ModernDomestic

Pie Party

by moderndomestic on May 2, 2012

If any of you are in the DC area, you should stop by Whisked!’s one year anniversary party on Tuesday, May 8, from 6-9pm at The Black Squirrel in Adams Morgan (2427 18th Street NW). I’ll be giving out free pie slices while supplies last – so the early birds will be rewarded with pie.

I could write a very, very long post about everything I learned in the first year of business. I learned about things like the proper way to put up a tent, what people will pay for a cookie, and the best way to weigh down pie crusts when you’re par-baking them. I learned about how to enter a deposit in Quickbooks, what people will pay for wholesale cookies, and why local apples rock. And I learned about a whole bunch of other things – many things, I’m sure, I won’t even be fully aware of until years later. I could write more, but I need to prep for our baking session tomorrow. We’re going to have a big day, since 14th and U starts up again on Saturday and I need to get everything ready.

In any event, come to the party and help us celebrate our first year in business! RSVP on Facebook.

All The New Flavors

by moderndomestic on April 28, 2012

Shaker lemon pie was my favorite pie we did for the CSA.

The first Pie CSA I opened to the general public, which ran from January to April, just had its last pick up yesterday. People signed up to receive two six inch pies every other week – one sweet and one savory. A big part of the program is that the pies were all off-menu flavors – things that we had never sold before, and weren’t selling on the rest of the site.

I decided to have off-menu flavors as a personal challenge to myself – it forced me to come up with new pie flavors every other week. But I didn’t quite realize what a project it was going to be – constantly thinking of and testing new pie flavors took a ton of time and creative energy. Always doing new recipes meant that I never quite knew how the recipe would go when I scaled it up – the yields could be off, or quiches might need a couple more eggs to set properly. Making components I had never made before could be dicey – the first time I made dulce de leche, I didn’t cook it long enough and it wouldn’t set up. On the other hand, it forced me outside my creative comfort zone, and now I have 18 more pie flavors in our recipe book. I can also make a killer dulce de leche. All in all, this was a good choice for this winter.

Would I do off menu flavors again? Maybe – but only when my company is a lot bigger. About halfway through the winter I realized I was spending all this time developing these new recipes, but couldn’t sell them to the general public. If I’m going to put so much energy into a project, I’d like it to potentially increase my sales. Other pie shops that do off-menu flavors for subscribers – like the Three Babes Bakeshop – have a bigger staff. With three owners, one of you can come up with new flavors, and two of you can focus on the regular menu. But there’s only one of me.

And now, because I want to feel like I accomplished something, here’s all the pie flavors we did for the CSA over the winter. For the record, my favorite flavors were the ones for January 20.

January 6
Sweet: Yogato Sweet Po-tah-to (sweet potato with a cream cheese swirl)
Savory: Cheddar and Broccoli Quiche

January 20
Savory: Leek, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Tart
Sweet: Shaker Lemon Pie

February 3
Savory: Fig, Stilton, and Caramelized Onion Tart
Sweet: Maple, Apple and Quince Pie

February 17
Savory: Spinach, Feta and Olive Quiche
Sweet: Cranberry and Vanilla Custard Pie

March 2
Savory: Scalloped Sweet Potato and Blue Cheese Tart
Sweet: Apple Blackberry Pie

March 16
Savory Pie: Shepherd’s Pie
Sweet Pie: Banoffee Pie

March 30
Savory Pie: Kale Quiche
Sweet Pie: Pineapple Almond Right-Side-Up Pie

April 13
Savory Pie: Apple, Onion and Gruyere Tart
Sweet Pie: Grasshopper Pie

April 27
Sweet: Pear Dulce De Leche
Savory: Scalloped Red Potato and Onion Tart

What Makes Something “Local?”

April 17, 2012

I really liked this piece from The Post about why Qualia Coffee, a local coffee roaster, isn’t allowed to sell at some farmers’ markets in the DC area. The reason? Because, although Qualia roasts the coffee locally, the beans themselves aren’t locally sourced (literally, they can’t be grown in this climate). I think this is [...]

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Pies and the new Pie CSA Subscription

April 11, 2012

The big thing that happened this week is that I changed the way we sell our pies. I have been agonizing over this decision for months – getting feedback from friends and customers, talking to Soupermom, playing out all the scenarios in my head. A lot of the people I talked to were like “Dude, [...]

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Rhubarb

April 7, 2012

I was going to write about all the updates I made to the site today. Because I did make a lot of updates to the site and I’d love it if you’d check them out and let me know if you love and/or hate them. But when I sat down to write, I realized that [...]

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Second Place Feels Like First

April 4, 2012

I put this all over Facebook last week, but Whisked! came in second for “Best Pie” in the Washington City Paper’s “Best of DC” Poll. I was seriously thrilled with second place – like, Whisked! is a virtual entity (especially in the winter, when we’re not at the markets), and our reach is smaller than [...]

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Hello Again

March 28, 2012

There have been many, many people asking me when I’m going to get back to writing. And not just my parents (although, okay, they are one of the top people). I’m not going to promise that I can post all the time, but I’ve missed this space and I have so much going on, and [...]

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Easy Picture-Perfect Ice Cream Sandwiches

August 1, 2011

I don’t write about the stuff I bake for Spilled Milk all that often, because it’s usually the same things over and over again. I mean, how many times do you really want to hear I made 175 mini cupcakes? But last week we had a media tasting for a bunch of DC food writers [...]

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Community Supported Pie

July 22, 2011

About a month ago, I read about a new trend sweeping the nation – Pie CSAs. Yes, just like a CSA from a farm, people sign up for a “share” from a bakery where they’ll get a different pie every week. I thought this sounded pretty awesome. So, this is one of the good parts [...]

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Our First Market

May 8, 2011

We did it. We had our first Whisked! market. I will never again look at a farmer’s market stand in the same way. Whenever I see a stand I will think “Hmmm, how did they get their stuff there? What kind of van do they have? What kind of tent weights do they use?” The [...]