Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Peach and Mango Pie (3.141592653589)

I am eating pie as we speak.  What pie, you ask? The pie that I made last night!!!  Wait, I made a pie last night? From SCRATCH? There are many questions, I know.  It started out with 3 peaches from 2 weeks ago that just wouldn't go away (translation: get eaten by Mike).  I think peaches are ~ok~ but I secretly wished that I had bought nectarines instead.  I'm sorry, little peaches, I love your non-fuzzy cousins more.



Strange digressions aside, I had a really nice experience mushing together flour and shortening with my hands.  Initially, a fork kept me from experiencing the nirvana until, frustrated at the lack of mixing, I shoved my hand into the bowl.  All of a sudden, I was transported into a space-mobile-drifting-through-a-cloud-of-pink-rainbow-plasma as the soft, cold shortening infused an unbelievable silkiness to the smooth flour.    Oh, I seem to have digressed strangely again.

I followed the recipe on Crisco's website for a single "flaky" pie crust, though next time I will make the double crust.
1/2 cup cold shortening
1 1/2 cup flour + 1/2 tsp salt
Add 4-8 Tbsp ice cold water to the mixture, one Tbsp at a time until it is moist and a marble of dough will not crack when squished.
Flatten these and wrap them in plastic or wax paper then refrigerate.  I chilled them for 30 minutes.
Then roll out! Roll out!

I was slightly alarmed when I discovered that 1 Tbsp of shortening = 12 g fat.  (I used 1/2 cup which is 8 Tbsp).  Then I looked at stick of butter and it told me that 1 Tbsp of itself = 11 g. And I call myself a doctor.  I'm disgusted! And yet my appetite is whet!
For more sources of gooey disgust, please refer to my fruit filling:
1. Aforementioned peaches
2. an unripened mango (beggars can't be choosers)
3. 1/2 cup each of brown and white sugar
4. Haphazard dribbling of honey
5. 1/2 cup flour to absorb the moisture

My Crisco-derived pie crust calls itself flaky as opposed to Crisco's "classic" pie crust which I suppose is not flaky.  Anyway, did I mention how much I love squishing flour into Crisco?

I apologize, no pictures were taken during the squishing of the dough and the moulding of the crust and lattice pie top.  I was too focused and ecstatic that things seemed to not be a disaster.  Imagine my surprise when 45 min later in a 400 degree oven...


Before and After


A Pie is born!!

Are you surprised that Mike and I ate pie last night, this morning, AND this afternoon?  I can't believe I ever led a pie-less life.  


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