![\"IMG_8553\"](\"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/IMG_8553.jpg\")
<\/a> Our first cream pie of the series, it was crafted verbatim from the recipe in “Baking Illustrated”:http:\/\/www.cooksillustrated.com\/bookstore\/detail.asp?PID=247.<\/p>\nh3. September 2012: “Chocolate Cream Pie with Caramel Whipped Cream”:\/news\/2012\/a-years-worth-of-cream-pies\/<\/p>\n
h3. October 2012: Peanut Butter Cream Pie<\/p>\n h3. November 2012: Gingerbread Cream Pie<\/p>\n 3 tablespoons molasses h3. December 2012: “Peppermint Cream Pie”:\/news\/2012\/peppermint-cream-pie\/<\/p>\n h3. January 2013: “Coconut Cream Pie”:http:\/\/www.food.com\/recipe\/coconut-cream-pie-from-cooks-illustrated-320303<\/p>\n h3. February 2013: Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie<\/p>\n h3. March 2013: Maple Cream Pie<\/p>\n h3. May 2013: Banana Cream Pie<\/p>\n h3. May 2013: Lemon Cream Pie<\/p>\n h3. June 2013: Chocolate Cream Pie<\/p>\n<\/a>This pure chocolate version was topped with “caramel whipped cream”:http:\/\/www.marthastewart.com\/334224\/caramel-whipped-cream, a special treat for Jon’s birthday.<\/p>\n<\/a>We quickly learned that, although our children are in fact human, they do not like whipped cream. Most of our cream pies received their whipped cream dollops on individual slices. The filling in this pie is essentially the vanilla cream filling with the addition of ½ cup smooth peanut butter. We adorned the pie with a chocolate ganache glaze (½ cup hot cream poured over 4 oz. chopped chocolate) and decorated it with a spiderweb top (made from a white sugar glaze, just powdered sugar and cream), in honor of Halloween.<\/p>\n<\/a>Based on the “butterscotch cream pie recipe”:\/news\/2012\/a-years-worth-of-cream-pies\/, we infused this holiday pie with warming spices, specifically…<\/p>\n
\n1 teaspoon ginger
\n1 teaspoon cinnamon
\na pinch of allspice
\na pinch of cloves
\na pinch of nutmeg<\/p>\n<\/a>This shocking-pink pie turned out to be a big hit on Grammie’s birthday. Next time I think I might cut down on the pink food coloring.<\/p>\n<\/a>We enjoyed this coconut pie (inexplicably) on the birthday Martin Luther King, Jr.
\n<\/a>I really wanted to include this shot of the slice. See how pretty the custard looks underneath the cream? You can guess who scraped all the whipped cream off of their wedges.<\/p>\n<\/a>We doctored our traditional chocolate cream pie by adding about ½ teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of cayenne to create this Mexican version, specially made to spice things up on Valentine’s day.<\/p>\n<\/a>We honored Jon’s unbirthday with this seasonal maple cream pie. I based it off of the butterscotch cream pie, substituting 2 cups maple syrup (boiled and reduced) for the brown sugar. The custard ended up a bit loose, so I think I would boil the maple syrup even longer next time (intending to reduce to 1 cup or less). But even with an imperfect texture, the flavor of this pie was one of my favorites.<\/p>\n<\/a>Okay, okay, I know — I missed a month. But April was so crazy with birthday celebrations that I was granted a reprieve and allowed to push this pie into May. Even a month late, it was a treat.<\/p>\n<\/a>We celebrated Grandpa’s birthday with a lovely lemon cream pie, tart and creamy. To the vanilla cream pie recipe we added ½ cup fresh lemon juice and 2 tablespoons of lemon zest while reducing the amount of whole milk to 1½ cups. Alas, we neglected to take a photo, but here you can see Rosie and Mama in the kitchen, cooking up one of the many cream pies.<\/p>\n