When I was 21 years old, I won a blue ribbon in the Crawford County Fair for my cherry pie.
I don’t think I have to tell anyone what a big deal this was. Crawford County is located in the south-east corner of Kansas. Farm country — small town – Crawford County folk take blue ribbons serious. There are women who spend most of the year perfecting their pickle and pie recipes, so not everyone was thrilled when a “young upstart from away†(me) pulled off a coup and took home the first prize.
I admit to being first time lucky. I made a great crust with an oil and not butter recipe, and don’t tell anyone, I used canned cherry pie filling!
Still, it was that blue ribbon that gave me the confidence to continue making pies.
I used that particular oil pie crust recipe for years. I don’t know where I got it. I had it memorized, thinking I would always know it, and then … I’m not sure when, but one day I forgot it. I couldn’t make it. My ratio of flour and oil were off and it just wasn’t the same. I didn’t make pies for a while, and the ones I did, were okay, but not great.
Then, a few years ago when I was teaching in Massachusetts, I went to the home of Rachel Scherer and we made pie. Her recipe was terrific and foolproof. I wrote this one down and have been using it ever since. It doesn’t use oil; it uses butter, a lot of butter, and … crisco! Probably what most Kansas housewives used in the early 70s.
The crust is flaky, yummy, and easy to make.
I made two pies this last weekend for Thanksgiving, blueberry and pumpkin. Tonight with the left over pie crust dough – I made blue ribbon pie crust cookies.
Pie is tradition, and pie crust cookies are a throw back to my mom.
Food and memories — we all have them.
Oooohhhh….recipe for pie crust cookies please! Sounds great; do you just roll out your leftover dough and cut it into shapes? Do you start with the heat high and then turn it down? How long? Do you add anything? Please tell!
Nothing so fancy Laura. Roll out the left over dough into little balls and squish them into cookies. Place on baking pan at 350 degrees F for less than 10 minutes. (our oven runs hot) Oh, and sprinkle sugar or chocolate chips on top before baking. Pure decadence.
see? you always were a good cook 🙂