Anyone who knows me know’s I am an avid baker. I love to bake, whenever the world doesn’t make sense I just go to my kitchen and bake something and all seem right again. I like the order and structure of baking. I know that if I follow the instructions the outcome will be something delicious. That being said I have a confession to make. I have yet to master the art of pie baking. I have made pies, I make them every year for Thanksgiving. I’ve always either used store bought crust or had the assistance of my chef friend in making crust from scratch.  I would say I am a novice at best at baking pies.

I decided that this summer I wanted to go from novice pie baker to expert pie baker. I want to find the best crust recipe and be able to make it with my eyes shut, like my grandmother does when she make pies. I want to go the farmers market and pick up fresh amazing summer fruit and be able to whip up an incredible dessert. The only way to master anything is to practice, which means I need to roll up sleeves breakout the rolling pin and start making pies. The goal is when fall rolls around this year I will be as comfortable baking a pie as I am making my famous chocolate chip cookies.

The perfect companion to pie is ice-cream, so if I am going to take the time to master pie baking why not learn the art of ice-cream making as well? Plus, I received an ice-cream maker as a wedding present four years ago and have never used it. Since I have the equipment to make ice-cream, I don’t really have an excuse not make my own ice-cream. My inner Barefoot Contessa is jumping for joy at the prospect of inviting people over and offering them homemade pie and ice cream.

Also, I firmly believe that Pie’s are the new cupcake in the world of dessert trends. More and more pie shops are popping up and I am seeing more cookbooks devoted to pie baking. Even the June issue of Bon Appetite featured pies. People are serving pies instead of cakes at weddings. 2014 seems like the perfect summer for me to become a pie master! If there is a pie you’d like me to bake let me know in the comments section. Summer is always fun, now it will be even better with fresh pies and homemade ice-cream!