I made pie crust

Some people can make pie crust, some people cannot.

Aunt Louise - who is as close to the ideal corporate lawyer/Martha Stewart hybrid as you can get - cannot make pie crust. I cannot make pie crust. My sister, Meg, is good at everything and pie crust is included. My mother - who is as close to the ideal college professor/Martha Stewart hybrid as you can get - can make a mean pie crust.

Pie crust pisses me off. Pie crust intimidates me. My pie crusts are crumbly. They break up when I try to get them from the counter and into the pie pan. Pie crust makes me want to scream.

On our annual pie night, I defer the pie crust making duties to my sister (and to any other sucker willing to give it a try). I'll concentrate on making the innards, thank you very much.

Avoiding conquering the pie crust has suited me just fine. I only make pies with my mom and my sister, anyway. Why bother?

Here's why bother: on Friday, I needed to make a pie. I needed to make a pie for Chet's best friend's going away party and my mom was on a plane to California and Meg was at a hockey tournament.

And I had to make a pie crust.

Oh, the stress.

I was making caramel apple pie, per the request of the guest of honor. I went with the Pioneer Woman's recipe because she, well, she is awesome. Although I wish she would have told me to slice my apples a little smaller.

Anyway. So, I decided on the Pioneer Woman's Scrumptious Apple Pie. And, on a whim, I decided to give her Perfect Pie Crust a try because, seriously, I have legitimate problems with my mom's pie crust recipe and what if maybe this one is a little bit easier for me and I don't end up crying?

It was worth a shot. Even though I regularly feel awful and guilty about deviating from my mother's recipes. Forget loyalty: a successful pie crust trumps a crumbly crust via the family pie crust recipe.

I followed the recipe closely. I took a lot of deep breaths. I took my time.

AND THEN THERE WAS A PIE CRUST MIRACLE.



Technically, there were three (3!) pie crust miracles because the recipe makes three pie crusts. Did you know that you can freeze pie crusts? You can freeze pie crusts, unbaked.

...which my mother verified for me via text message when I sent her photographic evidence of the good news.



Meg was also very supportive of my pie crust skills.



With two crusts in the freezer, I see the creation of a couple of pies in my future. (Suggestions, anyone?)



After tackling the big, scary pie crust, the rest of the pie was no big thing.



Like peeling up a couple of apples and chopping up some pecans is any big deal. Hell no. Combining flour and shortening: that's a big deal.

Or it was until Friday morning, anyway.

Now I'm practically a professional.