My mom and I both love cooking and have always wanted to take a cooking class together. Yesterday morning, we finally did it! Sur La Table was offering 50% off some of their cooking classes this week, so we signed up to take their Perfect Pie Class.
My mom’s taught me most things I know about cooking and because of her, I can cook veggies a hundred different ways, make just about every type of savory dish, and bake most desserts. Neither of us have much experience making pies, though, and we’ve especially found making homemade pie crust to be tricky the few times we’ve tried it. When we were choosing a class, we wanted to pick something that was a little bit out of our comfort zone, so pie class it was.
I’ll share a general overview of the class, as well as what we learned about making pies and specifically making flaky pie crust. 3 items were on the agenda for the two-and-a-half hour class: flaky pie dough, strawberry rhubarb pie, and individual lemon meringue pies.
The class kitchen was really spacious and full of fun kitchen gadgets, so my mom and I were in heaven. There are 8 slots per class, and the class was divided in half into teams of four, so my mom and I worked in a group with two other ladies. My one critique of the class is that we found it strange to have groups of four with each group only making one large pie and four mini pies, especially since Sur La Table’s classes are a little on the pricier side. Ever heard the saying about “too many cooks in the kitchen”? Fortunately, the other two ladies in our group were kind and we were able to sort of divide up the small workload, but I think groups of two would’ve worked much better and might make the classes more ideal for something like a mother-daughter date or date night.
The Class
Strawberry rhubarb pie was the first pie of the morning, so we began by chopping fresh strawberries and rhubarb for our pie filling. This was my first time working with rhubarb! The filling was just strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch (we learned this pie needs a little more cornstarch than some berry pies because rhubarb releases a lot of liquid), lemon juice, vanilla bean pasta, and salt. Next, we mixed and rolled the dough for the two pies (tips to follow). Once we popped it in the fridge to chill to use later in our lemon meringue pie, our instructor brought out dough he’d made earlier that morning for us to continue our strawberry rhubarb pie.
We rolled out the chilled dough, pressed it into the bottom of the tart pan, poured the filling in, and began weaving our lattice top. This video does a good job of explaining how to weave the crust in case you’re curious because I think it’s easier to learn by watching than reading about it!
Once the lattice top was finished, I brushed the pie crust with an egg wash and another member of our group sprinkled the crust with regular granulated sugar for color and crispiness.
All ready for the oven!
Once our first pie was in the oven, we began working on our individual lemon meringue pies. We pulled our pie dough out of the fridge from earlier in the morning, rolled it out, pressed it into our mini tart pans, and par-baked the crusts after we filled them with pie weights. While the crusts were baking, we made our lemon curd over a double-boiler. Then, we filled our pie shells with lemon curd and baked them again.
Once they came out of the oven, we topped them with meringue and finished them off with a blow-torch (or you can use a broiler at home). This may’ve been my favorite picture from the class.
Here’s my cute finished lil’ lemon meringue pie that I got to take home.
Our strawberry rhubarb pies were still slightly warm when the class was over, so most of the class didn’t get to taste them or bring them home, which was a bummer. Our instructor had made both pies early that morning, though, so we got to sample small slices of his during class. The lemon meringue pie was good, but the strawberry rhubarb pie with vanilla-bean freshly whipped cream on top was amazing.And my mom and I happened to stick around long enough after class that we got to bring a piece of our actual strawberry rhubarb pie home for my dad and brother, in addition to our mini lemon meringue pies, so that was a plus.
Overall, the class was a fun experience and a great mom-daughter activity for a rainy day. I can’t imagine paying full-price for the class ($69/person), but I’d recommend it if you can get a good deal on it and either a) have three people to bring with you or b) don’t mind a couple of hours of small talk with strangers. ? I learned a lot about making pies, and I can’t wait to try my hand at making some on my own this summer!
Tips we learned for making perfect pies:
-For the best crust, our chef instructor recommended using butter with the highest possible butterfat, such as Kerrygold’s Irish butter. Although some people swear by shortening, he says using proper technique with butter dough (i.e. not overmixing or overkneading, keeping the butter as cold as possible process the process) will produce a flaky crust with better flavor.
-The most important thing to remember when making all-butter pie dough is to keep the butter cold the entire time. You want to keep little, almost invisible “pockets” of butter intact throughout the dough which is what makes the crust flaky, instead of allowing the butter to blend with the flour during the mixing and rolling stages. Letting the butter become too incorporated makes the dough mealy or tough.
-Using a food processor to cut the butter into the dough allows the butter to stay as cold as long as possible because it’s speedy, so we used mini food processors, although using a fork or pastry blender works, too. Cut the butter into the dough until the dough resembles small pea-sized crumbles.
-Par-bake (partially bake) a crust if you’re making a pie with an already cooked filling, such as a lemon curd you’ve made on the stovetop. You don’t need to par-bake the crust of a pie with a filling that’s completely raw before going into the oven, such as an apple or strawberry-rhubarb pie.
-When par-baking a crust, poke a couple of tiny holes in the crust and then place a square of aluminum foil on top of the crust and fill it with either pie weights or dried beans. Either will work! Be sure to press the foil down into the crust so it can’t bubble up.
-Use a tart pan instead of a pie pan so you can pop the pie easily out of the pan and you don’t have to worry about crimping the edges or making a pretty border. Set the tart pan on a larger baking sheet in case the filling leaks.
-If top pie crust starts getting too brown during baking, lay a sheet of aluminum foil on top of the crust to shield it while letting the filling continue to cook.
-Wait at least 30 minutes before slicing into a pie from the oven. It’ll make for much prettier presentation and still taste delicious. For a cream pie, waiting several hours or even overnight if possible.
So tell me…
What’s your favorite type of pie?!
Banana cream pie or chocolate pecan pie
Do you prefer to top your pie with ice cream or whipped cream?
Before yesterday, I would’ve answered ice cream with no hesitation and I think I’d still prefer ice cream for something like warm apple pie, but I loved the vanilla bean whipped cream!
Do you have any pie-making tips you can share?
Kristy @ Southern In Law says
Your pies look delicious!
I definitely have NO pie making tips as I have zero patience when it comes to pastry 😛
Liv says
Thanks, Kristy!
Ellen @ My Uncommon Everyday says
That looks so fun! I definitely agree that Sur la Table classes feel a little crowded/”too many cooks”. I’ve never made real pie, since I’m not a huge fan of pie crust (but maybe I’ve never had good pie crust), though I do like the fillings 🙂 It’s something I want to do, though! It feels like a baking rite of passage.
Liv says
I feel like pies are a baking rite of passage, too, so I was excited to finally learn how to make them!
Carol Eiseman says
When I took Home Economics in high school, we were divided into groups to make pie crust. One group used shorting. one group used Crisco, one used butter, and one used something else, probably oleo (I don’t remember). We then tasted each pie crust. I preferred the pie crust made with butter, but since it had no filling, I wasn’t sure if it would be flaky enough for an actual pie. I am glad to hear this was a good choice. You made some great pictures during the class.
Liv says
Sounds like a fun experiment! I was happy that the butter crust turned out so well since I’d prefer not to cook with shortening or lard in general. It really was very flaky! And thank you 🙂
Beverley @ Born to Sweat says
Livvvvvvvvvv you look so pretty!! I love your curls.
A pie class sounds like honestly one of the best ways to spend quality time with someone – mom, boyfriend, best friend. You get to learn a new skill and go home with a delicious dessert!
Liv says
Thanks, Beverly! And I agree…quality time and dessert– what could be better?
Elsie @ Sharing Healthiness says
It has been a hot minute since I have stopped by. I guess life gets crazy sometimes, huh? When I saw that mouthwatering strawberry rhubarb pie I just has to leave a comment. 🙂
I have never had rhubarb before but I am seriously intrigued. I may go strawberry picking in a few weeks and this could be a delicious way of enjoying them. How would you describe the taste of rhubarb?
Have a great weekend!
Liv says
The rhubarb doesn’t have a super strong taste to me so it blends really well with the strawberries. A friend told me the other day that rhubarb’s actually poisonous when it’s raw?! Good thing to know!
Rebecca @ Vitamin OH! says
I’ve made a couple of pies and have slowly been getting better. Michael and I made an apple pie for Thanksgiving last year, and somehow it turned out perfect! I’m still so proud when I think about it, because I have no idea how we managed it. I usually have Michael help roll out the dough because my arms get so tired!
Liv says
Woohoo for a perfect thanksgiving pie!! Can’t wait to try for next thanksgiving 🙂
Emily says
What’s your favorite type of pie?!
My favorite types are probably dutch apple, raspberry, or peanut butter!!! 🙂
Do you prefer to top your pie with ice cream or whipped cream?
Ice cream is probably my favorite, but I totally agree with you that whipped cream tastes REALLY super good on pie too, especially pumpkin pie.
Do you have any pie-making tips you can share?
I’m not the greatest at making pies, but I definitely learned from you! I think I can be a bit impatient about cutting into a pie, so thank you for the reminder to wait 30 minutes.
Liv says
Mmm all 3 of those types of pies sound awesome! I once had peanut butter pie with an Oreo crust which was really good and super decadent!
masala girl says
jealoussss. i’ve been wanting to take a sur la table class for a few years too, but they’re definitely $$$. i learned all about pic making in my food science class, though i wasn’t one of the groups that got to make them! hm, i’m gonna have to be on the lookout for sales now 🙂
Emily @ My Healthyish Life says
What a fun activity! I’ve always wanted to take a cooking class at Sur La Table. They actually just opened a brand new location near me so I should check it out. Perfect mother-daugter day 🙂
Liv says
Awesome! Maybe they’ll do some special opening sales!
Brie @ Lean, Clean, & Brie says
This looks so fun! My mom and I have always wanted to do one, but the prices are so expensive! I will have to check and see when they offer discounts because I know it would make the perfect mother-daughter date!
Liv says
Yes!! Hope you can find a great discount!
Heather says
I’m doing Whole 30 right now and I wasn’t craving sweets until I saw this post. Oh no!
That said, thank you so much for your post on butternut squash! I’ve got one in the fridge right now and didn’t know what to do with it, but now I’m going to have a wonderful vegetable medley served with grilled chicken. So happy I found your blog 🙂
Liv says
Oh no, so sorry to reintroduce those sweets cravings! So glad you found my blog, too, and hope you loveee your veggie medley featuring butternut squash!
Kate says
This looks so fun! I’ve actually never made a pie. It’s definitely on my summer baking list though!
Liv says
Pies are such a perfect thing to make in the summer with all of the juicy seasonal berries that are available!