I Made Pie!!!

I made apple pie last night. I made it myself. I made it from scratch. I want to eat it. Now.

But I have to wait. If it is a success... I will make more. But for now, here's the fun stuff:

First: Start with a cookbook that was your mother's when she was first married. It will be more than 56 years old by the time you get your grubby hands on it. But that's okay... by the look of it, grubby hands have been on it for, well, 56 years!

Make your pie crust. It is fun! You will learn you really want a pastry cutter while you are making the pie crust. But you don't have one. So, you will use a potato masher instead. It will work almost as well. I could have done the whole "use a couple knives" trick... but this seemed less headachy.

Stick that crust in the fridge to let it set and it will be easier to work with.





When you roll the crust out here at Casa de Bell... you will quickly learn two things:

1. You will want a bigger cutting board to work with...

2. You will want a larger rolling pin. It is hard to use a seven inch rolling pin to spread out a 10 inch pie crust. Just sayin...

But Loooook.... see how pretty it turns out? It ALMOST reaches the edge of the pie plate. Almost. I didn't let it get to the edge on purpose. I didn't want to appear snooty and perfect or anything. That would just make my doorbell constantly buzz with all the men who will want me forever. Who wants that kind of headache?

Oh wait. That might be me. Nevermind.




This is what the apples look like when they are all cut up and covered in goodness. I know some of you out there (the three people who read my blog) are surprised and perhaps dismayed that the apples are not cut into perfect slices. Let me refer you to the note above about my need to distance myself from perfection for the sake of all mankind.

Then, let me explain that I really prefer the smaller bites of apple in my pie. I want to fork it up... I don't want to have to cut into a piece of pie. It's just my way of doing things. Hope you don't mind.




The wonderful goodness covering the apples? Well, that would be sugar, flour, cinnamom and nutmeg.

One word: Yum. With a capital Y!!!

It really works best if you get your hands in the mix. Seriously. Because you know the apples are fully coated with goodness.

Please pay no attention to my lack of manicure. I completely FORGOT about a nail appointment this week. Let's blame that on the fact that I comPLETEly didn't start my Christmas shopping until Monday.


Before it goes into the oven... it looks a little like this:



This is what the pie looks like at about 30 minutes into the baking process. I know... I KNOW... I am NOT supposed to open the oven door upon pain of DEATH. But I had to sneak a peek... it's Christmas for goodness' sake!!



This is what it looks like after it is out of the oven...



This is what will make you drool. If I make it to Christmas Eve dinner without slicing into this... it will be the new miracle of Christmas!


Merry Christmas!!!