Tag: sources

This beautiful European pastry shop in downtown Hinsdale can create any custom cake you can dream up, and also offers everything from scrumptious breakfast items, to savory lunch options, and delectable desserts. Naturally, Toni Marie’s uses only the freshest ingredients. It’s a (totally) from-scratch shop that also creates phenomenal pies year round. The seasonal fruits tantalizing your taste buds this summer will be in Toni Marie’s fresh Peach, Three-Berry, and Strawberry Rhubarb pies. Although the mouth-watering Cherry Streusel pie is delicious all year round.Too hot not to cool down? Stop in for a refreshing Key Lime Pie! It’s available in a 10” pie or in 4” individual size. Have a peak through the looking glass yourself at Toni Marie’s Sweets!

In 1981, Sarabeth and Bill Levine opened a small bakery and jam shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Customers loved it, not only because the baked goods were incredible, but because they could watch the delicious jams being cooked in a kettle and then ladled into jars. The fabulous aroma permeating Amsterdam Avenue lured tons of customers into the tiny space, so Sarabeth put in some tables and started serving breakfast and lunch. Now there are Sarabeth’s restaurants all over town and (a very long subway stop away) in Key West, Florida.Penelope especially loves Sarabeth’s Peach-Apricot preserves for rolling up in triangles of leftover pastry dough to make Penelope Pieletts. Find out more about Sarabeth’s Kitchen at www.sarabethskitchen.com

If you were a young pie starting out in your first kitchen, wouldn’t it be fun to have an Oven Warming? Well, Penelope thought so, too. And it just so happened that her friends at King Arthur Flour had already thought of pretty much everything a proper pie could ever want. You may be a little short on gas money these days, but your pie can have it all:

1. Nonstick Rolling Mat: perfect for those of us who can’t seem to eyeball the right diameter!
2. Pie Crust Bag: keeps crust from sticking and the mess to a minimum
3. Pie Shield: prevents the edges of your crust from burning
4. Pie Dam: keeps a cut pie nice and neat in the tin
5. Pie Crust Lifter: helps get your pie crust into the pan in one piece
6. Rolling Pin Rings: helps roll your crust to the perfect thickness every time

Nestled in the rolling hills of Genesee, Wisconsin, where pheasant, quail and chukar roam free is the country kitchen home of Big Al and his original pheasant pot pie. Known as the “Wild Game Gourmet,” Big Al also creates meat and bison pot pies and, for the man among men: pheasant and bison chili, best eaten (and digested) in the open air.Al’s been making his outstanding pot pies and chili for more than a decade. Each one is frozen, sealed, and shipped in an insulated box that ensures freshness. So important with bison. All Big Al’s meats are fully inspected and approved for multi-state distribution through local game farms or game preserves. Or you can order them directly from Big Al at www.piesource.com (click on ‘Big Al’s’).And because accessorizing a pie is so important to its proper appreciation, Big Al offers a comprehensive line of hunting accessories, products, and unforgettable group programs.

Sometimes Penelope likes to blind bake a few pie crusts at a time. But what to use for pie weights? She was never really crazy about the dried kidney bean solution. Or rice. Some of the grains always get baked into the dough. Sure, there are lots of fancy pie weights around, but they can get expensive. Then one day she heard about pie chains. Instead of pouring rice, beans or weights onto the dough, you coil a pie chain on the bottom of your crust. A pie chain is super-efficient at holding the crust flat as it bakes, and also easier to grab and lift out when it’s done. Just remember to use an oven mitt. Look for extra-long chains that give you more coverage. They’re reasonably priced and, in a pinch, can be doubled (or tripled) and used as a necklace over a drop-waist dress to make a flapper concept completely baked.

Lisa Achatz from Atlanta tells Penelope, “My pies always seem to come out better when I wear an apron when I bake. Is this weird?”

Not at all. The right outfit is supposed to help you get the job done. You wouldn’t get on a horse wearing a tutu any more than you would attempt dancing the ballet Giselle in riding boots. Wearing an apron lets you easily dust your hands of flour without rendering your leggings unusable for work. Aprons help avoid constant reaches for a kitchen cloth, and can even improve your concentration by helping you to feel all pulled together at the waist by being tied with a bow (assuming you have any sense of style).Penelope’s favorite aprons are the Jesse Steele French Hostess apron, the Jesse Steele Mom And Me Heart Aprons, and the Rosebud Patterned apron. Find them at Sur La Table when you search ‘aprons,’ and look no further for a more stylish way to bake a better pie.

Not that Penelope Pies means to be a non-profit, it’s just that Penelope hasn’t figured out how to make any money yet. Her lack of income probably has something to do with not actually selling anything , but until she figures out how to do that, or runs into an old schoolmate who has a company like Ben & Jerry’s and is looking for something new to invest in, (like David Barash’s old school friend who started B&J’s, and who did invest), she was so impressed with David’s Vermont Mystic Pie Company and all their delicious fruit and savory pies, she wanted everyone to know about it.Not only does VMPC make fabulous pies, it does a ton of terrific work with progressive food businesses all over Vermont. It also has a pastry chef from King Arthur’s Flour (one of Penelope’s favorite resources) and has already set aside ten percent of the company for eventual ownership by a nonprofit organization.So if you like great pie with a side order of good karma, visit The Vermont Mystic Pie Company. The staff’s favorite recipes, like Laura’s Pear Cranberry Yogurt Pie, are posted there, too.