And while my hand has hovered over the “Like” I haven’t been able to click. It’s not endorsement of the piece as agreement — I’d “Recommend” it, but liking takes it to another level.

What people might not expect is that I agree with several points Heller makes. Let’s face it; there’s a lot of crappy pie out there. Whether it’s made by someone who is inexperienced or just doesn’t care or commercially cranked out and over processed, pie is often bad. It’s tricky, and most people aren’t up to the patience required and practice needed to learn to make a good from-scratch, tender, flaky crust.

Since Heller focuses on fruit pies, that’s part of the issue as well. Think about it; millions of shortcut artists are using canned fillings with pre-made, store-bought crusts. That’s NOT PIE! For a good fruit pie — and I would bet that there’s a tiny percentage of Americans who have had a really good homemade fruit pie and far fewer who can make one — the fruit must (and it seems ridiculous to me to have to write this) be FRESH. If it’s locally-sourced, even better.

My friend Brian “The Food Geek” Geiger once made a pie from apples picked that morning. That apple pie is legendary and led to Brian’s current status as the best pie maker in Charlottesville, Va. (feel free to argue/challenge this) and the head judge of the Charlottesville Pie Fest.

After crusts that are out of balance or not pre-baked, par-baked or otherwise properly prepared to receive their fillings, it’s the fillings themselves that cause the downfall of many a pie. Heller complains about runny pies bleeding cooked fruit. It is a carefully measured mixture that results in the non-gloppy, sweet and tart filling that holds together without being gluey. It doesn’t surprise me at all that Heller, perhaps, has never experienced a really good slice of pie. (Dear Nathan, please join us for Pie Fest or let me know if you’re ever in Charlottesville.)

Besides characterizing pie as a completely disgusting concoction, Heller criticizes pie’s claim as being American. It’s not. Neither is pizza, as we know it, Italian. Or the Chinese food we bring home in takeout boxes remotely Asian. The history of pie is much older than our country, naturally, and the evolution has taken the path of so many “Americanized” items — we’ve ruined it in the effort to mass-produce, speed up and create a product made for travel. Yuck.

The best pie, the pie that, in my book counts as pie, was made in a home, with love, with the best, freshest, regionally and seasonally-appropriate ingredients. The best pie takes a lot of time and not a little effort. It is made by those who have made hundreds of pies, some good, some bad. It goes from ingredients to oven to plate in the shortest possible amount of time. In the best pie, you can taste the sun that ripened the fruit, the spices and flavorings pop and the crust reminds you of the grandmother you wish you’d had; the one that knew how to make a really excellent pie.

The Pie Fest was quite the fun event, with front page coverage from the Charlottesville Daily Progress the following day and TV coverage from CBS-19, The Newsplex.

Friends and photographers captured some great shots from the day, made ever more beautiful by the setting — a de-sanctified sanctuary and the home of The Haven, our community’s homeless day shelter.

Also, Kathy Kildea made this fabulous time-elapsed video of the judging (after making two gorgeous coconut cream pies).

Special thanks to head judge and fellow pie-enthusiast (and former arch-nemesis) Brian Geiger aka The Food Geek for helping put this event together. Also, we couldn’t have done it without our scores of volunteers, pie bakers and attendees.

We raised some money for PACEM, a worthy cause in our community, we made some new friends and had the chance to gather a lot of really wonderful people and of course, we had some really good pie.

Butterscotch Pecan Pie

One 9″ flaky pie crust. This is where people fall down on the job. I like this recipe and in fact have used it for the last dozen pies or so and it’s been foolproof. If you have to buy a crust, FINE (*eyeroll*) just don’t tell me about it.

You need to partially prebake the crust. I’m telling you this now because it adds, easily, an hour to the process.

Filling:

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (none of the light stuff, now)

1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup butterscotch chips

Pinch of salt

3 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 tsps. vanilla extract

2 cups chopped pecans

I’m going to assume that your crust has been prebaked, cooled and is sitting waiting for your filling. Set your oven to 350. Warm the corn syrup, the brown sugar and the butter over low heat in a saucepan on the stovetop. Stir until the butter has melted. Remove the mixture from the heat. Add the butterscotch chips and set aside for five minutes, shaking occasionally to distribute the chips and coat them with the liquid. Add salt and whisk to smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and the yolk until frothy. Add the vanilla and continue to whisk. Add the hot liquid and whisk until smooth. Add the pecans and stir gently to distribute. Pour filling into the cooled pie crust. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350, turning the pie 180 degrees halfway through baking.

Cool finished pie on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I didn’t win.

Whatever.

My pies still rock and nothing will stop me from baking. As I sit here, the chocolatey-bourbon scent of my signature pie is wafting from the oven. The Chocolate Town Pie, a recipe from my mother-in-law that I’ve tweaked and played with in the dozens of times I’ve made it, is still my all-time favorite pie to make and to eat.   Tonight’s pie is one I’m baking specifically for my pie guys. We’re gathering tomorrow at a secret location to talk about the next C’ville Pie Fest.

I didn’t win the last C’ville Pie Fest, either. But I contributed SEVEN pies to the community that day. So take that.

I’ll admit, some of the pies I bake don’t turn out very well, and sometimes a serious setback will keep me out of the kitchen for a bit, but I always come back and pie again.

I have met and made some seriously good friends during this year of pie-related activities. One of these friends is Mollie Cox Bryan, a kindred spirit in so many ways, and one I may not have known if it weren’t for pie. The others (Mary, Sara, Brian, Melanie, Cindy, Bill, Joe, Steve, Coy, Sean, the other Brian and oh so many more) have made this year better by their love of pie and their willingness to come together over something as simple as crust and filling.

I love you guys, almost as much as I love pie.

One 9″ flaky pie crust. This is where people fall down on the job. I like this recipe and in fact have used it for the last dozen pies or so and it’s been foolproof. If you have to buy a crust, FINE (*eyeroll*) just don’t tell me about it.

You need to partially prebake the crust. I’m telling you this now because it adds, easily, an hour to the process.

Filling:

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (none of the light stuff, now)

1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup butterscotch chips

Pinch of salt

3 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 tsps. vanilla extract

2 cups chopped pecans

I’m going to assume that your crust has been prebaked, cooled and is sitting waiting for your filling. Set your oven to 350. Warm the corn syrup, the brown sugar and the butter over low heat in a saucepan on the stovetop. Stir until the butter has melted. Remove the mixture from the heat. Add the butterscotch chips and set aside for five minutes, shaking occasionally to distribute the chips and coat them with the liquid. Add salt and whisk to smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and the yolk until frothy. Add the vanilla and continue to whisk. Add the hot liquid and whisk until smooth. Add the pecans and stir gently to distribute. Pour filling into the cooled pie crust. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350, turning the pie 180 degrees halfway through baking.

Cool finished pie on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Then came the Pie Down.

Undaunted, I continued to bake, even making a Peaches n’ Cream pie and a Smoothest Peanut Butter Pie for an event attended by his highness, The Food Geek who found them delicious.

Last Friday, I took the day off work and for 13 hours baked myself silly, creating seven total pies. Three of them were entered into C’ville Pie Fest, three were donated to the raffle to benefit PACEM and one (due to family demand) stayed at home.

The C’ville Pie Fest was nothing short of amazing — 27 bakers, more than 30 pies, a star-studded panel of judges and lots of money raised for a wonderful charity.

No, I didn’t win. (Sigh.) But I’ll have you know that two of the judges awarded perfect scores for my Butterscotch Pecan Pie, so put that on your fork and eat it.

Listen to Coy Barefoot and Brian Wheeler describe my Butterscotch Pecan pie.

And look at these tweets from @cmaisannes

Of course, I (and the other 26 bakers) owe it all to this guy, the undisputed King of Pie:

Next year, we’re going statewide — so be on the watch for Virginia Pie Fest — and yes, I’ll be back for the win.

All right — just this ONE LAST THING then I will shut up about pie already — until the fall. Enjoy! (Thanks, for the gazillionth time, to @stevewhitaker for this video and for just being Steve.)