Oh dear.

I baked the blueberry pie and the raisin pie at the same time the other day. The blueberry pie (also known as the faux Saskatoon Berry pie) turned out great, but the raisin pie? I burned it. While I can forgive an overly browned crust – hey, it happens – it became terribly clear that it was the filling that was extremely overdone. How could I tell? Well, I stuck a knife in it to cut a piece to see if it tasted burnt and this is as far as I could put the knife into the pie.

I could put the tip of the knife in and that was it. I couldn’t move the knife down or over any further. What happened?

I have 2 theories – or CSI Pie, as I like to call it.

1) the oven rack was not on the centre peg, but on the one above the centre peg – therefore, it was too close to the top element. However, this does not explain a charred filling and an overly brown crust. But it could have been part of the problem.

2) I may have overcooked the filling before putting it in the pie crust. You combine raisins and brown sugar and some other ingredients so it’s like a thick caramel sauce with raisins in it. If I cooked it too much on the stovetop and then had it too close to the element, that could have produced the black, charred mess coating the pie – much like a burnt marshmallow over a campfire.

Thank goodness I still have 3 more pie crusts to use up. I’m going to make another raisin pie and make sure it’s baked to a golden brown finish on top, with a perfectly cooked pastry this weekend. Also, I’m going to make Christmas cake. It just has to be done.

I’m taking the rest of the night off from baking today, but I’ll be back at it tomorrow. I made a 7 minute frosting for Mike’s birthday cake and overwhipped it. I realized it when the frosting turned from a meringue-y constancy to grainy one in front of my very eyes. NO! It still tasty good, though. Marshmallowy with a sugary crunch to it. Oh well.

Meanwhile, I brought a bunch of the balls from yesterday and the date nut loaf to work today. I must say, they were all a big hit – especially the loaf. It was all gone by lunch time.

And in other news, the Chinese Chews may actually have a Chinese background for real. My work buddy is Chinese and he said they eat treats like those at Chinese New Year – he said it’s less cake-y, and more date-y. He’s going to bring me the name of that treat after to talks to his mom about it.

Tagged as: burned, burnt, charred, inedible, pastry, people like old fashioned treats, pie, the raisin pie travesty, unable to cut, watch the knife