On Valentine’s Day 2019, I baked a most delicious cat-themed pie to surprise my two humans, Blondie and Fuzzy. To this day, they recall the joy my gesture of affection brought to their hearts. They loved my Valentine Pie and they loved me for what I did.

I must confess, the original inspiration came from Samantha Meyers and her recipe in my favorite magazine, Catster. As one might suspect, I made my own changes to the recipe. Today, I will share my revised recipe with you.

Test Results & Commentary

This test kitchen event was a solo effort. Without any assistance, I successfully produced a Valentine Pie of the highest quality. That is due, in large part, to my highly developed culinary skills. I must also humbly note some small part of my success was because I closely adhered to Persnickety Pierre’s SFH-TK Philosophy. (Click here to see a summary of Pierre’s test kitchen philosophy.)

Perhaps the finest compliment that one chef can make to another chef is, “Your recipe gave me a specific goal, yet it allowed me the greatest freedom to achieve that goal.” And that most certainly was the case with Samantha Meyers’ recipe.

1. Level of the challenge:

As you might guess, this is a simple recipe. Specialized skills are not required. And that is what makes this recipe stand out. This is a dessert that can be prepared with a minimum of effort. This recipe can be the ace up your sleeve, if you forgot to buy a card or a box of candy for your Valentine. You can prepare this pie in short order. It will not fail to impress your Sweet Babboo.

2. Selection of good-quality ingredients:

To be sure, you can make your own pie crust. Please feel free to do so. However, you will have more time to devote to your Sweet Babboo, if you just use a store-bought crust. Although you could use a less expensive, generic crust like those sold by Aldi, I strongly recommend Pillsbury brand. Pillsbury crusts handle freezing better and the Pillsbury Doughboy, Poppin’ Fresh, is really cute.

3. Use of cooking techniques:

If you make your own pie crust, preparation techniques could be an issue. But the method I selected required only the most elementary of cooking techniques. For someone like Ol’ Fuzz Faze, however, I suppose opening the can of cherry pie filling or using sharp cookie cutters could become stressful or even highly dangerous.

4. Development of superior taste and flavor:

Let’s be honest. There isn’t much that a chef can do to enhance the flavor of a pie made with store-bought ingredients. Taste and flavor are pretty much built-in. There is virtually no way to add more flavor to the pie filling or the crust.

5. Presentation

In this recipe, the chef must work on eye appeal and play on the heartstrings of sentiment and romance. Of course, I excel in bringing out the best in these human emotions.

Lamplight or candlelight flickering across a perfectly golden crust and glistening on the dark red cherry filling ensure a warm response from your Babboo. If you wish to pair this with a mellow red wine, your enjoyment of this Valentine Pie will only increase. – Take it from me, this is the way cat heaven should be.

Mr. Monte's Valentine Pie

Serendipity

To surprise my two humans, Blondie and Fuzzy, I baked a most delicious, cat-themed pie on Valentine's Day 2019. To this day, they recall the joy my gesture of affection brought to their hearts. I must confess, the original inspiration came from Samantha Meyers and her recipe in my favorite magazine, Catster. Meyer's recipe stimulated my feline curiosity. It was a perfect recipe to try out in the Serendipity Farmhouse Test Kitchen.

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Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Equipment

• Selected cookie cutters — cat-themed of course! Hearts and other holiday shapes add to visual appeal. I used cat-shaped and heart-shaped cutters

Ingredients

  

• 1 Pie crust, homemade or store-bought. Enough for both the bottom and the top of the pie. I used Pillsbury pie crust
• 1 can Pie filling I used Aldi's Baker's Corner Cherry Pie Filling

Instructions

 

• If using a pie crust recipe, follow instructions for that recipe.
• Divide dough in half.
• Construct the bottom crust and and add pie filling.
• Roll out the top pie crust, make it thin but ensure that it is thick enough to pick it up. (If the dough is too soft, chill until it’s firm enough to roll.)
• Using your cookie cutters, cut out shapes for the edges and center of your pie.
• Place the remainder of the top crust on the pie and join with the bottom crust.
• Arrange the cutout shapes on the top of the pie. - Be creative!
• Bake pie as instructed by recipe on the pie filling label or from any other suitable pie recipe.

Keyword Cherry pie, Valentine pie