Gratitude 4: Cinnamon Crust

The night before Thanksgiving is sort of a holiday.  Well, to me and my sister Amy anyway.  And probably to most people who have to prepare items for Turkey day.

When I was growing up, the Thanksgiving Eve was cinnamon crust night.  This is because my mom would make her pie crusts the night before and would always bake the parts of crust she cut off and top them with cinnamon.  Mmmm. These little odd-shaped tastes of heaven were part of the holiday as much as turkey and green bean casserole.

I talked with my mom today about my Thanksgiving assignment.  For the record, I'm not bringing the beans this year; I'll be taking rolls.  Which I would have made anyway because I'm never content with left-overs and have to have my own.  But anyway, today the conversation turned to pies and who liked what and who would make a pie.  I declined, but expressed my interest in someone making a lemon meringue pie.

But.

I got thinking. Just yesterday, I bought a $3 pastry cutter from the Walmart.  I have looked for one for years. And so tonight, I broke down and made a pie crust.  I had to call my friend Melanie, Shane's grandma, and my neighbor Karen, but I got through the sticky parts. 

Here's my experience:

I started with flour, salt, and butter.

  

I cut the butter into the flour. This went a lot better than I expected it to.



5 to 6 tablespoons of cold water later, I had a pastry ball.



I rolled the crust out between 2 pieces of floured wax paper.  This is the typical amount of roundness my pizzas and sugar cookies have.  So really, not really round at all.

Getting the pie into the crust was interesting.  I ended up with too much on one end and not enough on another. But I didn't drop it on the floor, so I count it as a success. 

10 minutes later at 425 I had this.  I wish I would have waited to put the cinnamon on until after I baked.  But it tastes just right.



The cut away parts of the pie.  I took these over to my neighbor Karen.  Hopefully the late night treat will inspire them to forgive me for breaking the 10 to 10 rule.  It was 10:15 when I took it over.

So tonight, I'm grateful for this little taste of my childhood. I'll share it with the boys in the morning when they wake up. But probably, most of it will end up in my own mouth. Can you blame me?  All in all, it was a good warm-up for the lemon-meringue pie I'll attempt in a few weeks.  Gulp.

Have you ever made a pie? What kind of pie is your favorite? Do you know what you are taking to Thanksgiving dinner this year?