will pull back a bit on both the sugar and the rum in the pastry cream, to suit my own taste.

The recipe seemed complicated when I read through how to shape the dough between two pans, but it's simpler than it sounds and it went off without a hitch. I made the crust dough and the pastry cream a day ahead of rolling, assembling and baking the tart, and that seemed to be a good division of labor, not too much to do on either day.

This tart slices very neatly and thinly, it could easily serve 20 or more thin slices if other desserts were on offer.

Corrections
The author has published two adjustments for this recipe: first, to add a tablespoon of heavy cream to the yolk/vanilla mixture to make the dough hold together better; and second, to bake it at 325 instead of 350F.

For the tart in the photos, I re-rolled the scraps and cut them into leaves, baked them separately on a sheet pan, and attached them while still hot with a little egg white. I served it with a sour cherry conserve, but I think it would be even better with sweetened or brandied whole sour cherries, or fresh sweet (bing) cherries.

Made this Lemon Meringue Pie for houseguests last week, and they all declared it was the best they'd ever had. I have to say, I agree- the filling layer is deep (perfect recipe for a deep dish pie plate), lemony and just a bit creamy. It is not as intense as a lemon curd, but perfectly balanced with the crust and meringue. I used the flaky cream cheese crust, my favorite.

Use a Saucepan
After a few bakers had trouble with the filling not setting, Ms. Beranbaum posted a change to the recipe on her website: make the filling in a saucepan (instead of a double boiler) and be sure to bring it to a full boil. I did this and had no problems.

The other important point is to fully anchor the meringue onto the crust so it won't shrink. I made the Italian meringue and had no trouble with it, but it was harder to cut cleanly after a night in the fridge.

I think the meringue quantity in the recipe is probably just right- it seemed like it was high enough as I was piling it on, so I didn't use all that the recipe made. But after baking mine seemed a little short so I probably should have used it all after all.

Delicious, creamy and full of peaches. It took me several tries to get this one right- the key is to be sure to bake the peaches long enough that they have exuded all their juice before adding the custard mixture. If they are still firm, they haven't baked long enough. They should be almost fully baked. If you add the custard too soon, the tart will have a lot of extra juices that flow out when sliced.

I bake this pie to an internal temp of 160F to ensure that the custard is properly thickened.

Loved this pie! When I saw the quanities of salt and nutmeg, I had my doubts, but the flavor of this pie is sublime.

I made it a day ahead of serving and so used 75% of the gelatin/water as per the instructions in the beginning of the chiffon chapter. The texture was ethereal and light, just holding its shape for cutting.

I wanted a prettier presentation than I normally get with a crumb crust, so instead of the gingersnap crust I used the sweet nut cookie crust, using pecans for the nuts, brown sugar for the sugar, and adding a little ginger. It went well with the filling but wasn't as flavorful as a good gingersnap.

The whipped cream and pecans in the photo are from the back section of the book, I've linked to those reviews.

This is a wonderful and easy way to stabilize whipped cream with starch so it won't water out. It makes the cream suitable for piping or for storing up to a day ahead of serving (refrigerated).

It's easier to make than the super-stabilized whipped cream (made with gelatin) because the window of time to add the small, thickened portion of cream to the larger bowl is much longer- i.e., with the gelatin, you have to time it carefully (I set the timer), but with the starch, it is a more relaxed process.

The same quantities and method can also be used for cassava/tapioca starch, which will enable the stabilized cream to be frozen and thawed without watering out. Corn starch doesn't freeze well.

I've made this crust several times, mostly with almonds but once with pecans. It is my favorite pate sucree, the nuts add flavor and help keep it tender.

To ensure the crust doesn't crack, I like to use a whole egg in place of the yolk and cream, the book talks about this version of the crust in the "Understanding" section on p. 58.

I love the process and smooth results of rolling the dough (instead of pressing it into the pan). Unless my kithcen is quite cool, it often needs to be chilled part way through rolling to keep it from becoming too sticky.