Making a pie can be as easy as...pie!

"Easy as Pie" is a slogan that we all catch ourselves using...but have you ever made a pie from scratch?  It's not all that easy.  The crust is finicky requiring you to use the correct temperature water and butter to create the perfect flake, and you have to make the filling just right to ensure that it does not all run out the second you cut a piece.  After a bit of research, it turns out that the phrase "easy as pie" does not actually refer to the making of the pie as most people think, but the eating of the pie.  That makes a little more sense, a dollop of ice cream and a spoon is all you need!

Of course, there is nothing better than a homemade pie, still a little warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream on top.  For those of you do not find making a pie from scratch "easy as pie" we have come up with some great alternatives! 

Our Wild Maine Blueberry Pie Filling is a new product that was just launched in June, and is our Product of the Month for the month of August.  We took the sweet Wild Maine Blueberries, combined them with the necessary ingredients for a perfect pie filling and all you need to do is empty the jar into a prepared pie crust.  And after a recent experience of picking wild Maine blueberries, I have a new appreciation for this pie filling!  This new pie filling, paired with our Pie Crust Mix allows baking the pie to be "easy as pie" too.  And if you are looking to make it even easier, try baking mini pies in an electric pie maker.

In addition to our Wild Maine Blueberry Pie Filling, we have recently launched a Mixed Berry Pie Filling that combines the most popular berries of summer; cherries, blueberries, red raspberries and strawberries.  Our Apple Pie Filling is made with fresh apples with a touch of cinnamon and spice and our Pumpkin Pie Filling is a hit during the fall months, which as much as we don't want to admit it, are right around the corner! 

If you are up to the challenge of creating a pie from scratch, we have some great recipes on our website;

Apple Pie with Fig & Walnut Butter

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Chocolate Strawberry Jam Filled Vanilla Cupcakes & Giveaway

Update:  We have a winner!

Congratulations to Michelle - Please comment back within the next 48 hours with your contact information so we can mail you your choice of Chocolate Jam and Cupcake Mix! (your comment with contact information will not appear below)

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Before beginning my internship at Stonewall Kitchen I was familiar with the products having used them growing up in the area.

Interested to see what the latest and greatest products were before beginning my internship, I went to the best source I could think of; social media.  Much to my surprise, the first thing I found was new Chocolate Jams in three different flavors – Strawberry, Raspberry, and Banana – absolutely taking over their Facebook page. As a lover of food, like most of the employees here, you can imagine my excitement. Even more than I love food, I love to bake, and also happen to be guilty of watching most of the cupcake shows currently on TV. So, unsurprisingly, I got the idea to bake cupcakes filled with one of these new, sure to be delicious, chocolate fruited jams. Hoping that it would demonstrate I had indeed done my research, I even made a point to bring up the jams and the cupcake idea during my interview.


I’ve never baked with any kind of gluten free mix before and do not have a gluten intolerance, but I decieded to go with the Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcake Mix. Here it goes… Hopefully they taste as good as I’m expecting! 


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Halfway through making the batter! At this point, I had put in the butter and mixed it with some of the cupcake mix, then added the milk and egg before adding the rest of the mix to all be blended together.

Here’s the finished mix and the cupcake tins filling up 

I had a feeling this method wouldn’t work, but I couldn’t resist trying it… On a few of the cupcakes we filled the tray part way, put in some Chocolate Strawberry Jam, and then topped it off with a little more batter to try to bake the filling into the cupcake. 

Ready to go into the oven

And, fresh out of the oven! 

Cutting out the center, so far they look great to me. And licking the spoon after I finished filling them was a delicious decision. 

After letting the cupcakes cool for a while and filling them with jam, I was finally able to frost them. The mix that came with the cupcakes was sweet and sugary!

Now for the results of the experiment. The cupcake on the left is the one I tried to bake the jam filling into; apparently the consistencies didn't work well together because as you can see, the jam somehow made it to the bottom of the cupcake. The one on the right was the successful cored cupcake; we just scooped out the middle of the cupcake with a small knife and drizzled the jam into it.

Finally, here is a close up of the successfully cored cupcake. As you may have guessed it was a little messy to eat, but still sweet and tasty all the same!

If you love baking anywhere near as much as I do, which is a lot, I highly encourage you to try a project like this. So much so that we are going to offer a free Chocolate Jam (your choice on flavor) and one of our cupcake mixes to try! 

Giveaway!

What you will win

• (1) Jar of our new Chocolate Jam - your choice from the following flavors:  Chocolate Banana, Chocolate Strawberry and Chocolate Raspberry
• (1) Box of our cupcake mix - your choice from the following flavors:
• Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting
• Chocolate Cupcake with Vanilla Bean Frosting
• Chocolate Coconut Frosting
• Gluten Free Vanilla Cupcake with Vanilla Frosting
• Gluten Free Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting

How to Enter

Mandatory:  Let us know what flavor combinations of cupcake and jam sounds best in our comments below! 

Additional Entries: 

• Like us on Facebook
• Share our giveaway with your friends via Facebook or Twitter
• Follow us on Twitter:  @StonewalKitchen
• Follow us on Pinterest

Remember, each extra entry must be left in a separate comment. A winning comment will be chosen at random. If an email, twitter handle or other way to be contacted is not included the winner will be announced and asked to comment back leaving their contact information (this will not be published). Winner has 48 hours to reply and claim their prize.

Giveaway ends on Monday, July 30, 2012 at 12:00PM EST

Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize. US residents only, please no employee entries.