Comments on: Pie tools to help you make the best pies

By: C Reese Nebeker

C Reese Nebeker — Mon, 22 Oct 2018 17:01:52 +0000

Don't throw away or reuse the dried beans you use for pie weights!

I use Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans for pie weights, but any dried beans work, both for weights AND to make hummus! After baking the crusts I dump them into boiling water. Add a teaspoon of baking soda & continue to boil for at least 10 minutes, then remove from heat and let soak 12 hours or more, until tender. Drain the beans then grind them with equal part Tahinni & half as much olive or coconut oil, the juice from half a lemon, a clove of garlic, & a pinch of salt. The baked beans add wonderful flavor to this hummus

By: Elisa

Elisa — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 20:25:59 +0000

Hi, I've just discovered your blog, thanks to the comment you left on "A Cozy Kitchen" and I just wanted to let you know that I think you're blog is awesome :) I've just flipped through your recipes and totally loved them! The pictures are gorgeous, too. I'll be definitely following your blog from now on, you can count me among your readers!

xo, Elisa

By: Janice Lawandi

Janice Lawandi — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 17:52:37 +0000

In reply to Stephanie {Clockwork Lemon}. Haha, I would definitely not boil them and eat them! But they don't go bad either, but at a certain point, those beans have seen a lot of pies/flour/grease and I feel like they probably should get a good scrubbing, but then they are beans. You know?

By: Janice Lawandi

Janice Lawandi — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 17:50:52 +0000

In reply to musingmar. I'm so happy that you liked it! The preheated baking sheet also helps avoid raw pie crust on the bottom, which to me is a HUGE no-no (though there's a bakery in town that sells supposedly "the best pies" that seems to commit this raw-bottom crime every time I go!).

By: Stephanie {Clockwork Lemon}

Stephanie {Clockwork Lemon} — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 04:31:50 +0000

Love this post.. but I have to admit that it never occurred to me that the beans I have been using as pie weights wouldn't be good anymore. Obviously I don't cook dried beans very often because I have a habit of using them as pie weights, pouring them back into a tupperware container and putting them into the cupboard. Good thing I never tried to boil them up!

By: musingmar

musingmar — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 11:49:56 +0000

Fantastic post! It's so helpful to see the basics set out so clearly like this. Pie making can seem very intimidating, but as you've said, the right equipment makes a great difference. I don't generally have the 'soggy bottom' problem, but I'm going to try the tray/baking stone idea to see if I can get the bottoms of my pie shells to be even crisper (I'm one of those 'pastry people' and the crust is my favourite part of the pie!). I'll be sharing and referring to this post for sure!