mostly pie, mostly.

i love baking pies. i think it might be my calling in life. no, seriously. if i won the lottery tomorrow, i'd quite my job and open a pie shop. i have the name of the shop all worked up in my head already :) i'm not telling you, because frankly, i don't want you poaching my idea! you never know, it might happen someday...

anyway, since i've been back in iowa (at my parents' for wedding prep - my big brother is tying the knot on saturday!!) i've already made two pies and am currently workin on a batch of mini cheesecakes for the wedding reception (people should seriously consider hiring me). so i thought i'd blog about my creations. i pretty much have made it to the point where i can throw a pie together without a recipe - just feel it out. i love that.

but before i get to the present pies, i thought i should take time to reflect on my pie-like creation i whipped up to go with the pulled pork goodness i blogged about not too long ago. i know, i should have blogged about this then, but i didn't. so what. what are you really going to do about it, huh? that's what i thought.

here is my fruit galette. interesting, isn't it?

basically, i made a standard pie crust, piled in a bunch of almost over ripe fruit leftover from my produce box (with some sugar, flour, and cornstarch), and then folded up the edges. i baked it right on the parchment i rolled the crust out on. good thing too, since the filling oozed out of the shell. although - the ooze stiffened a bit into a fruity, cookie-like thing. it was pretty good. at least i enjoyed it (as did the boys).

so the last time i as at home, my mother had me bake a rhubarb pie (i think i forgot to blog about that one... oops), and she said she wanted a peach pie (her favorite) when i came back for the wedding. i wasn't off the plane for a full 24 hours before i was in the kitchen whippin' up a pie for that woman. but it turned out pretty damn good. even my dad said so, and that man is hard to please (and brutally honest when it comes to food...).
and then i picked up some fresh blueberries and raspberries when i was in iowa city visiting some old friends and whipped up a second pie. i was worried that this one wouldn't set, because it looked a little runny in the oven. but no worries! all was well.

after i made the second pie (notice the successful execution of the lattice top - yeah, i kick ass), i had a lot of left over crust. so i concocted these li'l guys. don't know what you would call them. they are filled with a peanut butter chocolate mixture. i didn't really like them, but mom did. so i guess that makes it all right, right?

they certainly are cute.


for those curious:
pie crust - martha style

• 2.5 cups of cold flour
• 2 sticks of cool butter
• dash of salt
• dash of sugar
• ice cold water as neede

use a pastry cutter (or a potato masher works too) to mix butter, salt, sugar, and flour into a crumbly mixture. add water a few tablespoons at a time to get dough into a malleable consistency. refrigerate until ready to roll out.

for the fillings:

mix 6 (ish) cups of fruit with 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, and 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch. once fruit is well coated, put in pie shell and top with second crust. brush with a light egg wash (1 egg beaten with water, milk, or cream) and sprinkle with large grain sugar. bake at 375 for 50 - 65 minutes (crust should be golden and the filling should be bubbling). cool in a safe spot free of over eager eaters... :)