Seeing as how I’m now more than halfway through this endeavor, let’s take a quick look back at my past pies: I started in January with a booze-infused butterscotch pecan pie, had a series of epic fails in February with my Girl Scout cookie crust chocolate mousse pies, redeemed myself (and gained a fan base) with a refreshing triple lemon pie in March, turned to booze again for a cinnamon twist on the southern staple chess pie in April and kicked off the summer of fruit in May with an impressive lattice-crusted strawberry rhubarb pie.
We’re now almost through July, so where is June, you might ask? Well, I whipped up not just the pie of the month (apricot) but also a cherry pie on Father’s Day since my dad isn’t a fan of apricot. However, in the process of making two different pies using a brand-new (to me) crust recipe an hour before company was to arrive, I was a bit flustered. I barely took any photos, and the whole thing was just a bit of an ordeal. I decided I needed a re-do, so below you’ll find not just one, not two, but three pie stories!
Apricot Attempt Number 1
Since I swore in May that I would try a different crust recipe, I asked some bakers I know about vinegar crust. I turned to my idol Ree (better known as The Pioneer Woman) and used her recipe for “perfect pie crust,” recommended by my friend Stacy. I followed the recipe and when I went to roll out the dough, I was close to tears. It was sticky. It was crumbly. It was a near disaster. I managed to make it work by adding more flour, but the dough debacle is the number-one reason I have only two photos of this pie. The number-two reason would be sticky hands from peeling nearly 3 dozen fresh apricots. Do you know how small apricots are? And how the skin is simultaneously delicate and tough? Tough enough that I didn’t want peel in the pie, but so delicate that it tore easily while peeling. Somehow, I threw it all together, topped it with some star-shaped dough cut-outs and still wowed guests (though the cherry pie was the clear favorite). Don’t underestimate the wow factor of the top crust. I for one hate a full-crust top, as it usually means a hollow space underneath where the fruit cooked down (apples, I’m lookin’ at you). A crumb top is delicious and easy, but lattice and cut-outs? So much prettier to Instagram!
Sylvia’s Pie Crust, from The Pioneer Woman
Ingredients:
- 1½ cup Crisco
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 whole egg
- 5 tablespoons cold water
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon salt
Preparation:
Cut Crisco into the flour with a pastry cutter until it resembles a coarse meal. Add beaten egg, 5 tablespoons of cold water, 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir together gently until all of the ingredients are incorporated.
Separate the dough into thirds (for three thin crusts or halves for 2 thicker crusts). Freeze for 15–20 minutes in freezer bags, or until needed.
For the apricot filling, I followed the simple recipe from Modern Farmer’s pie chart, the inspiration of this whole year:
Combine 5 cups sliced apricots, 3/4 cups sugar, 4 tablespoons cornstarch and the juice of half a lemon. Pour into crust, arrange top crust and brush with egg wash. Bake at 425 for 20, then lower to 350 and bake for 30–40 minutes longer.
Because the crust recipe made three crusts, and I used two bottoms and then cut out some stars, I still had a significant amount of crust left over, which I threw in the freezer. I also had a score to settle with the apricots, so I decided to try blanching the fruit to see if that would help the peeling process. Spoiler alert! It didn’t. Much.
Apricot Attempt Number 2—The Galette
I scored the fruit with an X on the bottom, and then dropped them into boiling water for 1 minute, then submersed in ice water. The peeling was slightly easier, but I think two factors were important: the fruit needs to be ripe and the Xs should be shallow. For the filling, I followed this recipe from Martha and added some almond extract (as seen on a Williams-Sonoma recipe). The crust I had left over was smaller in size, so I used less apricots and adapted the recipe accordingly. The crust was again very difficult to work with, but the end result was delightful. The almond extract really is key—it’s delicious with the apricots. I wish I’d used it in the large pie!
July’s BlueBEERy Pie
Earlier this month I made some ambitious red, white and blue(berry) cupcakes for the Fourth, which involved making a blueberry jam of sorts to mix into cream-cheese icing (heaven). I started this pie’s filling similarly following this recipe and cooking berries with sugar and cornstarch, but substituting the water with beer. While the mixture was cooking/thickening on the stove, I realized that this recipe was a no-bake pie. Whoops! I nixed the rest of the ingredients, cooled the mixture and stirred in the rest of my whole berries, because I liked that idea. I gave a different vinegar crust recipe a shot this time around, to similar results. The dough was sticky, soft and generally annoying to work with. I think I’m going to stick to butter/Crisco combo crusts from now on, because I love the flavor the butter adds.
Apple Cider Vinegar Crust
Blend together with a fork 3 cups flour and 1 ½ cups Crisco. In a small bowl beat 1 egg, then add 1 tablespoon cider vinegar and 5–6 tablespoons water. Gently add to flour mixture. Makes two pies. (Note: I chilled the crust before rolling.)
BlueBEERy Pie Filling
In saucepan, stir ¼ cup of liquid [I used Three Heads Brewing Bromigo Smoked Maple Amber Ale] with ¾ cup sugar, 3 tablespoons cornstarch and a pinch of salt. Then add 3 cups fresh blueberries and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 3 minutes, or until berries pop and mixture starts to reduce. Remove from heat to cool. Stir in 2 cups fresh blueberries.
At this point the filling was super delicious. I could taste a hint of the beer—the combo of maple with blueberry was reminiscent of syrup on blueberry pancakes, and that’s always a good thing. I finished the pie and baked it following the temperature and time directions Modern Farmer gives for all fruit pies, and it came out wonderfully. In a moment of sheer genius, I made some maple ale whipped cream by whipping 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and 2 tablespoons of beer.
I think this blueberry pie marks a milestone in my baking efforts, as I was able to roll with the punches when I fell into my old habit of not reading recipes all the way through before starting. I adapted to the situation and successfully improvised a recipe on the fly, and I think those are qualities that make you a success in the kitchen.
I’m still looking for that perfect pie-crust recipe, though!
- Photography: Melissa Woodley
