The food blogosphere came together this week to support our own Jennifer Perillo of In Jennie’s Kitchen and her young daughters, when the shocking news of her husband’s sudden passing hit us all like a slap in the face. And we did it in the best way we know how – with food. With peanut butter pies, to be exact.

You know, I don’t know how to speak about this kind of loss – the one-minute-he’s-here-and-the-next-minute-he’s-gone kind of loss. In my life, I’ve known several and it’s never any easier, because it never makes any sense. I’ve always said that there’s not much I believe in, but I believe that everything happens for a reason, and I believe in ultimate justice. You may not see it immediately – it may take weeks, months, or even years – but you will see it. Right now, I can’t fathom any rhyme nor reason, and those words seem hollow to me.

All I can say is, I’m so sorry for your loss, Jennie. All I can do is give you a virtual hug, and hope that you can read everything I feel for you in that seemingly lame gesture.

In response to the outpouring of love and questions of “What can we do for you?” from food bloggers all over the world, Jennie wrote, “For those asking what they can do to help my healing process, make a peanut butter pie this Friday and share it with someone you love. Then hug them like there’s no tomorrow because today is the only guarantee we can count on.”

Chances are, if you Google “peanut butter pie” from here on out, you’ll have literally hundreds of choices and just as many more eloquent tributes than this one.

Peanut Butter Cup Pie

(makes about 12 mini-pies)

Ingredients:

8 oz. cream cheese (room temperature)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup cream (light or heavy)- divided

pinch of salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 large egg (room temperature)

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

2 Tbs. unsalted butter

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 300º F.

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese with an electric mixer until it’s smooth and fluffy. Add the brown sugar, then the peanut butter, 1/4 cup of the cream, salt, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl well after each addition. Last, add the egg and beat until the entire mixture is smooth. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of cream, and stir until the chocolate is smooth and glossy.

Prepare a muffin pan by lining it with foil or silicone cupcake liners. If using foil liners, give each one a small shot of cooking spray.

Using a dessert spoon, place a heaping spoonful of the chocolate mixture into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Now, spoon the pie batter over the chocolate, filling each cup about 2/3 full.

Bake for 15 – 18 minutes. The batter should still jiggle just a bit when the pan is shaken. Allow the pan and pies to cool completely on a wire rack, then refrigerate for at least several hours.

When cold and firm, flip each pie over onto individual plates and unmold to serve. Allow to warm for about 10 minutes, to get a really soft creamy texture.

Too many for one sitting? After chilling, leave them in the liners, pop into a freezer storage bag, and put them in the freezer. You can thaw just the amount you need in the future!

**************

I couldn’t make my peanut butter pies for Mikey and Jennifer Perillo on Friday, because my own Mikey was having oral surgery. In deference to his sore mouth, I skipped the crust and my beloved chunky peanut butter, and resisted the temptation to garnish with chopped peanuts. I promise you – the hugs were no less fierce.

Happy Pie Day! All across the internet and all over the world, bakers of every stripe and every level of proficiency decided to bake pies and illustrate the origins of the expression, “It’s as easy as Pie.” It’s a Pie Party, y’all!

I decided early on to bake a traditional Key Lime Pie for the 4th of July. Key Lime is, after all, the State Pie of Florida. (I will say that my addition of the mango was purely an act of whimsy on my part. Because I have them. And their light sweetness works as a tasty counterpoint to the sweet/tart Key Lime filling.) Who is Boswell, you ask? More about him, later.

So then, what is “traditional”? Let’s have a bit of history:

No one really knows who created the Key Lime Pie. What is not in dispute, however, is that it was created in Key West, Florida and that it’s linked to the appearance of sweetened condensed milk back in the late 1860′s, as Key West was pretty much out of the fresh milk distribution loop and had limited, if any, refrigeration.

As to the ubiquitous graham cracker crust: “Some sources assert [Sylvester] Graham himself invented the snack in 1829; others claim the graham cracker did not come into being until 1882, 31 years after Graham’s death. (The latter date appears to be based on the year recipes for graham crackers started appearing in cookbooks. Many bakers tried to market the crackers, but it wasn’t until 1898 that the National Biscuit Company (now Nabisco) made any real inroads into the market with their Nabisco Graham Crackers product. Nabisco achieved even greater success with their Honey Maid line, introduced in 1925, which boosted the original graham flavor through the addition of honey. (Snopes.com: Last updated: 20 May 2011 Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2011 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.)

With supply lines at the time being what they were, and seeing as the first published recipe for the pie didn’t appear until the 1930′s, I don’t believe that the graham cracker made it’s appearance as the crust for Key Lime pie until the late 1920′s, at the earliest. In my opinion, the original crust medium was more likely the soda cracker, an unsalted version of the saltine.

The filled pie can be either unbaked and just refrigerated, as the acid from the Key Lime juice “cooks” the egg yolks (much as the citrus juice in ceviche “cooks” the fish). If you’re a little iffy about such things or have a compromised immune system, you may use pasteurized eggs (such as Davidson’s Safest Choice which are pasteurized in the shell, and an excellent product), or you may bake the pie briefly, as I’ve done here.

Let’s get this straight, once and for all:

1) Real Key Lime Pie filling contains only three things: egg yolks, sweetened condensed milk, and Key Lime juice. Nothing more. You want to fold in whipped cream? Awesome. But that makes it a chiffon pie. Or a mousse pie.

2) Only Key Lime juice is used for Key Lime Pie. Not regular Persian limes. Not bottled regular lime juice. Key Lime juice. Otherwise, it’s a Lime Pie and not Key Lime Pie. There is no substitute.

3) Real Key Lime Pie is topped with meringue, not whipped cream. I don’t care what King Arthur says. They got the date wrong on the invention of sweetened condensed milk, so what else did their source get wrong. (And what the hell is the addition of lime oil all about?!? No, ma’am. That is not a Key Lime Pie.)

4) Key Lime Pie is never, ever, EVER bright green. Period.

Climbing off my soap box (or should that be lime box) now…

Boswell’s Key Lime Mango Pie

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

18 2-cracker sheets soda crackers
2 Tbs. natural cane sugar (may substitute white sugar)
1/3 cup butter, melted

For the Filling:

5 large egg yolks (reserve the whites for the meringue topping)
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Key Lime juice (bottled or fresh from apprx. 14 Key Limes)
1 fresh mango (preferably a fiberless variety such as Nam Doc Mai), peeled and sliced
into 11 or 12 thin slices

For the Meringue:

5 large egg whites
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
6 Tbs. natural cane sugar (may substitute white sugar)
1/2 tsp. clear vanilla extract

Preparation:

Crust: Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In the bowl of a food processor, grind the crackers together with the sugar until very fine. Add the melted butter and pulse until everything is uniformly combined and resembles very wet sand.

Press the cracker mixture into a 9-inch pie plate, using a flat-bottomed drinking glass or measuring cup – or alternatively, with your hands – until the crust is firmly and evenly spread across the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate. Bake for 15 minutes or until it’s a light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Filling: In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer at high speed until they are very, very pale and thick. Once you think you’re done, beat them some more. This could take 5 or 6 minutes.

Add the sweetened condensed milk and beat on medium speed until it’s completely incorporated. Add the lime juice and beat until it has been completely incorporated.

Pour the filling into the baked crust. Bake for 10-12 minutes. The filling should be set, but still jiggle a bit when you gently give the pan a shake. Cool on a wire rack, then refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.

When the filling is completely firm, arrange the mango slices on top of it.

Meringue:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Beat the room temperature egg whites together with the cream of tartar on high speed, until very foamy. Slowly add the sugar, then the vanilla extract, while continuing to beat on high, until stiff peaks have formed.

Top the pie with the meringue, using whatever method suits you – pipe, spoon & swirl, mound, whatever. The only important things are: (1) The meringue should be even; and (2) The meringue must completely cover the pie to the edges, making a seal. Otherwise it could shrink away during baking.

Bake for about 15 – 20 minutes, or until the meringue has achieved your desired level of golden brown. If you’ve made lovely peaks, bake only until the tips of your peaks have browned.

Refrigerate the baked pie, and keep it refrigerated until serving time. Otherwise, your slices will look as sloppy as mine, below.

Now, what makes this “Boswell’s Key Lime Mango Pie”? Meet Boswell:

Boswell is a Jack Russell Terrier, belonging to some good friends of ours. He was present (along with the two dogs belonging to our 4th of July party hosts) when we arrived, bearing a large canvas carry-all which contained our food contributions to the party. Including the (thankfully, well-wrapped) Key Lime Mango Pie. If you are unfamiliar with Jack Russell Terriers, let’s just say that they’re one of the more -ahem!- enthusiastic breeds of canines.

The dogs, of course, were the first to greet us at the door. Boswell, being the smallest of the three, leaped on top of the carry-all (to get our attention, presumably), and when yelled at, did what a well-trained dog does: Sat. On my pie.

“It looks so much better this way. Don’t you think?”

Hope you had a Fabulous Fourth of July – Ours was a Blast!