How to Host a Pie Party

A celebration of the summer bounty, friendship, and pie.

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This will be the first of three Pie Party posts! Follow along to hear all about the party deets and what we made. Paid subscribers will receive recipes and visual how tos for making the best summer pies (as well as a bonus Pie Party Sangria recipe!)

A few years ago I decided to throw a pie party. By that I mean a pie MAKING party. The summer fruit was really starting to roll in— there were gorgeous little strawberries with curly stems, bright pink rhubarb stalks, smaller-than-grocery store blueberries and raspberries (with WAY more flavor), cherries- both sweet and sour, plus peaches and nectarines were starting. My idea was: invite a few friends and make it a good mix of pie aficionados and wanna be bakers. I always get so many questions about the details of pie baking so this felt like a great way to teach and maybe learn a thing or two myself. Of course, I had to invite my former co-worker and pie freak, Sarah Carey (@sarahcarey1— pictured below with her peach raspberry galette, recipe follows). I asked her to demo the ins and outs of making the perfect pie crust (step by step photos and details in the recipe section!) and help me advise the group on fillings, thickener amounts, lattice work, baking times, etc. If you have a friend with even an iota of Sarah’s level of pie expertise, be sure to invite them—baking 7 or 8 or more pies in one day is a lot to manage so you’ll need the help!

Here’s the outline of my setup:

• Clear your kitchen and especially your main work space of all extraneous items. You need room for crust making, rolling, filling bowls, and fruit.

• Gather all of your equipment: food processor (needed for the perfect/easiest pie crust), stand or hand held mixer (good for whipped cream and meringue), mixing bowls, spatulas, small cutting boards, paring knives, rolling pins, dry and wet measuring cups, measuring spoons, etc.

• Stock up on essentials: all-purpose flour plus fun alternative flours (buckwheat, spelt, rye, whole wheat, etc.), white sugar, brown sugar, sanding sugar, cornstarch, unsalted butter, eggs, spices, pure vanilla and almond extracts, nuts, and lemons. For flour, sugars, and butter- you’ll need a lot. Factor 3 sticks of butter per person, 3 cups of flour per person and at least 1 cup of sugar per person.

• Be sure to have plenty of towels. I like to try and avoid using paper towels so I bought a stack of new kitchen tea towels and gave everyone one when they came in. It was theirs to use and keep (and was helpful for cradling their pie home in besides).

• Ask your guests to hit their farmers markets or favorite stores and bring whatever fruit or fruits they want to use in their pies. Additionally, have them bring a pie dish or two so that they can transport their beauties home. Pies need to rest- especially deep ones- before cutting so unless your party runs into the evening, very little pie will actually be consumed during the event itself.

The run of the day went something like this:

• Before everyone got there I made a savory pie that could be cut into but small bite-sized pieces for snacking on. I simply rolled out a sheet of puff pastry, gave it a few pricks with the tines of a fork so it wouldn’t puff too much in the oven then spread it with Dijon mustard, layered on long thin slices of summer squash and zucchini, and topped with salt, pepper, shredded gruyere cheese and garlic scapes from the farmers’ market. Bake until well browned. (Pictured below).

• Additionally, I made a bowl of simple syrup and put it in the center of the work space. When guests started prepping their fruit, I asked them to add the trimmings- strawberry tops, peach and cherry pits, peach skins, as well as any too-mushy-to-use-fruit to the syrup. The syrup slowly took in the flavors of all the fruits and turned a beautiful bright red. Later I used the syrup to make Pie Fruit Sangria which we enjoyed once our pies were baking or cooling (pictured below and recipe at the end!)

• Start with a pie crust tutorial then let everyone take turns making their own crusts. Encourage them to substitute some of the all-purpose flour with an alternate flour or a nut!

• If you’re lucky enough to have 2 ovens, your day will likely be quite smooth. I have one oven so it just took a little extra planning and scheduling for all the pie baking as well as doubling up on pies in the oven. Luckily, assembled pies like to be chilled before baking so make room in your fridge for those waiting in line for the oven.

All in all, the day was an absolute delight! Each pie was so different both in look and flavor. There was more than enough fruit so some people made multiple pies, trying various combinations. Besides all the laughs and fun of working side by side with your friends, the best part was the amazement and pride on the faces of those who had never made a pie from scratch before. And even the seasoned bakers admitted to learning a few new tricks and techniques. Everyone wins at a pie party and goes home with a tasty treat in hand.

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Peach-Raspberry Galette with Buckwheat Crust

Recipe by Sarah Carey

Serves 6-8