Part 1 of the Pie Series: The Crust

      I have always loved to make pie.  It confuses me when people say that pies are hard to make.  After all, the saying is, "Easy as Pie"!  I guess because I was taught to bake pie by my mother, who was always the world's best pie maker, I just thought that pie baking was supposed to be easy.  My mother's pie crust recipe is the one I always use.  It is simple and straightforward. No tricks or secret ingredients.  It won my mom so many pie contests that they eventually just made her the judge to give someone else a chance.  
        Thanksgiving is obviously the time of year that most pies are baked.  When I was growing up, my mom would make an array of about 8-10 pies for the holiday.  With my own family over the years, it has been about the same.  We usually meet with extended family, so there has to be lots of pie.  Since we are getting so close to Thanksgiving, I have decided to do a Pie Series. I will share recipes for some of our most loved pies.  We have to start with the basics, so today we are starting with the crust. 

Mom's Pie Crust

      There is the recipe, but here is the gallery of instructions.

I always use Crisco! I have tried many kinds, but this gives the best results by far. Shop around for the best price. I find that usually Walmart or Winco will have the lowest prices on it, by $2.00!

Put your flour, salt and shortening in the bowl.

I use a fork to cut the shortening in until it is crumbly like this.

You end up with a ball of dough that will make one double crust pie.

Flour your board and rolling pin. I have a big center tile on my counter that I use to roll things our on.

First roll the ball out about four rolls into a circle. Then lift, rub the flour under it again, and flip it on to the other side. This will help it not to stick so much in the long run.

Then, continue to roll the dough out to the size you need to fit your pie dish.

Next, fold it in half loosely and center it in your dish.

The dough should hang over the edges of the pie plate.

You can crimp or decorate the edges how ever you would like. Here is one method where I place my thumb and forefinger inside of the dish and then push the dough from the outside between them to make a scallop.

Here it is, ready to go into a 450 degree oven.

This pie crust was crimped a different way, simply by pinching around the edges. It is all baked!

        Here are a few more tips:

• I never make a double batch of dough.  It just doesn't seem to work.  But, you will learn to save the left over dough to put with the next batch so that two batches can make 3 single crust pies.  If you are organized, you will end up having to make fewer batches of dough when you need a lot of pies.
• I do all of the pie baking the day before Thanksgiving because the oven is going to be busy with the turkey on Thanksgiving day.
• My kids always loved to eat scraps of pie dough.  There are no eggs in it, so I thought it was pretty safe.  We never had any problems.  But, recently I have read that even raw flour can be dangerous to eat.  Use your best judgement. 

      Here are a couple of alternative to eating raw dough when you have leftovers:

Turn a cupcake tin upside down to use as a mold for tarts.

Use a bowl or large glass to cut out a circle and then form the shell over the tin. Bake about 18 min. at 450 degrees F.

When they are cooled, you can fill them with whatever you would like! (I was out of whipped cream, sorry.)

This is my husbands favorite! Put the last of the dough in a small pie pan.

Sprinkle the dough with sugar and cinnamon. Bake at 450 degrees about 20 min.

When it comes out, everyone will just want to break pieces off and munch on it.

Here is your chance to see the flakiness of this crust.

Nice and flaky, just like crust is supposed to be.

      Be sure to join us all next week for the rest of the pie series! There are sure to be some recipes that you will want to try baking for your family this Thanksgiving!
     *I just read this to my husband and he asked me to tell you not to forget that someday we will get back to cookies! (He is missing the  Oatmeal Raisin Quest.)
       Below, you will see some ideas for the holidays.  Panna would be a great gift for the Want-to-Be foodie in your life, and you can try it out for FREE! 
           Minted is offering 15% off of their beautiful holiday photo cards.  They are offering 20% off of their foiled cards.  They will even address them for you for free.  All you have to do is add postage and mail them!
            Pie bakers love beautiful pie dishes or other accessories, Click through to Amazon to shop now!