Last night I went to the beach to see the sun go down. My husband and I drove to the ocean in nothing but flip flops and light summer clothes. The car thermometer was still reading eighty five as we approached the Golden Gate Bridge. Finally, when we parked the car, the temp had come down somewhere in the seventies. I grabbed a scarf, removed my flip flops, grabbed his hand, and wandered down the beach towards the waves, toes squishing in the warm sand. We dipped our feet in the ocean and watched the waves get larger. The sun went down just like you’d imagine a summer night’s sky—fiery red with bits of orange and gold lining the clouds. We stood there waiting for the sun to finally tip its hat and dip under the horizon. We spotted dolphins playing in the waves. Dolphins. Because, clearly the beautiful sunset and the early fall beach night wasn’t epic enough. Dolphins. Not kidding. Just three little dolphins kicking it in the sunset like it’s no big deal (you can sneak a peek of this beach-y sunset on Instagram–although, my iPhone couldn’t quite capture the magic).

The moral of this story is: It’s still pretty much summer and I’m eating pumpkin pie. Also, dolphins!?! Nature is a gross show off. 

Even though I’m wearing shorts and sweating like I’m on some sort of Cabo Spring Break ’03, I’m still trying to make fall happen. I think we can all agree that there is no better way to force fall into existence than to crank up your AC, preheat your oven, and bake the living heck out of some pumpkin pie. Hell, throw some chai into the mix. Make things extra cozy. This will probably prompt the weather to catch up with you, right? No. Well, at least we have pie. Pie that we can eat cold out of the fridge for breakfast whilst shvitzing. Extra coconut whipped cream please. Can I order a side of dolphins? Probably, yes.

Last year I made you this Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie With Buttermilk Crust. And, while I still maintain that the pie is UHHHH-MAYYY-ZING, it’s not exactly the easiest or the healthiest of treats. I wanted to make a pie that exuded little effort. It’s hot here. I’m already glistening, I don’t need to laboriously knead pie dough. That’s not going to do me any favors. Instead, I went for a no-knead, no-grain, no-problem crust and a low maintenance filling that’s spiked with a hit of chai. Don’t worry, we’re doing it right.

I’d also like to publicly declare my love of tartlets. Who knew that these little tart pans could bring me so much joy? First off, they are smaller than a whole pie, so it makes you feel completely justified to eat an entire tartlet like it’s a gosh darn snack. Secondly, they are cute as heck. You know how when you go to a hotel and they bring you room service, and with that room service is the worlds tiniest bottle of ketchup and a Tabasco sauce made to fit inside a doll house? You get kind of angry because you feel like someone is limiting your ketchup intake, but also can’t help but kind of fawn over the size of these bottles. You end up taking a photo of the Tabasco next to your finger (for scale) and send this picture to your best friend with seven baby emojis. Well, that’s kind of how I feel about tartlets. Except, maybe not at all. But, sort of. Should we just talk about dolphins again? I feel like that was better. DOLPHINS.

Alright, peeps. Let’s make little pies like it’s sweater weather! xoxox

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