Stoneware pie plate

I have a new favorite pie plate. It's a stoneware plate that bakes up a pie perfectly. I received it from a friend who is always finding great things at good prices and I hope she didn't pay too much for it but I know I will be enjoying it for years to come.

It came with a little bird to help release steam while the pie is cooking and though I didn't use the cute little bird for my first pie, I could tell that this pie plate is a winner. I enjoy my glass pie plates, too but the crust was cooked to perfection and I feel that stoneware does the best job when baking. I also think the finished pie was just prettier in the stoneware.

I've read about the virtues of stone ware and I have a growing number of stoneware cooking vessels that I would not take anything for because they are all great for baking. Cookies don't burn. Bread cooks evenly and that is always good.

Now, I MUST have a stoneware loaf pan and I would really love to have a stoneware cake pan.

For my next pie, I will use the little bird in hopes that my fruit pie juices will not boil over quite as badly into my oven. I know I can use a foil covered drip pan, but I am hopeful that the pie juices will not cook out, but just fill the little bird.

Every time I see this pie plate, I think about the nursery rhyme.

Sing a song of sixpence,

A pocket full of rye.

Four and twenty blackbirds,

Baked in a pie.