Mini Pie Maker

If you follow food trends, you might have heard that cupcakes are so 2010. It's all about pie now, people. Considering how much time I've been spending at Dub Pies and Four & Twenty Blackbirds lately, these food forecasters seem to be on to something. If I lived somewhere that didn't have such good options, I would have begged for Breville's mini pie maker for Christmas. A machine that can make four pies (sweet or savory!) in eight minutes sounds pretty awesome to me. Apparently, others agree since I can't find a single site that has it in stock. I don't have space for another kitchen gadget and clearly don't need more reasons to eat pie, but I still signed up to get notified when it's available again. Just in case.

Photos from Williams-Sonoma

Dub Pies

Decaf mocha lattes from Dub Pies have been keeping me warm this winter. I  just wish I didn't feel like a bull in a china shop every time I go there with my kids. Getting in with a double stroller is kind of tricky since the door opens into the shop and not toward the street and once we're finally in, we take up half the place. On most visits, I feel like that Mom. I could always go to Connecticut Muffin across the street, but everything at Dub is so much better. Good thing Prospect Park is nearby. I get my mocha to go, and usually a few of their flaky and filling New Zealand-Australian meat pies (refried beans/jalapeno and chicken thai curry on my last visit, plus a few mini ones which are perfect for kids) and enjoy everything there. For movies at The Pavilion, I like to sneak in some of their sweet treats. Anzac cookies with oats, coconut, and what seems like a lot of sugar are delicious, and I'm hoping the mini fruit mince pies will be around after the holidays, but something tells me their days are numbered.

Dub Pies
211 Prospect Park West (corner of 16th Street)
718-788-2488

Four & Twenty Blackbirds: Brooklyn's Best Pie

I've been spending a lot of time on a certain block in Gowanus. Close to the F stop on 4th Avenue, it has two important places. One spot makes Nico very happy (and though Leo is only 5 months old, he seems to enjoy it, too). The other motivates me, no matter how sleep-deprived I am, to schlep a baby and a 2 1/2 year old there almost every week.

Nico and Leo's place is Powerplay, a children's gym that has classes and an indoor playspace. Four & Twenty Black Birds, home to Brooklyn's best pie, is mine.

I've never really been a pie person. I usually crave crisps and crumbles, or brownies, cookies and cakes. But these pies are all I want lately. My favorites are filled with in-season fruits. Not sticky sweet, they have a double-crust and are sprinkled with raw sugar. On my last visit, I ordered slices of Spiced Plum Fig, Salted Caramel Apple and Plum Crumble.

Opened by two sisters from South Dakota, Four and Twenty Blackbirds is small and cozy. Some seem to come in for their morning cup of coffee while others linger at a big wooden table. The pies are perfect, but other baked goods, such as fat morning cakes stuffed with figs, or strawberries or prunes are also pretty addictive. It'd be a good place to relax with a friend and enjoy some sweets and a hot drink. For now, I get mine to go. I wait till both boys are asleep, then I heat my slice gently in the oven and eat it with some Greek yogurt on the side.

At $4.50 a slice, it's not the cheapest treat out there. After apple picking a few weeks ago, I found their Salted Caramel Apple Pie recipe and considered making it myself. Reading the instructions, I remembered that it takes a lot of time and patience to make a really good pie, especially when making your own double-crust. These days, I'll happily pay the Elsen sisters to make it for me. Again, and again, and again.

Four & Twenty Blackbirds
439 3rd Avenue (corner of 8th Street)
718-499-2917