Each pie can take Jessica anywhere from two hours to four days to make. It all depends on the complexity! "I like to mix up the ingredients and recipes a lot just to try new things, but as we end up eating most of these pies at home, we do tend to fall back to a few favorites!" Jessica told us about the recipes that she uses.
"I have a Halloween pie open collaboration going on now, and through the month of October where folks can post their own #MonsterPie for a chance to win a signed copy of my pie art book Pie Modding. I’m already blown away by the work people are posting! So creative and spooky," the pie artist others to join the baking fun.
Jessica told us that anyone in need of some baking tips should visit her Instagram page where she keeps all of her how-to videos in her featured stories. Handy for anyone trying out something pie-related. "I have recipes, tips, in depth tutorials, as well as fun challenges for people to take part in. And I always try my best to respond to messages and questions folks send me about their bakes. It makes me really happy to see the photos of pies they’ve made from my tutorials—especially at holiday times!"
One of the best things about Jessica’s philosophy is that she doesn’t have baking secrets—she’s very open about everything and wants to draw as many people into the delicious world of pastry as she can. The self-taught baker also has a bunch of baking tutorials on her social media, so go check them out if you’re short on dark ideas for All Hallow’s Eve.
Jessica previously revealed to Bored Panda all about her baking background. She started baking pies for dietary reasons around 5 years ago. That was the start of her culinary journey.
“I had made a New Year’s Resolution not to eat any refined sugar or sugar substitutes for a year and became really desperate for some form of dessert that I could actually eat without cheating,” she said.
“I knew that I could theoretically make a decent tasting pie using just apples, spices, and unsweetened shortcrust pastry… I just had no experience in the kitchen. At that point in time, I’d only ever used my oven to bake polymer clay figures. But I was determined, so I bought a box of Crisco, followed the instructions on the packet, and made my first pie. And it was pretty good!”
She’d cut out the shape of a dragon on top of the pie and her family thought it was neat. So she kept making artsy designs for her pie tops. And the rest, as they say, is history. In more ways than one. “As I searched online for inspiration, I discovered that the art of decorative pie baking fell out of fashion about 200 years ago, and I kind of took it as a challenge to resurrect the art form,” she pointed out.
Jessica takes pie art very seriously. To her, it isn’t just a fad. It’s her way of expressing her love of food, discovering new cultures, flavors, and techniques. She also uses baking as a way to improve herself creatively and intellectually, as well as to bond with other people. What’s more, it’s a great way to eat desserts while staying healthy! But most of all, pie art is about having fun.
