Rollie Pollie Addictions

Having leftover pie dough is a very good thing! With the leftover dough, you can make rollie pollies which are rather addicting. Just rollout the dough, sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over all, then roll them up and slice them. Lay them on a pie tin and bake about 10 minutes on 400. It doesn't take long for the family to realize they are out of the oven and ready to devour. Betcha can't eat just one!

Pie Pin Cushions

My beautiful and talented Sister-in-law crocheted these super fun pin cushions for some of us sisters when we were together recently. Once she had the basic pattern, she figured out how to make the different flavors. They look good enough to eat. I will always think of her whenever I grab for a pin at my sewing table. Thank you dear Suzanne.

Passing on Pie

This past summer at our family reunion in Oceanside, CA, my nieces helped me make 9 chocolate pies. I couldn't have done it without them. Jessica and Darcy were great to measure and stir (and stir and stir and stir) and poor and scrape and lick and then start all over again. The pie was the perfect end to our meal of chicken fajita enchiladas, green salad, tortilla chips with freshly made salsa, and refried beans. We served about 50 happy people. I hope the girls learn to love making pies as much as I do.

Double Chocolate Cream Pie

(Cooking Light magazine)

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups low fat milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups frozen whipped topping

To prepare filling, combine 3/4 cup sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, salt and milk in a medium saucepan; stir well with a whisk. Cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute until mixture comes to a full boil. Gradually add 1/3 cup hot milk mixture to beaten egg; stir well. Return egg mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add grated chocolate, stirring until the chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla. Spoon mixture into pastry crust. Cover surface of filling with plastic wrap. Chill until set, (about 2 hours). Remove plastic wrap; spread whipped topping evenly over filling.

Guest Baker

Eli's 11 year old friend Cole follows Pie Parade so of course we invited him over to help make some Apple Hand Pies with apples from our trees. It was a fun adventure!

First the boys picked apples while I made the dough. Then they used the apple peeler/corer to make slices. After preparing 14 apples, they had to go back and pick 6 more. I guess some of the fruit never made it to the bowl! They mixed in some sugar, flour and cinnamon.

They placed some apple mixture on one side of the dough disc. Next they dampened half the edge with a wet finger.

They needed to seal the edges so all the yummy juices don't leak out during baking.

With 3 cups of flour worth of dough and most of 20 small apples, we yeilded about

24 pies.

Here is the proud baker with the delicious hand pies. Thanks for helping out Cole! Anytime you feel like baking a pie, you know where to come.

Quilting is Fun Too.

Would you indulge me for a minute? I just finished this quilt and sent it off to my Cody for his birthday. I'm so proud of him and all he has accomplished in his great life. He served a 2 year mission to Russia, which is how he earned a quilt from his mother. He is also a delight to be around, helpful in many useful ways, as smart as a whip, incredible handsome and fit and treats me like a queen whenever we're together. Even though I couldn't bake him a pie for his birthday, I know he'll appreciate the same feeling of warmth and love a quilt creates. Happy Birthday Cody! I love you.

Eli's Pie

Every great once in a while my kids get bored enough to take my suggestion and bake with me. On one Sunday afternoon, I talked Eli into making a pie crust. What could be more fun than playing with pie dough? The end result was a flaky, delicious, maybe not the prettiest, baked crust ready for a tasty filling. We filled the pie with a lemon custard recipe that Aunt Valerie invented. But I’ll let her tell about that in another post! Here is Eli’s first contribution to my pie blog:

"Today I made a pie crust.  First I had to put salt with flour.  Then I put shortening in it and I cut it up with an arch thingy.  Then I made iced water and pored some of it in the dough.  Then I used a fork to make it chunky and then I made it into a ball.  I pulled the ball apart and made it into a disk. 

Then we put flour on it and made it flatter and bigger with a pie rolly thingy.  It made my arms sore and my shoulders ache.  

I folded the crust in half and put it on a pie tin.  I had a folding crease down the middle and didn’t exactly fit perfectly.  I patched it and poked it with a fork.  Then I cooked it and it turned brown.  The pie turned out really really good."

I think he's hooked! Do you let your kids cook in the kitchen with you? 

-Quenta