Cookbook Club: The Book on Pie

Bake up the best sweet, savory, fruity, and creamy pies with Erin McDowell.

Award-winning food stylist, baking consultant, author, and an all-around amazing human being, Erin Jeanne McDowell does it all. With a roster of clients from NY Times Cooking and Food Network Kitchen to Food 52 and baking guru Rose Levy Beranbaum, her most impressive attributes are her infectious enthusiasm and her ability to teach anyone how to improve their baking skills. Watch just 2 minutes of her series, Bake it Up a Notch, and you’ll quickly understand what I mean.

In her first book, The Fearless Baker, Erin taught us the how’s and why’s behind baking in order to give us the utmost confidence in the kitchen. Back again with The Book on Pie, she continues her teaching through pies and tarts.

The book was released just before the holidays, but I am thrilled to re-introduce her work during the peak of summer fruit pie season. Hello Roasted Strawberry, Deep Dish Berry Cobbler, Fresh Watermelon, and Cherry Clafoutis Pies! Her chapter on cream, chiffon, and cold-set pies might be the …