A Beautiful Disaster

I made an apple pie! Not only did I make the pie, but I made the crust...from scratch! That was the most adventurous part for me. I think I've tried to make pie crust maybe 2 times my whole life. Those ready-made crusts in the fridge section make my "easy as pie" so much easier! But not this time.

Through friends and family I decided to use this recipe from The Pioneer Woman (whom I recently discover and instantly loved!). The pie crust recipe I had was pretty much the same as hers, except that the wet ingredients were to be added "as needed". I did put mine in the freezer for a bit before rolling it out and I really liked the results. However, it is so obvious that I need to work on my crust rolling, pie plate placing, and edge pinching (is that called "fluting"?).

I was laughing with every rip and tear, and I'm laughing now! What an awful looking pie crust! Thankfully it was very forgiving and I was able to patch it up respectably.

 

Getting those shiny, sugary apples in there helped a whole lot. I sprinkled the yummy mix of butter and sugar on top (sorry, no picture), and excitedly put my pie baby in the oven. After awhile I could smell the warm, tart apples...and something else. The stove was on, something must have spilled on the unit. A little later the strange burning smell was much stronger, my pie was smoking! Big smelly clouds escaped every time the oven door was opened. I had forgotten to put a cookie sheet under the pie, to catch any drippings, so the drippings weren't caught. Instead they made a mess in the oven, got the whole house stinkin, and I could only hope that the pie would still taste like pie. Despite the rocky baking process it came out looking beautiful! Of course I might say that about anything topped with pecans and caramel sauce!

It was still warm when we cut into it. And very gooey! I thought the granny smith apples would hold their shape better, instead it was like a thick apple sauce. I think I like to have a firmer apple in my pie. And there was no denying it, there was a distinct "smokey" flavor. Almost like it had been baked over an open flame, not totally unpleasant, but disappointing just the same. A few people decided they really liked it that way, I'm not one of them. I guess I'll have to try again...