Chocolate Meringue Pie, Coconut Cream Pie and some Viral PB&J RKTs

Hi hi peeps. Today’s letter features two no-bake pies and a no-bake treat, as “no-bake” seemed the right direction to go in, in light of the steamy weather happening – kind of everywhere, if I am not mistaken. Specifically, I’ll be sharing recipes for Chocolate Meringue Pie, Coconut Cream Pie (each with no-bake crusts; yes, I think of everything and yes, you’re welcome) and a recipe for PB&J Rice Krispies Treats - the reel of which I made for these has 2.3 MILLION views (and counting - thank you very much). 

But before I get into why you need to make these three no-bake items stat (see below, if you’re feeling impatient), I gotta give you the old PLEASE PREORDER MY NEW BOOK spiel, as well as direct you to the “please subscribe to my paid letter” button, see below (‘cause subscribing not only gives you all the inside scoop about the book, but also gets you an exclusive recipe FROM the book).

Salty Cheesy Herby Crispy Snackable Bakes is not only the easy-peasy savory baking book you did not know you were missing, but ordering it now (if you think you might be doing so in the future anyway) helps insure the book’s success in more ways than you can imagine. Including the fact that booksellers feel inspired to stock their shelves with this purple cutie only if they see peeps preordering  it now!

Oh, and want to talk live with me about the new book and ask me any and all questions you might have about it (or me)? Well,  I’ll be on TalkShopLive  - a super cool platform where peeps like me (and Oprah and Bobby Flay and Giada) sell their wares - on July 24th at 7pm EST doing just that. Check out this little preview video for more scoops on that. 

This Week’s Episode of She’s My Cherry Pie

Wow, peeps: guess who I got to speak to this week on the pod: David Lebovitz!!!! David not only has one of the most popular letters on Substack, but he also is an OG food blogger and has written a variety of fantastic dessert-focused cookbooks AND he is hilarious and smart and iconic, and I love him. You can listen to our chat here - and did I mention we go deep on brownies?! Well, we do . . . 

A Snackable Happening

The David episode going live awas indeed a highlight of last week, but another highlight was participating in the inaugural Cookbook Fest in Napa the weekend before last. Loved participating in a panel moderated by the incomparable Paula Forbes of Stained Page News and I ADORED participating in a LIVE Mythical Kitchen x Josh Scherer Last Meal event. 

Bricia Lopez, Tyler Florence, Martin Yan and I all shared our last meals with a live audience . . . and it was an honor and a privilege to do so with such heavy hitters (my last meal involves spaghetti and  meatballs and donuts, FYI).

Recipes

First up, as promised, is my No-Bake Chocolate Meringue Pie. The crust called for in this recipe is for traditional pie crust of the store-bought variety, but I want this to be a no-bake situation for you all. As such, I am hoping you will whip this baby up using a no-bake graham cracker pie crust instead, from this recipe here. But obvs, if a traditional pie crust is your jam, by all means purchase one - or make your own. No shade being thrown here . . .

The filling is chocolate pudding and the topping -  loads of meringue that is toasted before serving -  is just cloud-like heaven, if you ask me. I’m also recommending you make my No-Bake Coconut Cream Pie some time soon, as well.

This pie calls for a vanilla wafer no-bake crust that is filled with coconut pudding and topped with coconut whipped cream and is truly for all the coconut lovers in the house - in a big way.  Finally, wow: my first viral nIstagram recipe. I had a couple of viral TikTok recipe videos back in the day, but this is my first - in either platform - to have more than 2 million views. And I think it is fair to say that these PB&J Rice Krispies Treats are worth the hype.

Peanut butter flavored rice krispies treats (with the addition of some sweetened condensed milk, for extra chew) are layered along with some grape jelly and left to set. The resulting treats are the perfect combo of salty and sweet, chewy and crispy, and are just deelish. Make now, if you know what’s good for you.

Finally, TV & Books & Podcasts

Have you watched The Jinx? I think it is an excellent docuseries all about the life (and deaths) of Robert Durst, a NYC real estate heir and a convicted murderer. And I thought it was great. I binge-watched all three seasons and don’t regret a minute of it.

And honestly, it should come as no surprise that I loved it so, as true crime is weirdly my happy place. Sorry, haters. As such, I listen to true crime podcasts kind of a lot and, if you’re kind of/sort of true crime’y yourself, check out the New Yorker pod, In the Dark. I loved the Runaway Princesses season, particularly.

Finally, I am in the middle of James McBride’s The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store and cannot put it down. I love his writing, I love his characters (and there are a lot of them to love) and I love the plot, which is very much a mystery, and also not. Please read.

Alright, that’s this week’s letter. See you in two.