Pi Day Treats and Traditions
3.14159265359 is, objectively, the tastiest number.
You probably know it as π (pi).
Pi Day, March 14 (3.14), is one of the calendar’s best features, year after year. A whole day dedicated to the appreciation of nerdy math awesomeness AND the best sweet treats? Sign me up.
If you’re looking for some inspiration for a spring dessert this month, you need only look to your back yard.
First, our Pi Day treat for you that can be grown in your own backyard!
Meyer Lemon Pie
A sunny yellow lemon custard is the star of this pie! We make ours with lemons picked from our Meyer Lemon Tree for a pie worth passing down the recipe. The start to all
great recipes is fresh ingredients, and the secret fresh ingredient to ours is Meyer Lemons. They’re as juicy as an orange but have the most flavorful lemon juice of any variety.
Ingredients:
All-Butter Crust
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 cups unsalted butter cold
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 6 to 12 tablespoons ice water
Lemon Custard Filling
- 5 large eggs yolks (save egg white for meringue below)
- 1 and 1/3 ccups water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup fresh meyer lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
Meringue
- 5 large egg whites room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Step 1: Preheat your Oven to 375° Fahrenheit
Seriously, do that first. While you’re at it, go ahead and get out a cooling rack and clear some space in your fridge.
Step 2: Make the Dough
Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl and mix. Cube the butter sticks and squeeze them into the flour mixture with your thumbs and fingertips until there are no large chunks left. Add lemon juice and 6 tablespoons of ice water to flour butter mixture. Mix until combined and the mixture turns into a dough that sticks together. Add more water if needed. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and stick into the fridge for 1 hour before rolling.
Step 3: Rolling your Dough
Once your dough is cool enough, grab it out of your fridge, remove the plastic wrap, and place on an area of your counter that has been dusted with flour. The way you roll out your dough is very important. Start from the center of the disk and move it to the end of one side. Repeat this motion but in different directions each time. Do not use a back and forth rolling motion, this will make it difficult to get the dough in a circular shape. Once done, place in a pie pan and blind bake for about 15 minutes, it is recommended to poke holes into the dough with a fork, or put pie weights down to ensure bubbles aren’t formed in the dough when it is baked.
Step 4: Blind Baking the Dough
Place pie crust into oven at 375 for 10-15 minutes, until it is slightly golden brown. Take out of the oven and start the lemon custard filling.
Step 5: Filling
Wisk egg yolks in medium bowl and set aside. Whisk the water, cornstarch, sugar, lemon juice, salt and lemon zest together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. The mixture will be cloudy and start to bubble after about 5 minutes. Once it is thickened reduce stove top to a low heat. Slowly spoon a few spoonfuls of the mixture into the egg yolks to temper them. Then slowly add that mixture to the cloudy mixture in the saucepan while constantly whisking. Turn heat back up to medium until big thick bubbles appear in the saucepan. Remove pan from the heat and start whisking in the softened butter. Pour this into the pie crust.
Step 6: Meringue
With a whisk attachment on your electric mixer beat the eggs whites and cream of tartar together on high speed until a soft peak forms. Start adding the sugar and salt a little bit at a time while mixing to make sure the weight of the sugar does not bring down the meringue. Mix until a stiff, glossy peak has formed (I like to flip the bowl over to see if it’s stiff enough)!! Spread the merengue on top of the filling and make sure there are no gaps between the crust and meringue.
Step 7: Bake and Cool
Bake on the lowest oven rake for 20 minutes at 350. Once you take it out of the oven let it cool on the counter for 1 hour and then 4 more hours in the fridge. Once cooled fully, cut in and enjoy!!
A Family Tree(t)
Like every family, the Roth Family has their own proud legacy of unique traditions and memories that made growing up special. For Seeds of Life founder Matt Roth, many of those traditions and memories come from Grams, his mother.
“She’s just a whirlwind of creative energy, my mom,” he says. Now we know who he gets it from!
Grams isn’t just a jack of all trades… She’s a master of, well, most of them. From a young age, she started baking and making her own clothes by hand. Grams went on to become an incredible home economics teacher. Retirement hardly put a dent in her productivity, and she spends countless hours a week serving her community through her church and nonprofits. Grams remarked to Matt, “I quilt about 40 hours a week, and I’m disappointed because I don’t have time to quilt more!” He has memories from childhood of hearing the sewing machine run late into the night. To this day, you’ll still find Grams artfully crafting her quilts at all hours.
A lady never reveals her age, so suffice it to say Grams is both young for her years and full of wisdom. Like every grandmother, she’s passed that wisdom down to her children and her grandbabies.
Matt recalls countless childhood memories of Grams in the kitchen. She’s got proud German heritage and the culinary skills to prove it. Most of her recipes are ones passed down to her, and now they’ll make their way down the family tree to her great grandchildren. “I always say I need to go to kuchen school to learn how to make her kuchen bread,” he remarks. Kuchen, a cross between a coffee cake and a pie, is one of Grams’ signature bakes. Matt describes it as a dense and yeasty dessert, covered in the most delectable fruit toppings. He chuckles, remembering the taste. “I could eat a whole pan of it by myself with a glass of milk.”
Better than devouring an entire kuchen in one sitting, Matt had the privilege of watching his daughters share in his mom’s joy of baking as they grew up. It really instilled a love of kitchencraft in all of his kids. The handmade aprons hanging on the pantry door are more than tools of the trade; they bookmark a special collection of precious family memories.
Now, the Question On Everyone’s Mind:
Will we share Grams’ kuchen recipe??
For now, Grams’ kuchen is a special Roth Family secret… Like buried treasure, some things in life are just a little more whimsical that way. But, there’s no telling what the future holds.
What do you think, Seeds of Life family? Should we politely ask Grams if she’d share her recipe next Pi Day, or should we leave one more precious secret kept in the world?
Whatever comes out of your oven this Pi Day, we hope you enjoy it! If you tried out our Meyer Lemon Pie, send us a picture or tag us on social media – we love seeing your creations!
