You should never be afraid to try a new recipe. It will either work or it won’t. If it doesn’t, you can either change it up and try again or forget it. The decision is yours.
I tried a new recipe last night. I baked a pear pie for my coworker’s birthday. While his pear pie was baking, I decided to bake something I’d never tried before. I baked a strawberry jam pie.
It was a beautiful pie. The crust was a perfect golden brown, and the happy red color bubbled through the slits I made to allow the pressure to release. The aroma of strawberry sweetness filled my entire house.
My husband didn’t think strawberry jam pie sounded good at all. To be honest, he doesn’t really like pie, so he’s not a great judge. Therefore, I was anxious for the opinions of my coworkers. I posted about the pies on Facebook, so they knew I’d been baking. When I brought both pies in the door, I was instantly the center of attention.
The guys cut both pies, and many took a slice of each. The first comment I heard was, “Wow, this stuff is sweet!” Then I heard, “This pie is sweet enough to hurt your teeth.”
I took a small slice of each pie and took a healthy bite of jam pie. To say the strawberry jam pie was sweet is the understatement of the year. It was the most nauseatingly sweet thing I’ve ever tasted. The flavor was good, but the sweetness was just too cloying.
Some people would give up and write the recipe off as a bad one. Not me. I think I can tinker with it to make amazing. I plan to increase the lemon juice and corn starch for starters. I’m also thinking about using store-bought jam instead of my homemade jam. Perhaps the flavor of jam should be changed. I may try it with orange marmalade or blackberry jam.
I don’t bake pie every day. It is one of my favorite things to bake, though. Every step of baking a pie relaxes me and calms my spirit. One bad pie isn’t going to deter me, though. Instead, I’m motivated to fix the recipe. When I have perfected it, I will share it here with you.
The good news is that everyone loved my pear pie. I’ve been baking that particular kind of pie for over 30 years, and I can confidently say it’s one of my best. Thank you for reading Ozarks Maven! If you’ve enjoyed my little seeds of wisdom and joy, please subscribe to Ozarks Maven, Like Ozarks Maven on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter @OzarksMaven.
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