Happy Pi Day!

I have a secret.

It's deep.   It's dark.

And I am ready to share it with you today.

Ready?   Here goes...

*deep breath*

...I can not make a good pie crust to save my life.  I can't even make an aaiiight pie crust.   And believe me, I have tried! 

Why would I need to make my own when you can just buy it already made??  If you have ever tasted a truly great homemade pie crust, you already know the answer.  And if you haven't...you are invited to my house to try a slice once I have it down!

My husband is a pie guy.  It doesn't matter what the filling is - if it is pie, he loves it!  So you can see why a good crust is a necessity for me!

Today's attempt comes from one of my favorite food blogs, Simply Recipes.  This has been one of my go-to sites for quite a while.  How can I go wrong??


The Cast:
Flour
Butter
Salt (which I omitted because I didn't have unsalted butter)
Sugar
Ice Water

I cut the butter into cubes and put it in the freezer, along side the water, until it was all nice and cold.

Next, I mixed the sugar into the flour, and used my pastry blender to incorporate the butter until it looked like chunky sand.  I think this is one spot I mess up a lot.  This is my first time using my brand new Pampered Chef Pastry Blender - I normally do it in the food processor, and I think I process the flour and butter too long, so it doesn't have the chunks of butter that make it so flaky.  I made it much coarser this time.

Next, you add the ice water.  I think that this is another spot I have trouble - I usually make it either too wet or too dry.  Again, with the food processor, it's kind of hard to get it exact, so I am doing it by hand this time.  It should be just wet enough to hold together when you squeeze it in your hand.

After mixing, I poured it out onto a flexible cutting mat...  

...and I worked it into 2 mounds of dough and wrapped them in plastic to take a nap in the fridge for an hour or so.

After an hour in the fridge, I took the two pie crusts out, and was very disappointed - they were too dry!  I kneaded in some more water and put them back in for another hour.  After the 2nd rest, they were good - all ready to roll out!

  

Once it was filled with 2 cans of cherry pie filling (Yes, canned...don't judge me!), I was ready to tackle the top!  Rolled out the crust and cut it into strips with my Pampered Chef Pizza Cutter.  We'll just pretend that my uneven cuts were done on purpose.

I just love a cute lattice crust.  

Once I am better at making the crust itself, I need to work on my crimping skills!  All ready for a trip to the oven!

The instructions said to bake for 30 to 35 minutes, but I ended up needing to bake it for 45.  But it came out beautifully!!  I hope it tastes as good as it looks!

Good news...I have just had confirmation that the crust is good!  Woohoo!!  The sweet taste of success!!