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Megan McArdle

Megan McArdle - Megan McArdle is a senior editor for The Atlantic who writes about business and economics. She has worked at three start-ups, a consulting firm, an investment bank, a disaster recovery firm at Ground Zero, and The Economist. She is currently on leave.
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Megan was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and yes, she does enjoy her lattes, as well as the occasional extra-dry skim-milk cappuccino. Her checkered work history includes three start-ups, four years as a technology project manager for a boutique consulting firm, a summer as an associate at an investment bank, and a year spent as sort of an executive copy girl for one of the disaster-recovery firms at Ground Zero � all before the age of 30.

While working at Ground Zero, Megan started Live From the WTC, a blog focused on economics, business, and cooking. She may or may not have been the first major economics blogger, depending on whether we are allowed to throw outlying variables such as Brad Delong out of the set. From there it was but a few steps down the slippery slope to freelance journalism. She has worked in various capacities for The Economist, where she wrote about economics and oversaw the founding of Free Exchange, the magazine's economics blog. She has also maintained her own blog, Asymmetrical Information, which moved to The Atlantic, along with its owner, in August 2007.

Megan holds a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. After a lifetime as a New Yorker, she now resides in northwest Washington, D.C., where she is still trying to figure out what one does with an apartment larger than 400 square feet.

The Cutest Trend in Pie Baking: Mason Jars

By Megan McArdle
Jun 21 2011, 4:00 PM ET Comment

[Courtney Knapp]

I love pie.

Every March 14, I make a pi pie. In college, the only sorority I wanted to join was Pie Pie Pie. And my dinner parties always end with something flaky, buttery and fruit stuffed.

It's okay if you don't like pie. You can skip this post and leave your slice on the plate. I will eat it. Nathan Heller this means you!

My favorite recent advancement in pie is to bake mini pies into half-pint mason jars. (You don't need the mini pie maker Megan scoffed at in December)


Pie1.jpg

These pies are easy, delicious and adorable.

Mini pies use the same dough and filling as big pies. In most cases, the ingredients for your favorite pie will yield about four or five mini pies in jars (however I have heard of cases were the baker was forced to eat extra filling on top of ice cream while waiting for her mini pies to bake...)

Since it is the first official day of summer, I recommend making Strawberry Rhubarb Pie but Michigan Tart Cherry Pie is another excellent choice.

My favorite recipe for pie crust is here and if you go the store-bought route, Serious Eats recommends Trader Joe's pie crust.

Both Not Martha and Our Best Bites have mini-pie tutorials but here are the basics:

Once you've gathered your ingredients all you need to do is roll out your dough, using the ring of the mason jar cut out tops. Use the remaining dough to line the jars. The half-pint jars I use need about half a cup of filling. Add the filling, put on the tops and press the dough together to seal. Lattice, fun vents and crumbly toppings are all encouraged.

Bake your mini pies at 375 degrees for 45 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the middles are bubbling.

As a bonus, these mini pies can be frozen and baked whenever you need a fresh serving of pie. When your mini pies have been assembled just place metal lids on, seal them tight and stick your min pies in the freezer. The Our Best Bites tutorial recommends putting frozen pies in the oven without preheating to give the jars a chance to warm up slowly, and then baking for an additional 5 to 15 minutes.

I don't know how long they last in the freezer but they only last about two weeks at my house.

Enjoy!




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