Wednesday, May 9, 2012

pie saves

My apron has gotten terribly dirty over the past few days.  Baking has a way of lifting my spirits like nothing else.  Baking with my daughters puts a big smile on all our faces.  The fun of choosing your project, digging in and getting dirty, watching simple things turn into beautiful food, tasting your creations.  It's just so darn fun.

The rain hasn't let up here in Addis Ababa.  We've been playing inside and avoiding the temptation to just flip on a DVD (bad weather makes me a push-over when it comes to movie watching).  Today we turned the ugliest red apples into mini pocket pies.  We also made strawberry because I knew the girls would favor the berries over the traditional apple pie.

Pie is therapeutic.  Something about pie makes me feel connected to all the other pie makers the world has ever known.  Maybe it's the simple tasks of making the crust and choosing a filling.  I don't know.  The rolling pin feels great in my hands.  The girls just flocked to the kitchen to see what was going on.  My little bakers drop everything they are doing to help in the kitchen.  I love it
I made a double batch of pie crust (single batch: 1 1/4 cups flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp salt, 1 stick of cold butter grated and then cut in the dry with an old fashion pie crust cutter tool then 3-4 Tbsp of ice cold water is added. Use your hands to bring it together.  Do this fast, don't let the butter melt.) and rolled it out after it had cooled in the refrigerator.  I cut circles out of the dough for the pockets and let Adelaide cut out leaves to top the pies.  She is a perfect little helper.  Arabella on the other hand sticks her snotty filthy fingers in everything she can manage.  She's so darn cute about it though that I can't banish her from the counter. She asks the second AFTER she's stuck her finger in it "can I try it?" Then she almost always exclaims "I LIKE IT"!  I just pray the baking process kills the germs.  
The apple filing includes peeled diced apples, a bit of lime juice, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and vanilla.  For the strawberry filling I only added about a tablespoon of sugar.

I did the pocket filling and folding and creasing.  Addie added the decorative and delicious leaves and we brushed them with egg whites.  They baked in a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes.  It made 9 sweet little pies.  What's better than making pie? Sharing pie.  The girls gave a little pie to Tecklu, Zalalem and Eneye.  Addie made them choose their favorite flavor.  These little cutie pies saved the day (pun enthusiastically intended).


These remind me so much of the Hostess fruit pies my Dad used to love when I was growing up.  I think the lemon was our family favorite.  Or maybe it was mine.  I think my Dad's very favorite was the berry flavor (the one with the purple wrapper).  I think cherry was disgusted flavor. I remember my Mom getting these little pies for my Dad to take to work in his lunch pail.  Gosh, I haven't had one of these in a decade maybe.  I'm making a batch of my mini pocket pies next time I see my Dad.  The homemade version is pretty darn tasty.


1 comment:

Megan said...

I bet these are awesome. I'm sure they are way better than those gelatinous pies you get in the store.