Southern Living
The big project for the last two days had been making pie and thank-you notes. The original plan was to make pie and a note, and take it over to the neighbors. However, I am very good at complicating cooking projects. Very few of the things I make actually turn out as intended, especially when I am using a new recipe.
My pie dough recipe I have actually used before, and really like. It’s tricky to make a good whole wheat crust, and I am really happy with this one. This time, though, there was a bit of a problem. I am pretty sure that the issue was the temperature in my kitchen/the melting point of coconut oil. But whatever the cause, I wound up with something more like flour soup. In the end I added two more cups of flour to get the right consistency. (You may notice that the recipe is called “foolproof…” not sure I want to ponder that too closely.)
Then, on to cutting apples. This went as smoothly as cutting up a bag-full of apples can go. The recipe makes enough crust for two pies, so the plan was to cut enough apples for two pies. This seems really straight-forward, but again – I am very, very good at making things complicated.
We didn’t have quite enough green apples. No problem, throw in a couple of red apples. Mix it all up, then remember to double the recipe. Wildly throw in a little more of everything, mix some more. The kids really got into this part. At this point it was Quiet Time, which turned into a whole fiasco all of it’s own. I decided to put everything in the fridge, and wait until morning.
So, we start in on it this morning. We’re at the end of two weeks of swimming lessons, so everyone is very tired, and getting back into the swing of being home is throwing everyone off. But I am determined that the pie will be made today, so we forge ahead. The pie dough rolls just fine, but it crumbles when I try to put it in the pan. Because of the extra flour, no doubt. No problem; I use wax paper. Then I realized that overnight, the apples have lost a lot of their juice. Now we only have enough apples for one pie.
I pulled out my cookbook, and the kids and I decided to make Pecan pie. I was especially pleased with this choice, because it only has one crust. Much easier, when dealing with crust that won’t stay together. But that means I have enough crust for three pies. A normal person would probably freeze some dough, but now I am in major pie making mode. And once you’re making two, why not just go with three?
We don’t have enough corn syrup for two pies. Which is just fine, because I really try to avoid corn syrup. After some research, I went with honey and molasses as a substitute for corn syrup.
The pecan pie was surprisingly easy to mix up. At the last minute, we add some chocolate chips to the mix. Cause you know, pecan pie just isn’t sweet enough by itself.
We put them in the oven to bake. At this point, my plan was to take the least odd looking one over to the neighbors, and bank on the idea that, “it’s the thought that counts….”.
They came out of the oven looking pretty good, but smelling more like molasses than I think a pecan pie should. We trotted one over to the neighbors, along with Chava’s thank you card. I’m a little nervous about what they’ll think, but mostly I hope they know that we appreciate their help. And that I am not trying to poison them.
Now we have an apple pie, and a pecan/shoo-fly/chocolate thing. I would take a pie over to another neighbor’s, but we don’t know anyone here well enough for this sort of gift. Although it would probably be an excellent way for them to get to know me…
And at the end of this long, crazy day; which comes at the end of two long, crazy weeks, my husband came home with chocolate covered cherries for me. I haven’t had them in two years, since my nurslings are allergic to dairy. (He called around to find a place that has dairy-free ones). I don’t even have words for that.
June 22nd, 2009 at 7:15 am
Oh how wonderful of Ray. Tell him I send a pat on the back. Also I loved reading your pie adventure. I think you did very well, I would not have made it. I also kept wanting to try your pie.
June 22nd, 2009 at 10:13 am
There’s still a bit left, come on over!