Pie (Pastry) Dough

I realized yesterday that I never shared the recipe for pie crusts! This is the recipe that my grandma used all the time for the hundreds of pies that she made. It is pretty easy to make. This dough can be used right away or frozen for a few weeks (or more?).

If you want very flakey crust, be sure that the wet ingredients are cold. Also, mix with your hands as little as possible. The heat from your hands does something to the dough and it won't be as flakey after baking.

Pie (Pastry) Dough (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

4 C flour

1 T sugar

2 t salt

1 3/4 C shortening

1/2 C water

1 T vinegar

1 egg

In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, and salt.

Add the shortening and cut it into the dry ingredients. Cut it in with either a fork or a pastry blender if you have one. (Here is a link if you don't know what one is!) Once well combined, you will have a bunch of crumbles.

In a measuring cup, lightly beat together the water, vinegar, and egg.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry crumbles. Mix in with the fork (or pastry blender) as much as you can. I had to finish the mixing by hand. I did this by folding the dough onto itself until it seemed combined completely.

The baking of this dough typically follows the directions of the recipe you are using it in.

Suggestion for leftovers: Roll out the dough to 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. Place on a baking sheet. Lightly butter the top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Bake this at 350 until lightly browned. Cool and enjoy!

Pie: A Tart o' Apple

Sometimes we really crave li’l apple desserts. Foolproof recipes reproduce one of the luscious pies, create an edible tart, and all provide joy. No uneaten leftovers exist – we demolish complete pies. A delicious venture; I ensure enjoyment. The miniature palatable pie created below, I – maybe possibly we – celebrate amazing math constants with. Bake, taste, celebrate Pi Day…

Pie: A Tart o' Apple (Printer-friendly PDF Version)

3 baking apples, peeled and cubed or sliced

1 pie pastry (unbaked)

4 T brown sugar

1 t cinnamon

5 t flour

9 t butter (melted)

Make your pie pastry if needed. I made my own pie pastry because I wasn’t sure how the pre-made pastry would work out. If you don’t know how to make pie pastry, buy premade and reduce the problem to one already solved.

Roll out the pie pastry and cut out large congruent circles. Smush these large circles along the inside of well greased muffin cups. Be sure the diameter of the pastry cutouts is larger than the diameter of the muffin cups! (A bit more than radius plus height, if you feel like measuring.) Sprinkle flour in the pastry lined cups.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the cinnamon and brown sugar. Add this to the cubed apples, which should be in a separate mixing bowl, and stir together very well. Mix in the melted butter. 

Scoop the sugar coated apples into the pie pastry lined muffin cups. You can try to be fancy and add criss-cross pie pastry lines to the top. That would give a greater crust to apple ratio, so only do that if you really enjoy pie crust. Your set of tarts can be either open or closed.

Bake at 360 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool for 15 or so minutes, remove the tarts from the muffin cups, and eat. No forks required, just hands.

Enjoy!

Happy Pi Day!

Note: In the title & introduction, punctuation doesn’t count and dashes are used in place of zero. I only made it through 65 digits.

Easy Pumpkin Pie

For every holiday gathering my grandma made pies. Lots and lots of pies. Thanksgiving called for pumpkin pie and apple pie. Other pies were sometimes requested. This year my mother made the pie as I took pictures. She doesn't completely understand the part where she pauses between steps to allow pictures to be taken, so there aren't many pictures. One day she will learn!

The recipe for apple pie was posted back in July, so here is the recipe for pumpkin pie. This is a recipe that is slightly modified from the back of a can of pumpkin. Doubling the recipe results in two pies (obviously). We made two pies, so the pictures will reflect that.

Pumpkin Pie (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin
1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
3/4 C sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
2 t pumpkin spice
2 eggs (beaten)
1 9" pie crust (unbaked)

Mix together the pumpkin and the evaporated milk in a sauce pan. Start to warm over medium heat.

Add the sugar, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin spice. Mix well. Add the eggs and mix well. Heat until warm.

Place the pie crust in a pie plate. Once the pumpkin goo is heated, pour it into the pie shell.

Bake the pie at 350 for 45 to 55 minutes. The pie is done when a knife can gently stab it and come out clean.

Apple Pie

One of the main cultural icons of America is apple pie. This hasn't always made sense to me; I tend to relate apple pie to the Dutch. My historian friend tells me it has something to do with the fact apples have been a main export for a long time and that it is the state fruit for a various states. I read online that the phrase originated during the WWII era and has to do with the phrase "easy as pie". I'll let someone else figure out how apple pie is American and I'll just bake the pies and write about my grandma's recipes.

My grandma always made pies. I don't think she ever needed a reason to make a pie. Family dinner? Pie. Holiday? Pie. Pot luck at church? Pie. Someone's birthday? Pie. If you were craving a pie, she'd make it for you. Apple pie was the most common pie that she made, so that is where I'm starting with the pie recipes.

I started making pies a few years ago, but never got the hang of it and ventured off into cake decorating. I have made a peach pie annually and the occasional chocolate pie, but nothing else. Now that I'm just left with a stack of recipes and no one to make pie for me, I've restarted my quest to make a perfect pie (or at least one amazingly edible!).

Apple pie can be time consuming to prepare, so I doubled the recipe and made two pies at once (the images will reflect this). The extra pie can be wrapped in freezer paper and frozen. Just remember to add 10 or so minutes to the bake time when baking the frozen pie!

Apple Pie (Printer-friendly PDF Version)
6 C thinly sliced baking apples (approximately 2 pounds)
1/3 C brown sugar (packed)
1/3 C granulated sugar
1/4 C flour
3/4 t cinnamon
dash of salt
2 T butter
2 crust pastry for a 9" pie

If you are using a pie crust recipe that needs to chill, make the pastry dough first. (I will have a post in the future on different types of pie crust.)

Wash, peel, and slice the apples. Place the apple slices in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the sugars, flour, and cinnamon (and salt). Add this sugar mixture to the apples and stir well. If the sugar mixture doesn't seem to combine with the apples, let it sit for 5 minutes and mix it again. The sugar will bring out the juices in the apples and make combining easier.

Roll out the pastry dough and line the pie plate with a layer of crust. Fill the pie plate with the sliced and sugared apples.

Slice up the butter and dot the top of the apples with the butter slices. Roll out another layer of pastry dough and place it on top, press the edges of the two dough layers together. Use a fork to poke holes in the top layer of dough.

Bake the assembled pie at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. The pie is done when the edge of the crust is brown and the apples are bubbling (if you can see them). Let the pie cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Note: You can also bake the pie at 425 for 15 minutes and then lower the temperature to 350 and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes. Both ways will result in a nicely baked pie. If you are worried about the pie bubbling over in some way, place it on a cookie sheet lined with foil.

2nd Note: Remember to put the butter on top of the apples before sealing the pastry dough and placing it in the oven. If you realize that you forgot to add the butter when the pie has been in the oven for 8 minutes, the pastry will be warm and sticky making it difficult to add the butter to the apples. It will also make your pie look not as pretty. Yes, this is from personal experience...