Throw a pie party (and eight pie recipes worth a try)

Opportunities in life to have as much pie as you like are far too few. One way to fix this is to bake a lot of pie and invite a bunch of people over to dig in.

I made nine pies last week (froze a raspberry-blueberry jumble pie for future days) and my mom made three (lemon meringue, strawberry chiffon, and black raspberry). On Saturday, we got a gang of aunts and uncles and assorted pals together and feasted. It was so, so much fun.

Here is the rundown:

Crust: Despite the bevy of anxiety-ridden service journalism out there on the topic, pie crust is not hard to make. Much like raising kids, people do it well in all kinds of circumstances and situations with a range of different inputs. The only trick to getting good at it is being willing to be bad (or so-so) at it until you figure it out. The recipe I use for one double-crust pie is one 8.8 oz/250g brick of frozen butter (I like TJ's cultured salted butter here), grated on a box grater (one of these gloves is handy for knuckle protection), 313g plain AP flour, 2 tsp of sugar, a pinch of salt + ice water as needed to bind it all together (about half a cup, but it depends on the humidity). Pie crust keeps well in the fridge or freezer, which means you can make a lot in advance (perfect for strategizing a party). When the recipe calls for blind-baking, I use Stella Park's low-and-slow sugar + foil method.

Baker by Nature foolproof cherry pie: Was skeptical of the cooked filling methodology/outcome (quite gloppy!), but it was a crowd favorite.

Hoosier sugar cream (Serious Eats): A classic desperation pie (made without fruit). Mine turned out darker than the photo because I used a richer, less-processed dark brown sugar, but it was a sleeper hit—creamy and rich, and vaguely reminiscent of brown sugar Pop Tart. Could adjust the filling to make it spicier.

Blueberry (Sally's Baking Addiction): Somehow a little lemon and cinnamon make blueberries their best selves. Best to make ahead and let sit; fabulous cold for breakfast.

Blackest berry galette (Jerrelle Guy by way of David Leibowitz): One of the best pies I have ever made. I left out the cassis (didn't have it), used my own crust, and baked it in a pie plate. Might need to make weekly as long as the blackberries are in season. Exceptional breakfast pie.

Rustic plum galette (Once Upon a Chef): Plums (like apricots and blackberries) just love to be cooked. The layer of almonds here adds nice subtle crunch.

Gingersnap key lime (Nea Arentzen): Used TJ's triple-ginger gingersnaps for the crust and rustled up some real key limes; spicy, vaguely floral + refreshing.

Triple Coconut Cream Pie (Dahlia Bakery by way of Smitten Kitchen): My dad and kid are MASSIVE coconut cream pie fans, and this is my go-to coconut cream; it slaps.

Pioneer Woman's French Silk pie: I make this decadent crowd-pleaser at least a couple of times a year for family parties; it's an easy one to whip up if you have a mixer. I use pasteurized eggs, since they don't get cooked.