Pie Class

In the back of my kitchen cabinet is a rolling pin, hardly ever used. Making pies are just not included among my culinary skills. So when I saw an online pie making class, I said to myself, "It's now or never," and I signed up.

Lesson 1: Making a crust

Revelation: I can actually use the paddle attachment of my Kitchen Aid mixer. Who knew? I thought to make pie dough, one needed a pastry cutter. This may be easier than I thought.

Recipe: 2 Cups flour, 3/4 Cup shortening, dash of salt, 4 Tablespoons ice water.

Form the dough into two flattened balls. Place in the refrigerator for thirty minutes. So far, so good.

Time to roll! This was the fun part.

Then I folded the rolled out dough into quarters, centered it in the pie plate, unfolded it, and spooned in the pie filling. (That part came from a Williams Sonoma jar. Lesson 1 did not include making your own pie fill.) It looked a little skimpy, so I added some cherry pie filling.

Ready for the oven!

Yum!

Well, it looked pretty good. When I sliced into it, however, I'll admit it was a little soupy. Next time I'll add some cornstarch to thicken the filling.

Now it's on to Lesson 2: Meat Pies