Bakery review: Grand Traverse Pie Company

Bakery Review: Grand Traverse Pie Company - received November 2, 2023

December 3 is National Apple Pie Day so it seems like the perfect time to do this review of the Grand Traverse Pie Company, especially since I ordered 2 pies from them, both apple based.

I love pie but rarely make it myself because I've yet to master pie crust and don't have enough of an eating audience to consume multiple crust-making attempts. It's just easier to buy pies, preferably from good bakeries, not the freezer aisle at the grocery store. 

Goldbelly is my go-to for trying out small businesses and new bakeries that ship across the country. It can be a little pricey though so I have to pick my moments. Fortunately, they ran a promo that offered $20 off any purchase and Grand Traverse Pie Company was offering a buy 1, get 1 free deal. Plus, hello, free shipping. All that helped my justification efforts in paying "so much" for a couple of pies.

I went with the Apple Crumb with Pecans and Caramel and the regular Apple Crumb Pie. Before you ask how I could possibly consume 2 pies....I can't. But I was hosting another baking meetup at my house the day after I received these and all the extras go to the employees of a local nonprofit so it was a good way to try a slice from both pies and not have the rest go to waste or (my) waist.

The Apple Crumb with Pecans and Caramel was freaking amazing. I'm very picky about my pies since those calories have to be worth it. This one was. The apples were not too soft or too hard, their slight tartness was offset by the sweetness of the caramel and the not-too-soft texture of the apples went perfectly with the crunch from the pecans. Soooo good.

The crust was good too, both the bottom pie crust and the crumb topping. I'm a big fan of pie crust and it's to my eternal sorrow that I haven't been able to consistently make a good one. This one was flaky and tender.

I had tried the caramel pecan apple pie first and had the regular apple crumb pie after the baking meetup. Granted, I was already shot full of sugar by the end of the evening so perhaps I didn't have the same level of receptivity to this one. But, since I forgot to even take a picture of the apple crumb pie slice I ate, you can see I wasn't as into this pie. It was still good but compared to the pecan caramel one, this one was a little plain. If I'd had it first, I would've waxed more poetical. For the purists, this is an excellent choice. For a little pizzazz, go with the one with pecans and caramel. Either way, you can't go wrong. Happy National Apple Pie Day!

Nestle Crunch Oatmeal Cookies from Eat Move Make

Nestle Crunch Oatmeal Cookies - made dough November 9, 2023 from Eat Move Make 

1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups oats

1 1/2 cups Nestle Crunch bars, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed until creamy and well combined, 1-2 minutes.
3. Add eggs and vanilla; mix to combine.
4. Add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt on low speed, mixing until just combined.
5. Add oats and mix on low speed until combined. Add chopped Nestle Crunch bars and mix on low speed until disbursed.
6. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls and evenly space on baking sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Let cool 1 minute on baking sheet then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

I've been able to use up my leftover Halloween candy bars at a fairly good clip (thank you, pinterest, for all the recipe ideas). This one is essentially an oatmeal cookie with chopped up Nestle Crunch bars.

If you don't like your oatmeal cookies overly spiced, this one is a good option. It's only got cinnamon and nutmeg and those are in reasonable quantities. If that's still too much for you, omit the nutmeg. 

This has my hallmarks of a good oatmeal cookie recipe. It has more oats than flour and not too much spice. The dough was easy to work with and the cookies didn't spread much so they stayed reasonably thick.

I like to send oatmeal cookies in my military care packages for Soldiers Angels as they ship well and don't dry out too easily. Plus the oats give them a heartiness beyond the regular sugar-sweetness of a chocolate chip cookie.

The chopped up Nestle Crunch bars also worked well in this cookie. They provided both sweetness and a little crunch to the cookies. The chocolate didn't melt or puddle as much as I expected. Instead they behaved more like chocolate chips which were soft and melty while the cookies were warm but solidified again once cool.

I'll have to remember all these recipes for next year if I end up with a lot of excess Halloween candy bars again. So far all the recipes I've tried for using them up turned out pretty well. This one was no exception.

Reese's Overloaded Peanut Butter Cookies from Tastes of Lizzy T

Reese's Overloaded Peanut Butter Cookies - made dough November 10, 2023 from Tastes of Lizzy T 

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups quartered mini Reese's peanut butter cups

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together peanut butter and butter until well blended.
3. Beat in the sugar, baking powder and baking soda until combined. Beat in egg then vanilla until combined.
4. Add flour and mix on low speed until just combined. Fold in the peanut butter cups and mini chocolate chips.
5. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls and evenly space onto baking sheets. Press cookies slightly with the bottom of a round glass dipped in granulated sugar.
6. Bake for 10 minutes; do not overbake. Let cool on baking sheets for 3-5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Alrighty, peanut butter and chocolate lovers, step on up. Any good peanut butter cookie recipe will do if you want to use up leftover Reese's peanut butter cups but I liked this recipe for how thick they stayed.

They're not as delicate or crumbly as some peanut butter cookies tend to be but they're not super soft fragile either. Actually, they were perfect to send in military care packages as they were sturdy. I vacuum sealed them first and wedged them into the shipping boxes so hopefully they won't arrive as crumbs.

Texture-wise, they're similar to a good chocolate chip cookie but flavored with peanut butter. I wish I was more crazy for peanut butter so I could sing more praises about this cookie. It's good, don't get me wrong, and my niece's boyfriend, who loves peanut butter, would probably love these. 

So if you love peanut butter and chocolate, give these a try. 

Butterfinger Cookies from Cookies and Cups

Butterfinger Cookies - made dough November 7, 2023 from Cookies and Cups 

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups chopped Butterfinger bars

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. Add egg, egg yolk, vanilla, baking soda and salt, mixing until combined. Scrape down bottom and sides of bowl to keep mixture even textured.
4. Add flour in two additions, mixing on low speed after each addition, until just combined. Stir in chopped Butterfingers.
5. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls. Evenly space on baking sheets and bake for 8-9 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Let cookies rest on baking sheets for 3 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

I could almost become a fan of Butterfingers as long as I only use them in cookie baking. And if I wanted something flavored with peanut butter.

These were delicious and a great way to use up the leftover candy bars I still have from Halloween. Butterfingers just crumble when being chopped though so I tried to leave bigger pieces or else I'd end up with Butterfinger dust instead of chunks. They baked up nicely in this cookie and were easy to swirl to round cookies after baking since they didn't stick like Baby Ruths did.

You can see they also didn't spread too much, although the swirling not only neatens up the edges but also makes the cookies a tad thicker.

Wait until the cookies cool completely before eating or at least to lukewarm when the Butterfingers have had time to re-solidify. That adds a crispness back to the cookies and improves the texture.

Baby Ruth Pudding Cookies from Fun with the Fullwoods

Baby Ruth Pudding Cookies - made dough November 1, 2023 from Fun with the Fullwoods

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 3.4-ounce package instant vanilla pudding

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1-2 cups Baby Ruth bars, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mix fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined, 1-2 minutes. Add dry vanilla instant pudding mix and mix to combine.
4. Add eggs and vanilla; mix to combine.
5. Add dry ingredients in two additions, beating on low speed after each addition, until just combined.
6. Fold in chopped Baby Ruth bars. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls and flatten slightly. Evenly space on baking sheets. Bake 8-12 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from heat and transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

Back to recipes using up my leftover Halloween candy for the next few posts (I had a lot of leftover candy). These were really good. The dough was easy to work with and they didn't spread too much. The pudding mix adds a softer texture. The edges didn't get too crisp but the texture and flavor were good.

While I normally don't care for nuts in cookies, I forgave them in this cookie since nuts are part of Baby Ruth candy bars and that's what I was using up.

The hardest part of this cookie is the Baby Ruths melt and leak out of the cookies during baking. I did the swirling trick again to tidy up the edges but the hot nougat-caramel (what's in a Baby Ruth, btw? Never mind, don’t tell me) was sticky and clung to the sides of the metal cookie cutter I was using to swirl the cookies to more neat roundness. So these aren't as perfectly circular as they could've been. But still delicious nonetheless.