For Valentines Day the Kiwi gave me a cookbook. What can I say? The boy gets me.

The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book has been sitting in my amazon cart since it came out, but something kept stopping me. I’m picky when it comes to investing in cookbooks. There are millions and millions of recipes out there for free, so if I’m going to buy a cookbook, I expect a lot. I expect it to be something I will actually use. I expect recipes that are going to become staples. I expect to turn to it regularly for inspiration. I also expect more than just recipes. I want gorgeous inspiring pictures and thorough explanations of perfecting a technique. And while I thought this book would meet those expectations, it seemed too niche, too one use, and honestly, too much work.

I’m glad that boy knows my heart so well.

I have been talking about pie for a while now. I have stumbled my way into making some pretty edible pies in the past, but I wanted to learn how to get that perfect flaky crust every time. I wanted to know how to prepare the perfect filling and how to make beautiful latticed tops. I wanted to know the secrets to perfect pie making.

He wasn’t just giving me a cookbook; he was giving us a project. He was giving me his time and assistance to perfect a skill I’ve been wanting to learn.

Folks across the States tend to celebrate today, 3.14, as Pi Day. Is it because we just really love non-repeating magical numbers? Maybe, but I bet it’s more because we get to eat pie. In case you’re at a loss for how to celebrate, head over to your local bookshop or you know, Amazon, and pick up a copy of the Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book. Written by the Elsen sisters who run a pie shop in Brooklyn by the same name, the book walks you through their pie making process. The pies are seasonal and their focus is on using quality ingredients that are available locally. It’s a mark of a well written recipe that novices like us could make a perfect pie the first time. The explanations are straight-forward and easy to follow. They are also incredibly creative flavor pairing geniuses, so there’s that. You certainly won’t get bored with these flavors! Our first attempt was the Blushing Apple (which had a bit of beetroot in it) and it turned out better than either of us could imagine. Next came the Malted Chocolate Pecan which was a bit trickier with the pre-baking and all, but the end result was a home-run. During the ‘heat wave’ strawberries started turning up everywhere, so we snatched them up and made the Strawberry Balsamic before the weather turned again. This weekend we’ll be making the Salt Pork Apple Pie and seeing how many digits of pi we can recite. Cheers!

How are you celebrating Pi(e) Day? Have you checked this book out yet? Which one would you make?

{This post contains Amazon affiliate links. That means that if you head over to Amazon from those links and choose to buy the book, a tiny bit of the money you spent on the book will come back to me for the referral.}