First Prize Pies: Shoo-Fly, Candy Apple, and Other Deliciously Inventive Pies for Every Week of the Year (and More) Hardcover – March 11, 2014

While I own a collection of cookbooks, I needed one filled with recipes just for pies, and homemade pie crusts. My daughter and I chose this cookbook out of several, and are extremely satisfied with it. We are amazed by the top quality of this book, and all the information it offers. It is also a very enjoyable book, packed with inspiring stories.The Introduction tells the story of how and where it all began, with a love for cooking and baking, passed down from one generation to another. The delightful stories take the reader to many places across the globe, and shows you about the family inspiration of baking in New York, from winning pie-baking contests, to becoming a famous culinary business owner.Allison Kave gives information on the essential kitchen needs and tools to have on hand. In addition, the author shares her own pie secrets with helpful tips, and tricks. I learned a great deal on making a variety of mouth-watering pie-fillings, and crusts. We also learn how to create different mouth-watering toppings, and the essential ingredients to make perfect pies, and crusts.Some of the Key Ingredients for good pie crusts are: Flour; Sugar; Cream & Milk; Eggs; butter; Salt. Many of the ingredients needed for pie crusts are common. The Tools Of The Trade section, along with learning how to make many different types of pie crusts are very interesting.Some of the mouth-watering recipes include: Spiced Fig Pie; Chocolate Lavender Teatime Pie; Avocado Cream Pie; smoked Almond Pie; Sesame-Honey Pie; Lemon Cream Pie; Salty Caramel Pie; Strawberry Rhubarb Pie; Mint Julep Cream pie; and many more. A bonus for me was to learn how to make delicious, Candied Mint Leaves. They not only taste good, but are attractive on the toppings such as cream topping.We made the Toasted Coconut Cream Pie, which was divine. Our favorite so far was the Shoo-fly Pie. It was a sensation. I tasted this pie many years ago, when I visited Dutch Country in Pennsylvania with my children, while on vacation. It is known as an Amish cuisine, and I always wanted to get a recipe for it. We will update this review as we make new recipes, and I will be gifting this inspiring book to friends and family for the holidays. Highly recommended!

I've made the grasshopper, s'mores, lemon cream, apple and the nutella pies and, to be honest, I could write an essay on each one, but to sum them all up in a word: amazing. I like to throw BBQs. I work hard on the smoking the meat at each BBQ, but these pies have become the cherry on top. They are quickly starting to eclipse the pork shoulder and the brisket. I'm sure there are better pies than the ones I mentioned, but, honestly, I never get that far because everyone begs for the s'mores pie. Homemade graham cracker crust, homemade marshmallow fluff, chocolate ganache and then you zap it with a little crème brulee torch. What more could you want? I get more requests for that one pie than anything else I've ever made. Despite every stupid thing I've done in my life, I'm convinced my wife keeps me around and my mother in-law loves me because of that pie alone. My personal favorite is the lemon cream. I like it so much I just forget to tell anyone else about it, so it's all mine! The pies are all great, but what I like about the book is that the recipes are completely original or are creative spins on old standards. It's entirely possible that someone might not like the s'mores pie, but I'm guessing you will come to one of two conclusions about that rare occurrence, you either failed to follow directions in making it or you will eventually discover that person has some dark secrets--there are bodies in the crawl space of their house or they are servants of the dark lord. One final note, my father in-law is one of the pickiest people I've ever met and he was blown away by the grasshopper pie.

This is a beautiful book, although there are photos for only about a third of the recipes, which is always a let down for me and a cheap move from publishers. She introduces each recipes which I appreciate it. Recipes are arranged by month, with about 5-7 pies per month, with about 50 pages of introduction, pie vocabulary, techniques and crust recipes. Why the book starts on page 11 and counts masthead, cover page, contents, leaf pages, etc, is beyond me. Of 224 pages, there are about 75 pie recipes. Again, poor publishing. There are special issue magazines that include more recipes, for a 1/3 of the price. I've made 4 recipes so far and they are solid. No errors or gaps.There are 4 chess pie/buttermilk pie recipes, although one could argue several more are also chess pies at heart, 4 apple pies (none unique), 14 cream pie-depending on what you call a creme pie (one called Irish Car Bomb, which is an homage to the drink, but as so many call to change the name of this drink, I am astounded the author and editor chose to include it when there are plenty of other cocktails to make into pies) and too many fruit pies to list (although I think I'll pass on Watermelon Cream Pie), with about half pretty basic (cherry, rhubarb, pineapple, berry) and several interesting (sugar plum, honey pear, spiced fig) and just a couple of nut pies. Many recipes contain liquor and most rely on it as part of the recipe (meaning leaving it out or attempting to replace it with baking flavoring won't give you close results).Some unusual recipes that make the book worthwhile, and aren't found in every other pie cookbook (I think I have 10): Sesame Honey, Avocado Cream, Smoked Almond (as much as I loved smoked flavor, I'll pass on this sweet pie), melopita, raspberry vinegar. But rest assured most are pretty standard, or standard with a minor ingredient twist (strawberry basil, Mexican Chocolate pie-add cinnamon and cayenne), and the cream recipes are nothing you can't find on foodtv.com (Key Lime, Elvis Pie (peanut butter pie with bananas and sprinkled with bacon), Margarita, Eggnog, Butterscotch, Trifecta (choco-peanut butter-pretzel), Grasshopper, Mint Julep, Rocky Road, Lemon. But then again, the unusual Root Beer Float Pie...not sure about it, but it's on my list.I think the author is thoughtful in her crust pairings, and provides 9 crust recipes in the beginning of the book, including a gluten free. And I'll give credit for only one ice cream pie recipe (it's not cooking and it's not pie), no cheesecake (although greek cheese pie), no crisps or cobblers, or other round dessert recipes that pretend to be pie. Many pie cookbooks rely on these 'pie-like' recipes to fill out a book. The author is true to PIE.Overall, a good assortment of pies with traditional and unusual (I wouldn't go so far as to say 'inventive' as the cover states), and a good amount of recipes. A nice update to your pie cookbook collection if it had become dated (like mine), because sometimes Pinterest just doesn't cut it when your planning a menu.