Pie #1

Chicago has officially welcomed in fall and nothing says fall better than homemade apple pie.

Thursday lunch hours are almost always dedicated to the Daley Plaza Farmer’s Market. My cousin joined me and we browsed the finest in-season fruits and veggies. We both bought an acorn squash and I found myself intrigued by the variety and quantity of apples available. I bought a small basket and decided I was going to make apple pie that night. After arriving home, I opened up Cooking for Isaiah and went to work on making the pie crust. For the record, I’ve had this book for two weeks and made the 10 cup flour mixture right away. I now have about ½ cup left in my flour container.

Making pie is a bit challenging for me since my pie experience is really limited and is years old: apple pie at a friend’s house and an open-face shoo-fly pie. So I did not really know what to expect with making a gluten-free pie. Since the binding ingredient is shortening, whenever the dough broke apart, all I had to do was push it all back together and smooth it out with my fingers. I found it easiest to transport the dough into my pie tin by simply lifting it up while still on the parchment paper, turning it over and letting it fall. I had to do the same for the top crust of the pie. I still need to learn how to properly make a beautiful and delicious pie (my mom has since promised to let me come to her kitchen and make some with her), but for my first gf pie attempt, this was pretty good! I wish I had rolled the dough a bit thinner, but the filling was perfect and the apple mixture was sweet.

The biggest lesson with this pie is to not make it before eating dinner. (Note the time the pie finally came out of the oven.) By the time the pie was going into the oven, I was starving and I had dirty mixing bowls and dishes all over my stove and counter. Once I settled on a boxed risotto and cleaned off the stove enough to cook that and add some frozen homemade meatballs on top, I couldn’t even taste the food I was eating since I ate it so quickly. I was able to slow things down when I had my dessert and once again taste my delicious food.