Pie. Pie. Me oh my...

 

So, tomorrow's Pie-baking Zoom will be me making my T-day pies. Blackberry for Mads, because it's her favorite. Cranberry Custard for my Mom & Vesa (and if they come pick it up they can see us), an apple pie for Joel, and a lingonberry custard too because I found some frozen lingonberries. Oh, and a keto chocolate cream pie because... chocolate. 

 

I use Minute Tapioca (in the red box, in the baking aisle) to thicken my fruit pies because that's what Gramma Sartor did. I also use a pastry cloth for rolling out dough, which is a trick that I learned from a co-worker and friend, Susan House, many years ago. 

I also got a jar of lard to try (for the first time ever) because I found it at QFC, and our friend Shane says it's required for pie. I'd never tried it because the boxed lard is always rancid on the shelf at the grocery, but with all of the Paleo and Keto shoppers, there are better-preserved options now. So, we'll have all-butter, and lard pie crust tomorrow. I'm excited for the taste-test. 

My great gramma's pie crust recipe is right here: 

Dehlia Sartor's Pie Dough

Again I do it from scratch. For 1 pie

1 cup flour
3/4 cup Crisco or shortening whatever you have I like Crisco best.
1 tsp salt and just enough cold water to make it stick together. Mix shortening & flour & salt together first then add water and roll out.

 

 

 The other pie crust recipe I use is from Smitten Kitchen, Deb's "All Butter" pie crust, right here.

I'm trying a new recipe this year, in Joel's favorite graham-cracker crust, an apple cream pie...

Apple Cream Pie

 

3 peeled and grated baking apples like Granny Smith

4 Tbs. melted butter

3/4 c. sugar

2 Tbs. flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 c. milk

2 beaten eggs

Grate apples into pie crust, and drizzle with butter. Mix dry ingredients, add milk and eggs, and pour cream mixture over apples. Bake at 400-degrees F for 10 mins, then 350-degrees F for 30-40 mins.

Cranberry Custard Pie (formerly Jerrie's Rhubarb Custard Pie - delish either way!)

3/4 c. sugar
3 Tbs. flour (slightly rounded)
1/4 c. melted butter
2 eggs (beaten)
1 Tbs. vanilla
1 c. milk
pinch of salt
unbaked bottom pie shell
1 c. fresh cranberries (or slightly more, whatever fills the top of the pie up)
About 1 Tbs. cinnamon sugar to sprinkle on top (sprinkle on the last 25 minutes of baking)

Stir flour into sugar, then moisten with a couple add butter, eggs, vanilla, salt & remainder of milk and blend well.

Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell, and add the cranberries on top. The recipe calls for 1 cup, but add berries until the filling is up to the bottom lip of the crust.

Bake 20 minutes at 375-degrees F.
Then continue to bake 25 minutes at 300-degrees F. It is finished when knife is pulled out clean and it should jiggle a little. You may need to bake it for a few more minutes if the custard is too far from set - you be the judge!

 And, I always make cinnamon roll-ups

... when I was little, and my mom made pie, we always made these tasty treats. Always. And Nick and I got to make them. Basically, roll out the dough scraps, brush on soft butter, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon sugar, roll up, have mom slice, then bake until golden and delicious! Perfection. The kids love 'em!


And, to set the scene. the Pie Song... from the movie, Michael with John Travolta. I love that he's an angel. He's such an excellently hilarious angel. A not-very-angelic, cigarette-smoking, bar-brawling, two-steppin', line dancing, pie eating sugar-fiend of an angel with smolder and swagger... and the song (according to IMDb) sung my Andie MacDowell:

"The Pie Song"
Music by Steve Dorff
Music by Lyrics by Roy Blount Jr.
Published by TNT Music Publishing, Inc./Techwood Music, Inc.

Lyrics:

Pie
Pie
Me oh my
Nothing tastes sweet, wet, salty and dry
all at once o well it's pie
Apple!
Pumpkin!
Minced
an' wet bottom. ("Wet Bottom" is Amish Shoofly Pie)
Come to your place everyday if you've got em'
Pie
Me o my
I love pie!