Now that I am officially a mom I decided I needed to learn a couple of things that I somehow missed in my pre-mom era. One of those things is to make my own pie crust. I am not sure where the urge came from since I do not like pie. I know the most common job of a pie crust is to hold together fruit pies and I have never been a fan of hot fruit. Nevertheless, I decided this mom needed to learn to make a pie crust.
It took me awhile to even know where to begin. Then it became crystal clear. I needed a brand new Kitchen Aid Mixer. How else would I make a homemade pie crust without a $300 mixer. Pete promptly reminded me pie crusts were being made long before Kitchen Aids. After a few promises of homemade cherry pie I got a Kitchen Aid. I had wanted one for about 4 years. When our storage unit caught on fire we lost almost all our kitchen gadgets. So, out of our tragedy and with my new inspiration, I got a new Kitchen Aid Mixer. Bring on the pies!
It takes an additional week to assemble the ingredients. That's how things go around here. I want to make a pie and it takes about 3 weeks for all preperations to be complete. I search all over the internet for a yummy sounding pie recipe. And for someone who doesn't like pie this was a challenge. I finally settle on a recipe from
http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/ .
I wait all day. I get the kids in bed. I finish cleaning up the kitchen. I pull out my ingedients. I give my Kitchen Aid a pep talk because I want this to be the beginning of a long and fun relationship. I open up the web page to the recipe. I start reading and I realize this recipe does not want you to use a Kitchen Aid mixer. All you need is crisco, flour, salt and a
pastry cutter. Guess what? I have no pastry cutter. Bottom line..after all my preperation to make the perfect pie crust with the machine I had been dreaming of for years turns out I did not need. Oh well, now I just get to search for the perfect pastry cutter.
Oh, Lisa! I'm glad you got the Kitchen Aid, but wish you would have called me about the pie crust! Until you get a pastry cutter, which is an inexpensive and simple tool you can easily acquire, you can use a fork. What you're looking for is the Crisco to be reduced to pea-size pieces. Then add ICE-COLD water, and err on the side of less or you won't be able to roll out the gloppy mess.
ReplyDeleteThere's much more that can go into a pie crust than fruit. I bet you would have loved the French Chocolate pie I made last Sunday--let me know if you want the recipe. I don't know if your kids would go for this, but we like "pot pies" which is just pie crust filled with chicken stew.
Now, about your Kitchen Aid--the best use for that is bread. You won't need to buy bread at the grocery store ever again.
BTW, I am really enjoying your blog.
Kathy