Pie Justice Combines Social Impact With Damn Good Baked Goods
Welcome to Cookbook of the Week . In this series, I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While searching for a specific recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has its own magic.
Lately I’ve been worried about my sweet tooth. I think it’s because I’m trying to eat more vegetables and my dopamine hormones think that’s disrespectful. I love vegetables, but I’m too strong to resist the call of sweets. In one of the bookstores, I came across a cookbook with hefty slices of chocolate-crust lemon pie scattered across the cover and grabbed it. It’s not a new book, but that’s one of my favorite things about cookbooks: they don’t have to be new or trendy to be great. This week’s Cookbook of the Week is Pie Justice .
A little about the book
Pie Justice is a cookbook and a bakery of the same name in Chicago, Illinois, run by Maya-Camille Broussard. The bakery was created in honor of her late father, a criminal lawyer and a man who brought joy to those around him with his Saturday morning pies. (As a big fan of puns and desserts, bravo on the title.)
There are over 85 recipes in this book and, as expected, most of them are pies or cakes, and if not, at least they are round in shape (like whoopie pies or cookies). Don’t expect Broussard’s typical panel of pie flavors. You thought strawberry-rhubarb was clever? How about roasted Brussels sprouts and cherries? Perhaps a slice of pear pie with praline and blue cheese would be more your style? Get ready to unleash your creative side with interesting flavor combinations.
For those who don’t particularly appreciate dessert pies, don’t worry, because not everything here is sweet. Visit chapters like Savory Pies, Quiches, and Tarts for delicious numbers.
Great cookbook for some damn positivity.
Justice of the Pies is chock-full of absolutely mouth-watering recipes, complete with moody, intense photography. Each recipe is designed to ignite your taste buds, fill your belly and satisfy your sweet tooth. I made a sweet potato praline pie (more on that in a minute), and from what I can tell from making this recipe and studying others, there are no nutritional claims here. These are dishes and desserts designed to bring a smile or delight to your family and friends. (There’s also a peach and herb cobbler here, which might lift your spirits in other ways if you decide to make an herb-infused butter.)
Scattered between the recipes are stories from people’s lives. Each one tells an inspiring story about a person or group of people who wanted to make positive change in their communities, whether it was tackling food insecurity or deciding to throw birthday parties for children who were homeless. These stories bring a dose of positivity and will hopefully inspire us to support the community’s efforts in our own way. These stories echo Broussard’s own initiatives, such as her “I Knead Love” workshops, which teach kids about nutrition right in the bakery. It’s eating with intention.
The dish I cooked this week
As I mentioned above, I made sweet potato praline pie this week. I didn’t make it easy on myself because there are three different parts to this recipe. This is a reminder that if I plan on baking more pies this summer, it might be a good idea to double or triple her butter pie crust recipe and just save a few in the freezer for future use.
The crust is a classic butter recipe with just four ingredients, so you don’t have to worry about reinventing the wheel here. There are recipes that add an egg or a little vodka, and it’s all a little annoying. (I’m guilty of overcomplicating the pie crust.) Turns out, the pie crust doesn’t need to be cracked .
I was most interested in the filling. I always love sweet potatoes, but they’re especially delicious when tossed with brown sugar and a lot of butter and baked in a pie shell. Making this pie was simple and full of these two important ingredients. I appreciated Broussard’s clear instructions and advice; they told me what to look for without getting overwhelmed. For example, after the filling is completely mixed, it looks like a mistake. All the butter particles separate from the mixture and I could see how it would break someone’s heart if they didn’t know any better. Broussard throws a line quickly, and you know the mix is done when you see those specks.
When it comes to taste, all sweet potato lovers will love the tubers. This recipe calls for you to mash the sweet potatoes rather than mash them, which gives the cake a little more structural integrity rather than the baby food texture I’ve gotten in other recipes. The cake ends up slightly wrinkled due to melting spots of butter, and the high sugar content gives it a caramelized surface. This pie is rich and sweet; perfect for a cup of coffee. I’m looking forward to it tomorrow morning.
How to buy
You can buy the hardcover version of Justice of the Pies (which is wonderful) online , and since it’s a few years old, you might find a good deal. For those with limited bookshelf space, consider an e-reader for five dollars. Or, if you’re a bookstore butterfly (book bee? Still working on it) like me, check out your local Barnes & Noble, stop by Warwick’s, or call your neighborhood independent bookstore to see if they can order it for you.