I've been wanting to make pie crust since the beginning of October. Not just any pie crust, but the pie crust in the November/December issue of Cook's Illustrated. They went through all the trials and tribulations of trying to make a consistently decent pie crust, and the miracle ingredient ended up being VODKA. I kid you not. Apparently gluten can't form in alcohol, so this little addition to pie dough makes a very tender and flaky crust. I happened to be reading this particular article/recipe while on a plane to Los Angeles with my Mum. I ALMOST woke her up from her nap to show her the recipe, I was so excited. I love it when science and cooking come together to create something fabulous.
The thing is, I haven't had a good reason to make a pie crust in the past month and a half. I'm sure if I had tried hard enough, I could have found a reason. But I didn't want to have an entire pie sitting around, because that means we would eat it. Every last piece of it. And neither one of us really NEEDS to be eating half a pie each. So I'm finally using the upcoming food focused holiday as my excuse. I'm making an apple-cranberry pie for Thanksgiving, and bringing it up to my Mum's house (more people to eat the pie=less guilt).
I made the dough tonight, and it's currently chilling in the fridge. I'll be making the filling and baking it tomorrow. I have a feeling this may be a pretty tasty pie, but I'll be sure to let you know either way. Stay tuned!
© Whitney Brandt-Hiatt: All writing, images, and photogrpahy are the property of Whitney Brandt-Hiatt unless otherwise noted.
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