The Pies: The Conclusion

Rachel: As promised, here is the story of the Thanksgiving pies. I warn you; it’s not pretty.

I knew I was in trouble when I was kneading the dough and it just wasn’t staying together. I decided, however, that denial was the best route to take and stuck the dough in the fridge. Maybe, I said to myself, the crust will hold together after it’s cooled.

That would be wrong.

But by then, it was late Wednesday afternoon and while the apples might have made a lovely apple crisp, who serves apple crisp on Thanksgiving?

So I forged ahead, rolling ve–rrr-y slowly to try to hold the crust together and then doing a little cosmetic surgery (ie. just plastering some dough bits in random places on top) and hoping for the best. The result for the apple wasn’t pretty but mostly worked, although I was nervous….and you can see why here.

Fortunately, the pie looked better post baking, as you can see here.

The pumpkin pie crust was the same story—just cracking and falling apart. I was lucky to get as much of the pie plate as I did.

Obviously the crust was not going to make this pie either. I am happy to report, however, that the fillings on both pies were delicious, which I am also going to point out certainly is at least 80 percent of pie, right? Yeah, I’m grasping at straws.

So, how were your pies?

Hey Ma-

Oh man. Pie dough is a difficult mistress. My crust wasn’t quite to my liking this year, though it held together a bit better than yours seems to have. Did you try adding a little more water? It’s such a fine line to walk when making pie crust–you both need to get it together and not overwork it. Which has left me agreeing whole-heartedly that the proof is in the pudding (or, you know, filling)…at least 80% so anyhow. Maybe if you’re lucky we’ll bake you a pie or two when we come to visit next month.

Sorry it’s only a picture of part of my pie. This was one of the few shots I took that doesn’t have my shadow imprinted in the middle of the pie.

XXOO
-R