We got Hailey for the weekend after work on Friday and after some celebrating at school she was all excited for Pi Day on March 14th! She requested I make some pie for the ‘holiday’. Keep in mind, this request is coming from a girl who typically won’t eat pie, not the good fruit pies anyway! It’s the only way I can truly tell she’s not directly related to me 🙂 Since I wanted to make something I knew she would eat and love I decided on Pumpkin Pie, also a favorite of my husband’s…win win! I follow the recipe on the can of Libby’s Pure Pumpkin pretty closely so I’m not going to go over the recipe for the filling, but as with all pies, I did make homemade crust so I will definitely share that easy recipe! I’ve been a bit spoiled growing up when it comes to baked goods with everything always being homemade; the store bought goods just don’t quite cut it for me! Plus, as with anything you eat, it’s always nice to know exactly what’s in your food! Before we get to that though, I have to share a quick side story…

So Hailey had one of her best friends in the neighborhood, Katie, stay over last night for a fun slumber party on Friday the 13th; they can certainly handle scary movies better than I can! As all girls do at slumber parties, they stayed up pretty late and Allen and I were for sure asleep before they were! One way we know this is the surprise we saw walking into the kitchen this morning…paper taped to random objects around the kitchen with phrases and drawings related to Pi Day! It was too funny! Below are some photos for your enjoyment and my fun looking back on in future days! I particularly got a kick out of the one saying “Keep Calm and Enjoy Pi Day!”

Alright, we can get back to the pie crust now! My grandma shared this recipe with me many years ago when she taught me how to bake pies! I believe I was around 12 years old when I made my first pie and if I can find the photo from that day I will add it to this post, a gem I’m sure! The crust has six basic ingredients: flour, crisco, an ever so small amount of salt, egg, vinegar and water! The nice thing about the recipe is it makes enough for two full pies, meaning pies that require crust on the bottom and top. Since my pumpkin pie only needed one bottom crust, I put the dough for three other pie crusts in the freezer. Having the dough handy in the freezer will make baking my next pie even easier with one step out of the way! The photo below shows how I quartered the ball of dough. It’s also similar to an add for Crate and Barrel, because the pastry cutter, slab, roller and measuring cups all came from that store! Love their products!

Once you have the dough mixed and separated, you simply roll as many as you need to fit a traditional 9.5″ pie dish. Mine never really look perfect, but they sure do taste good…I think we’ve gone over this before, taste wins over looks!

From here, continue making your pie of choice and pour the filling in when ready! This is a nice, flaky crust with really good flavor! Check out the recipe below and think twice next time you look at the pre-made pie crusts in the store! Hope you all enjoy! Happy Pi Day!!

 

Homemade Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 3 cups Flour
• 1 1/3 cups Crisco
• 1 Egg, beaten
• Dash of Salt
• 6 Tbsp Water
• 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, crisco and salt.
2. Stir in water, vinegar and egg and mix well to form the dough. (I eventually use my hands at this part to knead the dough and get all ingredients stuck together and ready to work with on the pastry slab)
3. Flour your rolling surface well. Remove the dough from the bowl and add flour as needed to continue patting it together and forming a ball with it.
4. Using a pastry cutter, divide the dough into four sections.
5. Roll one section at a time, flipping over occasionally and adding flour conservatively to keep the dough from breaking.
6. Carefully fold the rounded, rolled out dough in half to place in the pie dish. Unfold to cover the dish completely.

 

As always, thanks for reading!!