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    Home » Food & Drink » Self-Taught Baker Helen Nugent Creates Stunning Pie Designs Like You’ve Never Seen Before
    Food & Drink

    Self-Taught Baker Helen Nugent Creates Stunning Pie Designs Like You’ve Never Seen Before

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    I think we can all agree that we’ll always have room for pie no matter how stuffed we get after powering through all the dishes on Thanksgiving. And while baking a pie is as easy as… well… pie, this crazily talented, self-taught baker’s incredible pie designs just might inspire you to take your own baking game to a whole new level. Meet Helen Nugent: she started baking as a hobby but her superb designs paved the way for her to carve out an amazing journey in the food industry. In an interview, the baker said,

    “I have baked as a hobby of most of my life. My mother was, and still is, an excellent baker so all the credit for any skill I possess goes to her. My career has been in corporate communications and I never thought about following baking as a career path. At the same time, I was feeling very burnt out with my career and looking for a new direction.”

     

    According to Helen, she didn’t actually plan to create a career out of her hobby

    In fact, she used to work in a corporate setting. But it eventually took a toll on her. Naturally, this led to some serious soul searching for Helen. And in the end, she decided to leave her corporate communications career behind and go for something that made her genuinely happy.

     

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    Sending some colour your way this morning with a hypnotic vegetable tart that whispers in your ear, “You are getting very hungry”. Van Gogh’s Starry Nights served as inspiration for this savory, swirly tart, featuring a peppery crust, creamy sour cream and pesto base, and heirloom carrots, zucchini and squash wound tightly into spirals and baked to sweet, carmelized perfection. If you have a vegetable peeler, you have what it takes to make this one. It would look fabulous in any shape (I’d love to see it as a freeform galette.) The complete recipe, including all the how-tos, can be found in the Modern Motifs chapter of Pie Style. I hope everyone is using today to recover from the stresses of the week, and catch their breath. You definitely deserve the breather! ????

    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Nov 8, 2020 at 7:48am PST

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Nov 1, 2020 at 7:17am PST

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Oct 23, 2020 at 9:47am PDT

     

    Self-taught baker Helen Nugent creates pie designs so stunning that it’s almost a shame to cut them

    It’s no secret that Pinterest is our go-to when we’re looking for inspiration for literally anything like DIY craft projects and recipes. And most of the time, a quick 10-minute browse can turn into several hours because there’s just so many neat ideas to discover! Helen is no different. She shared that she would look at decorative pie designs on Pinterest during her free time. And when she’d stumble upon something really interesting, Helen would start trying to figure out how to do it herself. Eventually, she got really good at creating visually stunning pies without relying on Pinterest inspiration. So, then she began sharing her work on social media.

    “That led to doing work for Food Network which led to a book offer which led to a new career! I know social media gets a bad rap but sometimes great things can come from it. I’m living proof of that.”

    Helen’s Instagram page, @batterednbaked, currently has over 53,000 followers. As you would expect, Helen shares her stunning pie designs and delicious recipes on the page. But if you’re looking for more detailed instructions, you can visit her blog or buy a copy of her book, Pie Style.

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Oct 14, 2020 at 9:52am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Oct 18, 2020 at 9:19am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Sep 22, 2020 at 6:06am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Sep 27, 2020 at 6:14am PDT

     

    Helen has a book that features all her amazing pie designs and recipes

    Part of Helen’s motivation for launching the book is because she wanted to help her fellow messy kitchen makers learn how to make gorgeous pie designs easily. She believes that the baker should enjoy the process of baking the pie itself, rather than just looking forward to the finished product. You’ll definitely pick up plenty of useful tips and lessons from Pie Style. Take this for example:

    “A good pie starts with an all-butter crust. No Crisco pies for me. While pies made with shortening are very flaky, they have no taste. A good all-butter pie dough has all the taste with a crisp and flaky crust.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Sep 2, 2020 at 9:21am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Jul 19, 2020 at 6:21am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Jul 24, 2020 at 12:34pm PDT

     

    “A good pie [also] has a firm filling that is never gloopy of starchy like a pie made with too much thickener.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Jul 1, 2020 at 5:46am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Jun 18, 2020 at 10:38am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Jun 20, 2020 at 8:41am PDT

     

    Each pie that Helen makes is meticulously and creatively decorated

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Jun 5, 2020 at 11:36am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Jun 8, 2020 at 12:09pm PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Mar 14, 2020 at 6:11am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Mar 16, 2020 at 11:43am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Oct 28, 2019 at 11:58am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Oct 31, 2019 at 1:26pm PDT

     

    Level up your baking skills with the help of Helen’s book

    More often than not, beginner bakers find themselves intimidated by the works of seasoned pros. And sometimes, this leads to the abandonment of an endeavour. This is something that Helen hopes to lessen by giving her readers easy-to-follow pie recipes and step-by-step pie design guides. She noted that she decided to include a step-by-step decorating guide in her book because she noticed that most pie books usually just focus on the pie recipes and forego the decorating part. She said:

    “I wanted to create reliable recipes that delivered consistent results but also wanted to give people practical techniques to help them create pies that were beautiful as well.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on May 21, 2020 at 9:10am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on May 26, 2020 at 12:04pm PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Sep 22, 2019 at 7:15am PDT

     

    This baker wanted her book to focus on decoration as well as taste

    “A lot of pie books focus on recipes but don’t spend a lot of time describing how to create the ‘looks’. This book includes really delicious recipes but also a step-by-step approach to creating all the decorations in the book. Users are encouraged to mix and match the decoration styles to create pies that are all their own.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Aug 18, 2019 at 8:01am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Aug 24, 2019 at 6:47am PDT

     

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked)

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Aug 15, 2019 at 8:39am PDT

     

    Helen says that the type of dough you use is key for making a stunning design on your pie

    “Pie dough shouldn’t cause you to lose your mind. I love my food processor because it makes pie dough quickly and easily and it works every time. And it tastes great. Is a pie made by hand a little bit flakier? Sure, but pie dough with chunks of butter in it does not work well for latticing, cutting, decorating, or fine details. Food processor dough is smooth, pliable, and homogenous so it’s easy to work with. And it’s stress-free, so you can be successful at it.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on May 4, 2019 at 8:01am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on May 10, 2019 at 1:13pm PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Apr 21, 2019 at 8:18am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on May 1, 2019 at 12:33pm PDT

     

    “‘A good pie is one you are proud of,’ Julia Child always said. ‘No matter what happens in the kitchen, never apologize.’ Don’t compare your pie to others or apologize to your friends and family if it isn’t perfect. Making pie is a huge accomplishment so celebrate it.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Apr 12, 2019 at 1:24pm PDT

     

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    After leaving it in deep freeze for a week or so, I finally got around to baking this geometric blueberry tart. I’m really quite happy with how it turned out. Both the dark chocolate and blueberry pastry held their colour and shape, and the design didn’t go completely wonky. Can’t ask for much more than that! ? Hope Thursday has been good to you too! ??

    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Apr 25, 2019 at 3:13pm PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Apr 4, 2019 at 1:29pm PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Apr 9, 2019 at 1:15pm PDT

     

    But even though she’s created so many beautiful and delicious pies, Helen’s choice for Thanksgiving is still a classic

    “I do love a good pumpkin pie. It’s hard to beat the dense custard filling with warm spices and finished off with some whipping cream. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Oct 26, 2018 at 9:50am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Oct 29, 2018 at 1:15pm PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Oct 13, 2019 at 8:31am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Nov 14, 2018 at 1:21pm PST

     

    The source of her stunning designs may surprise you

    In a way, we can consider Helen as a pie artist because her pie designs are edible art. But instead of canvas, she uses dough, and instead of using paint, she uses egg wash! And more often than not, her pies feature astonishingly adorable details like dainty flowers, leaves and neat latticework. In addition to this, she also makes use of the pie’s filling or some colored bits of dough to make her edible art pop even more! When asked where she gets her ideas, she said:

    “I get ideas from things like floor tiles, ceiling mosaics, clothing patterns, and plaster medallions. A walk in the woods will inspire with bark designs and leaf patterns. Inspiration comes from all around us but we really have to look up, down, and all around. Inspiration is everywhere.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Aug 11, 2018 at 5:16am PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Aug 12, 2018 at 1:44pm PDT

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Feb 11, 2018 at 2:46pm PST

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Feb 14, 2018 at 1:54pm PST

     

    Helen wants to teach other bakers not to be intimidated by recipes

    The intricacy of her designs are incredibly intriguing and may be intimidating for greenhorns. But don’t despair if you can’t decorate your pie as well as Helen can. It’s important to remember that she didn’t immediately create amazing designs. Talent is nothing without hard work, after all!

    “Start with smaller, simpler decorations like cut-outs,” she said. “As you gain confidence, take on more decorative techniques like latticing and braiding. There is no standard.”

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Nov 28, 2017 at 3:59pm PST

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Jan 19, 2018 at 7:05pm PST

     

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    A post shared by Helen Nugent (@batterednbaked) on Dec 15, 2018 at 9:16am PST

    So what are you waiting for? Order a copy of Helen’s book here! Wow your family with an extra-special pie design this Thanksgiving! Come to think of it, this will also make a great Christmas present to the baker (budding or seasoned) in your life. So don’t wait!

    Source: Helen Nugent Instagram | Blog

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