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I was excited to try Chicago Metallic's Split Decision Pie Pan not just because I'm the type of person who has a lot of trouble making decisions. The opportunity to bake two pies in one pan opens up several new possibilities in the usual baking regimen, especially during peak pie season. Dare I say it's ingenious?
The setup is simple: a removable divider runs through the middle of a standard nine-inch pan to split the pie in two halves. The base and divider is a separate lift & serve component from the edge ring, which isn't exactly a new development in the world of pie tins, but is still quite useful and does allow for some variety in serving. Of course, the pan also comes with a standard bottom in case you want to make a traditional nine-inch pie, but like riding a horse in a car race, that's just not very exciting anymore.
I wanted to see how the pan could handle fillings of different textures and bake times, so for my first trick, I made a pumpkin and apple pie combo. To keep things simple, I used short crust pastry for both sides. Using a graham cracker or a similar crumb crust for one half would create too large a discrepancy in bake times, and I didn't want to make things complicated by pressing a new crust and filling the scorching pie tin fresh from 20 minutes in the oven. The only alteration I made was pre-cooking the apple filling, as the pumpkin half wouldn't need quite as long in the oven. Fast forward past me staring nervously through my oven window, and the pies came out of the oven impeccable, with each half neatly separated and the whole thing baked through evenly. The lift & serve function worked as advertised, too: I placed the center of the pan on top of a bowl and the side ring slipped off without sticking or ruining the crust.
For my second act, I took a sweet and savory route and split the pan between a meat pie and a blueberry pie. I used the same crust throughout and cooked the meat filling ahead of time, once again to simplify things, but splurged on a lattice crust for the blueberry half. Latticing half a pie was a little more trouble than I expected, but I eventually figured out the right proportions. The results were excellent. Both sides stayed separated and there was no overlap in filling or flavor.
Two isn’t a giant sample size, but this clever little pie pan performed admirably in the test drive. There are some limits to the design—to some degree you have to make sure the crusts and fillings can bake for similar amounts of time and at comparable temperatures—but otherwise, it's an efficient pan to add to your arsenal of bakeware.
BUY IT: Chicago Metallic Split Decision Pie Pan, $14 on Amazon
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