Happy Pi Day!

March 14, 2023

It's 3/14 and that means one thing: Pi Day! As a lover of all things mathematics (and pie), it is one of my favourite holidays. And back at DigitalEd, we celebrated Pi Day hard. I always loved bringing in my baking creations to the office. It was a great way to connect with my co-workers and take a break from the daily grind. Today, I thought that I would share with you some of the pi-themed treats that I've made over the years, and one of the ways I've participated in company culture since working remotely.

Pi Sugar Cookies

When life gives you a pi-shaped cutter, make cookies. These were actually the first baked goods I've ever shared with my teammates, back when DigitalEd still occupied the Maplesoft office. And they were a big hit! Everyone was really appreciative of the gesture, and it felt good making people smile. The vanilla almond sugar cookie recipe I followed was absolutely delicious. Before baking, I topped each cookie off with some meringue and sliced almonds to complement the flavour.

Apple Pi

2019 was the first Pi Day I got to celebrate as part of a company. We had moved into a brand new office space with an open kitchen area to gather in, and I remember bringing in an apple pie totally decked out for the occasion. I was inspired by the Nerdy Nummies' "Pi Pie" video, except I ended up using a store-bought crust for convenience. Like Rosanna, I used number-shaped cookie cutters to cut the apples, but instead of adding decorations on top of the second crust, I used my pi-shaped cookie cutter to cut a hole into it, so that the inside of the pie can be seen.

It was a joyous day full of laughs, camaraderie, and good food! Culturally, some of my best memories at DigitalEd took place in that kitchen. I always appreciated the times we got to celebrate certain milestones, like major releases or our first $1M quarter, as well as other team successes. It is important to take the time to recognize the level of effort everyone puts in.

Pi Macarons

Little did I know that 2020 would be the last Pi Day we would celebrate altogether in office. Literally one week later, everything was shut down due to COVID-19, and we all adjusted to remote working. At least we went out with a bang though! There was a Nintendo Switch set up on the kitchen TV, with Super Smash Bros running, fake mustaches to go around, and many people brought different treats to share. I found a recipe for these apple pie macarons, which I thought would be a fun alternative to a traditional pie. Oh my gosh were they good!

And of course I had to dust a little cinnamon on top in the shape of pi. It was actually pretty easy: I just drew the symbol on a piece of thick paper, cut it out to make a stencil, and carefully sprinkled the cinnamon overtop the stencil onto each macaron.

Blueberry Pi

For Pi Day 2021, we had to get a little creative. One of the initiatives the People & Culture team introduced during the pandemic to help keep the company feel connected was monthly "Lunch-and-Learn" sessions, where individuals could present something they are passionate about. It could be a hobby, a side hustle, or even something job related if you wanted. Since it was well known that I liked to bake, I was asked to host a live pie baking session in March. It was a lot of fun! The IT Manager lent me a webcam so that I could provide both a frontal and overhead view over Zoom. And I sent out a list of ingredients, equipment, and steps ahead of time for the participants to prepare.

We ended up making a blueberry pie. For the crust, we followed the pie dough recipe in the Nerdy Nummies cookbook, which we blind-baked. For the filling, we followed a recipe that I actually adapted, which I will share down below since I received very positive feedback on its taste and how easy it is to make! I encouraged all participants to decorate their pies as they saw fit using any leftover dough (I of course used my handy pi-shaped cookie cutter, and baked that piece on a baking sheet alongside the pie, until golden). It was awesome seeing everyone's creations at the end of the session.