At the beginning of this year, I was sad for some reason. I just randomly decided from there that I wanted to bake a pie or two, and I ended up writing all my notes down; this became a hobby that I have no plan on expanding on. These are my notes and recipes on baking pies so far.

The Important Pie Pieces 

There are a lot of ingredients and factors that pies have in common, most notably the crust. While some pies have specific crusts for their pies, Most are the standard crust made from flour and butter. Most pies need a crust, so the same recipe for the crust can be used to make the topping, as well as a crumble topping I included. Whipped cream is also something most pies are good for, so I have included that recipe here. My nona helped me a lot, and these recipes are directly from her! These are notes and recipes about Pie Crusts, Toppings, and whipped cream; the important pie pieces you and I’ll need !!!!

Crust Recipe

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 Teaspoon of salt
• A stick and a half of butter

If you are only doing the bottom, cut the ingredients in half! So only 1 cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tablespoons of butter

1. Mix these ingredients up and touch them as little as possible !!!! After a while of mixing/crumbling, add 2, 3, or even 4 tablespoons of water (add these after a while), then try to form a ball
2. Divide the ball in half to make both the top and bottom individually (don’t do this if you are only doing the crust)
3. Flatten it out on a cloth and cover the ball in flour so it doesn’t stick to anything (also, you can use a little bit of water depending on the atmosphere).
4. Get the rolling pin ready to spread it out nice and thin. When it’s all flat and well, you can then try to get it on the pan while removing the cloth (you should not need to spread butter on the pan if you did this correctly).
5. Make sure to have the edges of the crust even and all that :3

Crumble Topping and Homemade Whipped Cream Recipe

I will be using these recipes for my pies unless I have it already pre-made or bought

Banana Creme 

“I see bananas when I look in your eyes

I shower you with banana cream pie” -Donkey Kong (1996)

(2/17/2025) First attempt at Banana Creme Pie

This is when I finally committed to it, I remember being sad because of something about feeling unable to communicate my true emotions, and something else unrelated. I just felt like I could do something I wouldn’t usually do to make me feel better, and I guess it did.

We found vanilla pie filling to use, and my plan was to blend bananas with the correct amount of mixture I needed… I thought it was good, but it was overloading, and the entire thing was liquid and gross… it tasted fine, but it was needed in order to make better, actually edible pies.

(2/22/2025) Edible Banana Creme Pie #1

So proud of this one, shocked how easy and fast it was! It was so tasty, but seeing my sisters refuse to eat any of it made me sad, same for when they didn’t want to eat any of it

Parents had some of course and liked it, I know I ate a lot of it (which would become a consistent thing), but for this reason, I always wanted to find some occasion to make a pie so that a group of people could eat it instead of just me and my parents.

My Banana Creme Pie Recipe

This pie doesn’t need to be baked, and it takes about 20 minutes to make !!!

• Bananas (duhh??? about like 2 or 3)
• Banana crème instant pudding mix
• Two cups of milk
• Graham cracker pie crust
• half a regular container of Cool Whip
• whipped cream (optional, goes on the side)

1. Get the bananas and chop them up individually to put on the bottom of the crust
2. Mix the milk with the pudding mixture in a bowl, then add the Cool Whip and keep mixing until thickened 
3. Spread the mixture on the pie crust above the bananas, refrigerate until you wanna use it, and then when you take it out, go spread whipped cream on the sides!

Strawberry

celeste reference

I thought that I would mention that every time I made this pie, it would have some sort of liquid oozing from it, and I haven’t been happy with that, so I’ve been trying to make sure that it doesn’t have such a juice coming from it. I’m just not sure how to.

(3/14/2025) Strawberry Pie #1

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Jonah Iwankow

First strawberry pie

I made this pie as I really, really wanted to make a pie for Pi Day. I remember Bugga had friends over and watched Moana 2 with them as I finished this pie. This was my first time making it, and I was happy with it, other than the fact that it was pretty juicy and kept oozing juice.

(3/29/2025) Strawberry Pie #2 

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Jonah Iwankow

second strawberry pie

Baking this pie with the raspberry one made it undercooked and oozed juice, still made it good though!! Had to throw it out when it was halfway done because nobody except me and my parents was eating it.

(4/15/2025) Strawberry Pie #3 First pie with homemade crust and crumble topping  

This pie definitely had the most effort put in, with the worst execution, unfortunately. I was at my Nona’s house, and after a brief conversation about pie and if we could make one, she taught me about pie crusts and essential details for making pies. This was great information to have, and while I messed up a lot on her steps, we ended up with a great crust…

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Jonah Iwankow

third strawberry pie, wrapped from when i tried to bring it over to my house after baking it at my nona's house

Unfortunately, we took action on her suggestion to take the pie out early because she said the pie had to be ready. The crust was amazing, but after the pie was just oozing liquid before we had even touched it, I knew it was severely underbaked (aside from the crust?). This experience left me more confused than ever on how to have a pie like this not consistently ooze so much liquid. My dad liked it, and that got me to still take a shot at having a slice; it still tastes good; the crumble top and crust definitely helped it, so I will absolutely consider incorporating it more into my pie.

My (Working) Recipe for Strawberry Pie 

I’ve made this 3 times, so this is my full knowledge on baking this.

• A carton of strawberries (recipe I used said “6 cups hulled and quartered strawberries (from 2 lbs.)” but like I’ve been fine with using a full carton)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp of kosher salt

1. Wash the strawberries before drying them with a paper towel and cutting them up into thirds
2. Get a bowl and mix the rest of the ingredients in it before adding the cut strawberries 
3. Mix the mixture and pour it into the pie crust
4. Bake at 25 minutes on 425°F, then 45 minutes on 350°F before letting it cool for about an hour or something,
5. enjoy!! Hopefully it isn’t liquidly (because every time I’ve made it, it has been oozing juice)

Raspberry

why does everyone tell me I can play minecraft on this

(3/29/2025) Raspberry Pie #1

I am the most proud of this pie, I remember cutting a slide of this pie to see it stay intact like an ACTUAL pie, then taking a first bite and instantly taking out a piece of hair out of my mouth and thinking I messed up the pie by leaving a hair in the pie, then taking another bite and getting nothing but hairless bliss made me so proud. This pie’s topping was strange, but it was undoubtedly my own, and the taste was absolutely immaculate.

I was trying to bake both a strawberry and this raspberry at the same time, and so I mixed the two baking times together to end up getting a perfect raspberry but a liquid strawberry pie… I only hope to recreate this again; I was devastated when it was just me, my mom, and my dad who took a slice. I had to throw out the pie because nobody was eating any of it. So sad…

My (Working) Recipe for Raspberry Pie 

• about 3 cartons of raspberries (it said approximately 2 pounds)
• 2/3 cup (134g) granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15ml) lemon juice
• 4 tablespoons (32g) cornstarch

1. wash and dry the raspberries before dumping them into a bowl (you could actually use a ziplock bag if you think it’s strong enough !!!) with the rest of the ingredients already mixed
2. Carefully stir together raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Pour into the prepared pie plate
3. Bake at 15 minutes on 425°F, then 45 minutes on 375°F before letting it cool for about an hour or something.
4. enjoy!! Hopefully it isn’t liquidly 

Grasshopper

“Leprechaun!!!! Leprechaun!!!! Leprecha-UU-un!!!! Leprechaun!!!! Leprechaun!!! Yeaaaaahhh!!!!”

(4/21/25) Grasshopper Pie #1 for Easter

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Jonah Iwankow

first grasshopper pie

First time a group of people got to have a taste of my pie, and… people seemed to love it! Everyone has agreed this tastes like the Shamrock Shake from McDonald’s, even though I’m pretty sure that’s because the Shamrock Shake is the shake version of the grasshopper pie… either way, people seem to love this pie (if they have tried it). The majority of the pie was eaten, and so I’m happy this was well received, even though I wasn’t the biggest fan of this pie. 

My Grasshopper Pie Recipe

• A Row of Oreos (15 cookies to be exact)
• 3 tablespoons of melted butter
• 24 marshmallows
• 2/3 cup of half-and-half
• 1/4 cup of creme de menthe
• Two drops of green color dye
• 1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1. Plop the cookies and melted butter into a food processor, then spread them around your pan and keep them in the refrigerator until the filling is ready.
2. Start the filling by putting the half-and-half and marshmallows into a pot on the stove on medium heat until the mixture is thick and the marshmallows no longer take their shape
3. Put the pan in a bowl full of ice and water until the mixture is no longer hot, then add the creme de menthe and green color dye into the mixture
4. Bring out another large bowl to put the heavy whipping cream in to mix it hard with a mixer, pour the green mixture in once the heavy whipping cream is fluffy enough.
5. Mix the mixtures until pouring into the crust, store in the refrigerator, you got a pie >:3

Key Lime

This, as a cake, is what I imagine fruit cake tastes like

(4/21/25) Key Lime Pie #1 for Easter

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Jonah Iwankow

the fate of the key lime pie after the easter party ended

I thought it was very sweet, nobody else except my grandpa had a slice, though, so I don’t know what else I could’ve gotten for an opinion. I only remember it as sweet because of the contrast with the grasshopper pie, I recall it tasting like some variation of orange or apple juice. I think there are just better pies to make than this one, it’s not bad by any means.

My Key Lime Pie Recipe

This recipe is the same as this one, except for the optional whipped cream I made because my pie came out too small

• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 (14-ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup of key lime juice
• Graham cracker crust
• (optional) 1/3 cup of lime juice
• (optional) 1 drop of green color dye

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
2. Take the yolks out of your eggs and mix them in a bowl well before pouring the can of sweetened condensed milk and mixing it, then add the key lime juice
3. Bake the pie for 15 minutes. (next part is optional) Make whipping cream, except add lime juice and a single drop of green color dye to the mixture,
4. take the pie out, and let it cool. Then add the optional whipped cream, and enjoy !!!

Cherry

cough medicine

(4/27/25) “First” Cherry Pie

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Jonah Iwankow

a slice of my first cherry pie

I mean,,, the filling here was canned. I barely made this, and so I wouldn’t count it, considering all I did here was make a crust, and even that was weird. This was made to be a test, and i was still kind of surprised people liked it, The canned filling does not taste good, and I think you should always make the filling if you can (besides banana creme pie, because i can’t find any other way of making it without liquid ensuing).

(Barely Working) Cherry Pie Recipe

• 2 cans of cherry pie filling, then the crust ???? idk

1. Preheat the oven according to whatever it says on the cans (for me it was 420 degrees) 
2. Make the crust
3. Put that filling in, and then put a topping on
4. put it in for like 55 minutes, and then keep it cooling for like an hour before eating it,.,.,., i barely have a recipe here just use the one on the can if you wanna do what i did but i highly suggest not going and doing cans but finding a recipe thats not using canned

Chocolate Mousse

Spongeless chocolate cake

(5/3/25) First Chocolate Mousse Pie

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Jonah Iwankow

first chocolate mousse pie

Wowie, I know my sister really wanted me to make this, and she liked it. First pie I got to bring to school, and everyone seemed to like it!!! I was told that the crust wasn’t crunchy enough,, so I’m gonna try to work on that. I am very surprised how much people liked it, considering this pie was completely gone by day two. I’d say it was good, and the fact that my dad had to plop in a piece of a chocolate bar late into stirring made the filling ever-so-slightly crunchy, and it was a very welcome addition.

My Chocolate Mousse Pie Recipe

I used this recipe, but here’s the way I did it (plus how I think I could make this crust crunchier, as said previously)

• 24 Chocolate Cracker Cookies (Oreos)
• a whole container heaving whipping cream (you’ll need 4 cups)
• 12oz of dark chocolate
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• ¼ cup sugar
• (optional) chocolate shavings (by putting the bar through a cheese grater

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a 9″ springform pan that you will be putting a crust inside of by plopping the cookies and butter into a food processor, which will turn into a crunchy dust to spread along the bottom of the pan (preferably by getting parchment paper and spreading it to then put it in).
3. Put the crust in for ten minutes, and then take it out to put the filling you’re about to make in it later.
4. Chop up the chocolate and put it in the food processor (which you don’t need to whip out) alongside the 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and a pinch of kosher salt. Boil a cup of heavy cream in a stovepan, that you will gradually pour it into the food processor until the mix is melted and smooth. Then pour the mixture into a bowl, stirring occasionally.
5. Get 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and ¼ cup of sugar in a bowl to whip until nice and fluffy. You’ll pour this into the chocolate bowl, in, after folding, you pour it into your crust, refrigerate for 6 hours or more until ready
6. Whenever you’re ready, get the remaining whipping cream and whip it in a bowl alongside a teaspoon of vanilla extract. put into a plastic bag, cut the edge, and make a pretty pattern on the top of the pie (this is when you would put on the chocolate shavings)
7. Enjoy, I hope you end up liking it :3

Kool-Aid

I think the concept of a Kool-Aid pie would be funnier than a lil comment here

(4/27/25) First Kool-Aid Pie

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Jonah Iwankow

first tropical punch Kool-Aid pie when I finished it, it took like ten minutes total

Holy cow, for something made in ten minutes, this is pretty good. I say pretty good, but it’s absolutely not the pie I was hoping for. Even then, it tasted very sweet but very much like eating Kool-Aid powder while eating marshmallows. People did seem to like it, and I am happy I am able to just bring in pie like this to make. Also, this pie probably went by the fastest, even though that’s to blame for bringing a pie into school.

>any flavored powder drink mix< Pie Recipe

I find it kind of AWESOME that you can really make a pie of anything !!!! like wow,,, ANY flavored powder drink mix??? that’s kind of very cool and I can’t want to try making pie of,, really anything !!!!

• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
•  1 of any fruit-flavored drink powder mix thing (I chose Kool-Aid tropical punch)
• 1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping (Cool Whip)
•  1 pre-bought Graham cracker crust

1. Put the sweetened condensed milk in a bowl before pouring your powder mix in, mix these two, and make sure the entire mix is just one color.
2. Fold in the whipping topping, making sure it stays fluffy.
3. Pour the mix in the graham cracker crust, you could serve the pie then, but I recommend keeping it in the refrigerator until the next day.

Overview

Those are all my notes so far !!! This is not a conclusion for pie in general, but an overview of my studies and experience with baking pie thus far. Also, I don’t plan on the pies below specifically, those are just other pies I got from Google that are mostly suggestions/ideas. If you would like to comment on a pie you would want me to make and bring to school, be my guest! I hope everyone can be a little happier by having a slice of a pie.

HAAHAAHAHHAHAHAH DID YOU REALLY THINK WE WERE DONE YET!!?!??!?!?!? WE HAVEN’T EVEN GOTTEN TO MY FAVORITE PIE SO FAR!!!!!!!!!!!

Glorpberry

glorp gleep

…

So, something on my bucket list now is that I wanna make my own pie and call it a “Glorpberry Pie”. I know you shouldn’t normally think like that, but I know that there has to be some way of making a fruit pie that is new, like maybe not a new taste (because that’s probably impossible in this time and age) but another installment in the series of pies like strawberry, grape, and raspberry pies. Making that Kool-Aid pie made me realize that it is possible to make any kind of pie ever (at least any cream pie that is), but I could combine raspberry with some other food to bring in a new taste for food pie, something that could go even better with ice cream in a good melted crust.

That’s actually the end of this article, you can go home now.