A pie is a sweet or savory baked dish with a crust and a filling. Dessert pies may be baked or chilled. They are usually made in a pie pan. They feature a variety of crusts made from pastry dough, graham cracker crumbs or cookie crumbs. Savory pies are baked and generally served hot. These have crusts made from pastry dough, biscuit dough or corn bread. They are often made in a casserole or baking dish. Pies are thought to have originated in England during the fourteenth or fifteenth century.

Chiffon pies are single-crust chilled pies with a light, airy filling made by folding whipped cream or stiffly beaten egg whites into a gelatin-, cream- or cream cheese-based mixture.

Cream pies are single-crust chilled pies with a rich, sweet puddinglike filling. They are usually topped with meringue, whipped cream or fruit.

Custard pies are single-crust baked pies with a sweet, rich custard filling made from eggs and milk.

Frozen pies have a single crust. They are filled with an ice cream, cream cheese or chiffon filling.

Fruit pies may have single or double crusts. They are filled with fresh, canned or frozen fruit and baked.

Pot pies are baked with a single bottom or top crust or both. They are filled with a mixture of meat or poultry, vegetables and gravy.

Quiches are single-crust baked pies with a savory custard filling that includes cheese and often seafood or meat and vegetables. They are baked in either a pie pan or a specialty quiche pan.

Do not fill the pie crust with fruit filling until just before baking as the bottom crust can become soggy. To make ahead, cover filling and crust separately and refrigerate until ready to bake.

• To prevent major oven cleanups, place juicy fruit pies on a baking sheet when baking.
• For double-crust pies, cut slits in the top crust to allow the steam to escape during baking.
• If the pie crust is browning too quickly, cover the edges with strips of aluminum foil. An alternative is to cut the bottom out of a foil pie pan and invert it over the pie.
• Common thickeners for fruit pies are flour, cornstarch and tapioca. Flour gives the filling a more opaque appearance, while cornstarch and tapioca create a translucent filling.

To avoid messy spills, place the pie crust in the oven, then pour in the filling.

• To test for doneness, insert the blade of a tableware knife about one inch from the center. If the knife comes out clean, the pie is done.

• To bake an unfilled pastry crust, pierce the crust with the tines of a fork at 1/4-inch intervals. Cut a square of foil about 4 inches larger than the pie plate. Line the crust with the foil. Fill with dried beans, uncooked rice or ceramic pie weights. Partially bake the crust, then gently remove the foil lining and beans. Continue to bake until the crust is lightly brown. Cool the beans; store them in an airtight container in a cool, dry place and reuse them as pie weights.
• To prevent a baked crust from becoming soggy, cool it before filling it with a cool filling.
• When cutting cream pies, the slices will cut better if the knife is wiped with a damp cloth or paper towel between cuts.

When storing pies, remember that any type made with eggs or dairy products, such as chiffon, cream and custard pies, should always be kept refrigerated. Fruit pies may be stored at room temperature for a day or two. After that they should also be refrigerated.