If you’re celebrating Super Pi Day with a slice of your favorite pie, then you’ve probably already baked your perfect confection.  But, if your pie didn’t come out of the oven looking like the picture on the recipe (or if it didn’t delight your taste buds), then we have some pie hacks for your next pie-inspired baking (or no-bake) session. 

Now, we don’t pretend to be culinary artists or descendants of Betty Crocker, but we do love baking and pies are one of those things that take time to perfect.  Here are our favorite hacks that we don’t bake without.  

Butter:  If you’re making your own crust, choose a recipe that calls for real butter.  The texture and taste are far superior to the alternatives.

Vodka:  For a perfectly tender and flaky crust, use vodka instead of water.  Water and flour don’t make for the perfect pie crust, due to the conversion to gluten, but vodka is only a little more than half water, so the gluten content is lower.  Also, the alcohol evaporates during baking, so there won’t be any taste or effects of the alcohol. 

Baking the Perfect Golden Crust

Before we learned these two tricks, baking the perfect golden pastry crust was about as easy as reciting pi to the one millionth decimal place.  Whether you’re making your crust from scratch or using a store-bought one, you can bake it to a glossy, golden brown perfection. 

Step 1:  Bake your pastry shell for about five minutes before adding the filling. 

Step 2:  Using a pastry brush, evenly coat the top of the crust with a beaten egg white, leaving no egg-white puddles behind.  For a sparkly crust, sprinkle with cane sugar. 

Step 3:  Using one-and-a-half inch strips of foil, cover the crust's edge before putting your perfect pie in the oven. 

For creamy, dreamy no-bake pie filling, it’s most important to remember to mix well.  Making sure there are zero lumps is the best way to have a perfect no-bake pie.  This can be done by pouring ingredients slowly while the mixer is on or you’re stirring. 

Also, to bring your store-bought no-bake pie to life, add fresh ingredients.  For a lemon flavor, squeeze a bit of lemon juice.  If it’s cherry, garnish with fresh cherries.  This will give your pie authentic flavor and give it the homemade look. 

Share with us your perfect pie hacks. 

We hope you had a wonderful day celebrating the once-in-a-lifetime Super Pi Day!