Shannon Kay

“is it okay if i freak out over another cookbook i haven’t actually used yet?? please?? so heidi asked me to look into this book at work a while back, and at first, i wasn’t thinking too much about it - i am more of a cooker than a baker - baking is so…precise, and i am more of a “throw it all together and see what happens” kind of girl. it is my inner kenny shopsin. baking is so unforgiving (as i learned over the holiday season, when i accidentally added an additional cup of sugar to my banana bread, making it into more of a “banana bread pudding” which tasted awesome, but was pretty sunken and overmoist.) but this book - it takes the cake! or the pie! there are both sweet and savory pies in here, but ARE YOU READY FOR THIS?? there is a peanut butter and jelly pie in here that is rocking my everloving world. for real. and i don’t even have to worry about fancy latticeworking the top because it has a whipped cream top!! and even though i am freaking out over the needing of pie-weights for the crust (PIE WEIGHTS?? FOR SERIOUS???) but even that isn’t enough to make me not want to make this pie with all my heart. it has both peanut butter and jelly - i don’t know if you caught that. in a pie! and the peanut butter is all whipped up with cream cheese, which is making me a little flushed just thinking about it. love this book. i have been curling up with it nightly, dreaming of a future in which i am a masterful baker, with pie weights and flour on my cheeks, and a whisk at the ready. and i am going to eat the entire pie myself, i tell you. and no one can stop me. look - here is a picture of the pbj pie: <img src=”http://bit.ly/ziGYuF; the one in the book is more camera-ready, but this proves that someone actually made this pie! it can be done! i am going to do it! oh - here is the one from the book - thanks, internet: <img src=”http://bit.ly/y2x7GA; mine is going to look more like the first one - or maybe messier. with too much sugar in it. there are other pies that look delightful: pear-cranberry-ginger pie, baked in a tiny glass jar, black raspberry, also in a piejar, double-blackberry pie-pops (PIE-POPS, I TELL YOU!! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE???) <img src=”http://bit.ly/Aw4AiI; i have to start baking - i HAVE TO! <img src=”http://bit.ly/zCSCMW; the world is full of tiny pies! okay- thank you for indulging me my freakout. i get like this over cookbooks sometimes. and there is a whole stack of ‘em over there, so be prepared for more, my friends… special thanks to heidi, without whom i never would have given this wonderful book a second glance…”