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Of course, I’ve always liked pie. It’s so versatile. With the various fillings and crust options, sweet and savory directions to take, and the endless ways to top a pie, I don’t think it’s possible to not like pie. But, suddenly, I’m an even bigger fan of pie than I already was. I recently read a review copy of Cathy Barrow’s Pie Squared: Irresistibly Easy Sweet & Savory Slab Pies , and now I find myself wanting pie for every meal. The book is devoted to rectangular pies which are bigger and a little easier to cut and serve than round pies. All the recipes are written to fit a quarter sheet pan. Regardless of the size and shape of the pies though, the recipes themselves kept me turning the pages. I really do want to make all of these pies. After a thorough introduction to working with dough and ideas for lattice or cut-out tops, there are recipes for all the different crust options ranging from an All-Butter Crust to Cookie Crumb Crusts and a Hash Brown Crust to name a few. That la...

Happy New Year! I hope your holiday season was delightful. I have a few sweet treats from my holidays to share today. For a Christmas dessert, I wanted to make use of my homegrown Meyer lemons but of course couldn’t decide what to make. I mulled it over for days and flipped through several books while considering various cakes, tarts, and frozen desserts. Then, I pulled Baked: New Frontiers in Baking off the shelf, found the little lemon-almond meringue tartlets, and wondered how I’d ever forgotten this recipe from this book. It was just what I wanted to make. They’re cute, individual-sized tartlets with a tangy lemon filling, and the pastry for the tartlet shells was made with an interesting twist. Amaretti cookies were ground and added to the flour in the dough. Amaretto liqueur is also suggested, but I used almond extract instead. Some years are better than others for my lemon trees, but I had plenty of lemons for the curd. I was amazed by the dark yellow color the Meyer lemons gav...