Strawberry Rhubarb Mini Pies

I'm back!

The littlest Humble was delivered--or extracted, depending on how you look at it since we had a c-section--last week. Both baby and myself are doing very well and I've been recovering at home.

Of course this means ample time at my laptop to blog, unfortunately I didn't count on the affect of sleepless nights coupled with hefty doses of prescription pain killers. When things are melting down the walls in your field of vision, you really start to second guess your ability to write anything. Yes, even at the semi-coherent level I tend to blather on this blog.

I'm far less drugged today so I'm going to give food blogging a shot. Our local farmers market has been flush with fresh rhubarb lately and apparently, even after all the lemon meringue madness, I'm not pie-d out.

So we've making pies! Again! Specifically, mini pies. Falling neatly into that smaller is always cuter approach to food.

Of course, if you're looking at the pies and thinking to yourself, nuh-uh way too fussy. No worries. No where will I demand you spend an hour forming mini pies in muffin cups. The strawberry rhubarb filling, spiked with orange zest and Grand Marnier is delicious even in the simpler, more rustic hand-pie form. So go ahead and shape/form them however you wish. Regardless of how they might look, they will taste great and be well worth making.

Lemon Meringue Pie

After a long month's baking, we're tackling one of my favorite pies today: Lemon Meringue.

I learned how to bake this pie from my mother, who baked it frequently for my father--an ardent fan of lemon meringue. So much so in fact, that he jokes about ranking prospective brides based on their ability to execute the pie well.

Unfortunately, my mother made something we Humbles call "Lemon Meringue Pool". Tasty but structurally… well, a disaster (sorry mom). When served, the filling would be slack and form a puddle on the plate. Hence the name. I'd post photos of lemon meringue pool, but to save mom face I'll post a quick doodle of a sad pie that appears to have wet himself.

You get the idea.

The Art of Patience

I know what everyone is thinking: Ms. Humble, due to being in her final month of pregnancy, is taking it easy with the baking and blogging. Actually, this isn't quite the case.

I've been engaged in some serious marathon baking and research trying to perfect a single dessert that has thwarted multiple generations of Humbles. This dessert is my ultimate baking nemesis (cue dramatic music here).

I've put weeks of work into this post. Including O-Chem level break downs and silly illustrations (like the confusing little doodle above) and of course, lots and lots of taste tests. 

Note to Ms. Humble's OB: If my gestational blood sugar is shot, well this is why.

The end is in sight though, so bear with me. I have two weeks (from Monday, woohoo!) before this baby is here and I'm going to finish my last few rounds of baking and photographing. 

Patience, I will update the blog soon! Who knows, it could be my magnum opus....