In my private pie workshops, we typically focus on sweet fruit pies perfect for the end of a meal. Then I agreed to pick up a sweet and savory pie class for another instructor this semester at Flathead Valley Community College, and I realized just how often my favorite pies and other bakes that use pie crust are savory, or veer toward it.

The recipe I share this week in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon enhances those savory notes, incorporating cheese and herbs right in the crust. The flavors not only complement an array of main-meal pies, quiches, and tarts but also give subtle earthy notes to dessert bakes. As I mention in my column, you can use the same technique to give traditional pie crust hints of citrus and sweetness without compromising its essential flakiness.

Learn more about making pie crusts and get the complete recipe for Cheese and Herb Pie Crust in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

I originally developed this week’s cheesy, herby pie crust to hold Late-Season Tomato Pie, but the combination and variations on it play well with many other fillings. Here are just a few other recipes on the blog that work well with a cheesy or herb-speckled crust, as either your main course or the dessert. You can find more recipes that use pie crust in the recipe index.

• Spring Vegetable Quiche
• Fresh Pear, Goat Cheese, and Rosemary Galette
• Crumble-Top Deep-Dish Apple Pie
• Huckleberry–Rhubarb Galette

If you have leftover classic pie dough, I recommend using it to make my favorite childhood treat: Cinnamon-and-Sugar Pie Crust. Extra cheese- and herb-flavored dough can be enjoyed in a similar way: Roll out and bake the dough alongside your pie, for 10 minutes at 375°F or about 6 minutes at 400°F. For the final minute, pull out the dough, sprinkle it with more cheese, and return it to the oven until it melts and browns.

You can also learn more about making the most popular vegetable-as-pie combination, pumpkin pie, entirely from scratch in this blog post.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic; it’s only available here.