Here’s the deal, sometimes I get in the mood to make something and I don’t necessarily have all of the ingredients or the exact amount of ingredients. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has dealt with this before. Logically, there are a few ways to solve this issue. You can go to the store a buy what you are missing, you can substitute something in the recipe (if you know that it will work), or you can say screw it and go back to watching whatever housewives marathon is on Bravo at the time.
Well, this happened to me last Friday afternoon, November 19, 2015. I really wanted to bake a pie. I wasn’t craving pie to eat, I just wanted to participate in the act of making the pie. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t even want to engage in the pie making process. What I really wanted to do was attempt to make a fancy pie crust. The first decision was pretty simple, making the crust. In order to achieve my goal as quickly as possible, I decided that a pie crust from scratch was simply unnecessary when I had a perfectly good box of Pillsbury Pie Crust in my refrigerator. Next step to decide upon was the filling. Here’s where things got complicated.
My kitchen seemed to have been lacking in the pie filling department. I didn’t have any fresh fruit to cut up, nothing in cans, no pudding or ingredients to make a mousse. Unless I was going to pour a full bag of marshmallows into the pie dish and stick that in the oven, I was basically S.O.L. But wait! How could I forget?! I had a few bags of Dole frozen fruit in the freezer! I could just defrost that and make my fruit filled pie!
I was “back in business” until I took the bag of frozen cherries out and realized how tiny it was compared to the pie dish. My only other options left were a single bag of sliced peaches and a single bag of strawberries. And of course, the option of going outside to get what I needed from a store, but I was going to do everything in my power to avoid that outcome. I thought about it and defrosted the peaches with the cherries for a complete pie filling.
As I was lining the bottom of the pie dish with the first crust, I was thinking about how the filling would taste, since cherry pie and peach pie happen to be my favorites (not together generally though). I then realized that I probably needed to sweeten because you don’t just dump plain fruit into a pie and cook it. Pie filling is made with other ingredients too. I wondered what those might be. I thought about making fresh apple pie with my mom and I saw that the pie crust box had a different apple pie recipe printed on it. I decided I’d combine recipes and wing it. At that point, I had stopped giving a shit about any kind of rules and order anyway.
I mixed everything together and then began the most daunting task of the process, the top crust. Why I was putting myself through this, I can’t answer that. I had spent time internet searching for way longer than anyone should search “pie crust designs” and “top pie crust” until I settled on the basic lattice top. Once you eliminate pie crusts that require a cookie cutter or any actual artistic skills, there aren’t too many options left. I rolled out my pre-made second crust, and started to cut it into strips to weave together. As a first time lattice top creator, I was pretty impressed with the results. I stuck the pie in the oven, checked on it to make sure it wasn’t burning, and forty minutes later it was cooling on the counter.
I cut myself a slice for dessert a few hours later and was pleasantly surprised by how good it tasted. Except for the peaches. They were still kind of hard. The peaches disappointed me. I loved the cherries and the crust though! So, to pass on this wealth of knowledge, below is the recipe I adapted (minus the peaches).
Ingredients
1 Box Pillsbury Pie Crust
2 Bags Dole Frozen Cherries
1 1/2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Sugar + additional to sprinkle on top
1/8 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 Tbsp Cinnamon + additional to sprinkle on top
1 egg
Directions
Follow defrosting directions on package of cherries and initial pie crust directions on pie crust box. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees. Place the pie dish onto a baking sheet or tinfoil to prevent the filling from spilling over in the oven while cooking.
In a large mixing bowl, coat the cherries with the dry ingredients (all ingredients except for the egg).
Once first pie crust in layered on the bottom of the pie dish, pour the cherry filling mixture into the pie dish and set aside.
Lay the second pie crust flat and cut 3/4 inch thick slices vertically through the whole piece. You may need a tiny bit of flour on the flat surface to make sure the pie crust doesn’t stick.
Leaving 3/4 inch size spaces between each one, horizontally line up strips of pie crust on top of the pie filling. Just place them on top. Do not press the dough down just yet.
Lift every other horizontal strip you had just put down, and fold it back so that it is in half. Do this lightly so that the dough doesn’t crack.
Place a strip of dough vertically down on top of the pie. This strip should be on top of the alternating horizontal strips.
Put the horizontal strips back down flat that you had folded back, and do the same thing with the alternate horizontal strips. Continue adding vertical strips while switching the folded horizontal strips until you reach the end of half of the pie. Then repeat the process for the other side of the pie. This will create a woven effect where the top and bottom strips are criss crossing.
Pinch all of the dough together around the rim of the pie dish and using a fork, press small indentations to seal it.
Beat the egg and brush the top of the pie crust. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.
Bake the pie in the oven for a total of 40-45 minutes. After about 15-20 minutes, check on it to make sure the top crust isn’t burning. If it seems to be getting too dark, you can take some small pieces of tin foil and cover the edges for the remaining cooking time.
Remove the pie from the oven and cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
Here’s the deal, sometimes I get in the mood to make something and I don’t necessarily have all of the ingredients or the exact amount of ingredients. I’m sure I’m not the only person who has dealt with this before. Logically, there are a few ways to solve this issue. You can go to the store a buy what you are missing, you can substitute something in the recipe (if you know that it will work), or you can say screw it and go back to watching whatever housewives marathon is on Bravo at the time.
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