Why is it called Pi Day?
It’s Pi Day again – a celebration of The number π – a mathematical constant, which is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, and is about 3.14 – so it occurs on March 14th. This is just basically an excuse to eat or bake pie, or just think about pie………
When is Pi Day?
Google tells me that a lot of people search for when is Pi Day in 2022, 2021, etc. It is always March 14th – because Pi is a constant of course!
Activities for Pi Day?
Google also tells me that people are looking for ideas of what to do on Pi Day. Pi Day is just an excuse to make pie, buy pie, eat pie – or maybe do some fractions work involving slicing pies, or use a pie to measure its circumference and its diameter! It’s just a made up day, but if I were a math teacher, this would be my favourite day of the year.
After all the turmoil of the past 2 years, we deserve to have a made up holiday (and pie), don’t we?
My husband just brought home a big bunch of bananas from the grocery store, so perhaps it’s time for me to make banana cream pie again. This recipe became a staple for me in the first few months of the pandemic when we had all of our adult children at home, as it’s kind of indulgent, but it turned out well for me every time!
Here is a link for Banana Cream Pie recipe: Banana Cream Pie — Day Lillie
Another wonderful custard pie is Flapper Pie – Here’s the link for the Flapper Pie recipe.
AND, finally – here is a recipe for my mother and grandmother’s special pie crust. I use this pie crust with with both sweet and savoury pies! It’s just the crust recipe and I typically make 3 crusts at a time – so divide in 3 if you just want to make one. Also, the cooking time will vary with your pie filling recipe.
What Lard to Use for Pie Crust
My mother always used Tenderflake Lard, and this works for me. To make a vegan version (which I frequently do for my blueberry pies), I use a vegetable only lard variety. Recently I tried a buttery lard variety which was yellow – I didn’t like it at all! You can substitute butter for lard, but use unsalted if you can, and it will have a different texture.
Below is a printable recipe card from RecipesGenerator. Please give it a try!
Lillie’s Mom’s Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Flour
- 1 Cup All Vegetable Lard
- 3 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
- Sprinkle Salt
- 6-9 Tablespoons Very Cold Water
Instructions
- This recipe is for 3 crusts – so if you are not making any other pies – divide the recipe in 3. I always make another pie when I’m baking – I make such a mess with rolling out the flour – I might as well!
- Mix together dry ingredients in mixing bowl. Cut lard into dry ingredients with a pastry cutter. Add 6-9 tablespoons of water a little at a time and mix together the batter as much as possible. Form pastry dough into a ball. Refrigerate for about one hour.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Spray 9″ pie plate with non-stick spray.
- Sprinkle flour onto parchment lined counter or clean rolling area. Roll rolling pin in flour. Roll out pastry with rolling pin into thin sheet. Cut one 10″ circle of pastry out, and place over pie plate. Shape pastry by pressing in to pan and cut off the edges and decorate with fork edges.
- Fill with your prepared pie filling and top with another layer of pie crust depending on the pie recipe.
- Bake filled pie for 20 minutes at 425 degrees F. Turn down the oven to 350 degrees F and cook the crust for 10 more minutes until lightly browned.
- Pre-baking the pie crust can sometimes result in the pie crust rising, so you can use pie weights if you like to weigh down the crust during baking – but I did not, and the crust looks just fine.
Nutritional information is calculated automatically using “natural language processing” within the software, and is not guaranteed to be accurate, but is a “good guess”!
Happy Pi Day!
Looks good!
Thank you!
Not being a banana person that wouldn’t be my go-to pie. Pumpkin with Chantilly Ginger whipped cream followed by pecan pie with chocolate sauce drizzled on it. My husband loves pie but somehow I’ve never gotten into making it on Pi Day. Bernir
Hi Bernie – I’m more of a blueberry, apple, strawberry-rhubarb pie baker myself – but a couple of my young adult kids that aren’t really pie lovers just love Banana Cream Pie and Flapper pie – and Lemon Meringue Pie too!