#Throwback Thurday/Thanksgiving!!!!

When I say I've been cooking forever, I'm not kidding!!!  I was three in this pic and I still love me some pie!!!

If you want to make your own pie dough, be my guest...but unless I'm making a tart that is savory or one that needs to stand up to special flavors, I just roll with the store bought version...though I am partial to this style.

Roll it out a little more after a sprinkle of flour.... 

And place it in your dish...

For any berry pie...the basic recipe is:  3 cups berries, 4 tablespoons flour, 2/3-1 cup sugar depending on taste and sweetness of your berries, butter to dot over the top of the fruit...and your pastry.  I do like to add some lemon zest to blueberries or blackberries as you see here.  Nutmeg and cinnamon are nice additions with peaches and apples.

Mix.  Then place fruit mixture in your pastry lined dish.  Use a brush or your finger to dampen your pastry edge with water...that will be your 'glue' when you put on either a solid pastry "lid" or the lattice top shown below....

For a lattice top, roll out the other half of your dough as you did for the bottom, but afterwards, cut into strips.

Choose strips of appropriate lengths and smish their top edge into your water dampened edge of the bottom pastry. 

You could just lay pieces across one way and then across in the other, but I think it is fun to actually layer mine in an alternating fashion!!! 

After you have finished creating the lattice with your strips, make sure all ends are pressed into the sides of the bottom layer of pastry.  Trim off excess by running a knife around the edge of your dish and crimp it all together using your fingers or mash with the tines of a fork. AND....if you're like me and tend to forget to dot your top with butter...you can always squich it in the spaces between your lattice!  Handy, right?

You can then bake in a 400 degree oven for about 40-50 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the pastry nicely browned, as is.  But it does protect the crust on the outer edge from getting too browned if you place a little foil collar around the edge.  You can remove it, oh around the last 10 minutes of cooking.  And using a brush to apply a little milk or egg wash to the pastry edges makes them shiny and a bit more tasty, especially if you add a sprinkle of sugar or cinnamon sugar like a special glitter topping! If you want a solid top to your pie - just lay that pastry piece on top and attach and finish the edges per previous instructions.  Do remember to add some slits (as simple or as fancy as you like) to provide vents for the steam...else-wise your pie might suffer a blow out!

No matter the style pie you choose, there will always be a little remnant of dough.  Ball it all back together, roll it out and make a tart!!! 

Fill with raisins and cinnamon sugar, blueberries and lemon curd, or any preserves you have on hand, dot with butter, fold over! 

Press edges together after they are dampened with water, crimp, and make your poke holes. 

After baking with the big pie for oh, about 15-20 minutes, depending on how big, thick or the sort of filling you put in...you now have a snack to enjoy ahead of time or a little tart for breakfast! 

Ta dah!!!!  

Enjoy!!!  Happy Thanksgiving.  May there always be pie!!!  Love - c