More pie

I decided I needed a stress-relieving session of baking on Sunday. So I decided to try my hand solo at pie making. And I also wanted to test the difference between shortening-only pie crust as my grandma makes, and a shortening/butter combo as my pal Alton Brown makes. (Yes, he's my friend.)

The difference: Shortening-only pie crust is whiter, crisper, and more delicate. A pie crust with shortening AND butter is soft, flakey, tender, and golden. They're two different beasts, in my opinion. The butter/shortening combo was 10 times easier to handle though.

I got to use my great-grandma's sifter for the first time, and I felt super special.

I ended up making 3 pies in a matter of 4 hours. Berry, cherry, and key-lime pie, all completely from scratch. I spent the most time on the cherry, depitting and all. But the fresh cherries that were actually kind of amazing, turned in to that fated "cooked" cherry mess. Cherry-pie lovers would probably love it, but for some reason, I just can't handle cherries. The berry pie recipe called for a bit of blueberry jam, and it actually solved the sour problem. I might stick to that trick for the rest of my life. The key-lime pie is great. Although, I might just suffer the artificiality next time and add the green food coloring, because lime pie that isn't green is off-setting.

All in all, I had an informative and stress-eeking evening. Now we just need to eat all this pie.