Tag: aprons

May Pie: Strawberry

May 30, 2011 Crafts, Food, Sewing , , , , ,

Other pie/apron projects: January Pie: Lemon Meringue, February Pie: Milk Chocolate Pudding, March Pie: Thin Mint Grasshopper, Recipe-A-Day Week Vol. IV Day 7: Quakertown Crumb Pie (April).

Holy fruit season, Batman. This was so good, I’m still a little thunderstruck.

I had a strawberry allergy as a kid, so I never ate strawberries and eventually lost a taste for them. I kind of haphazardly avoid them, thinking they’re too tart on their own, too syrupy and unpleasant in dishes. But Adam loves them, and I knew I wanted to make a strawberry pie as part of my pie-a-month project this year. And I was going to make it next month (I’d read June is strawberry season), but the local farms and markets nearby already have a bumper crop of gorgeous looking fruit. So since it’s Memorial Day Weekend, I broke down and bought 2 bushels of pesticide-free, glorious looking strawberries and made the pie for our cookout today.

I used a recipe from The Neelys for the pie, which was so easy I cannot stand how many fruit pie variations I will be making this summer. I suddenly understand pie in the summer. And the half cafe apron is something I just whipped up in less than an hour with some fun red Michael Miller polka dots.

For the pie:
2 sheets roll-out pie crust (I used Martha’s trusty Pate Brisee recipe)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
White sanding sugar, for top of crust
2 bushels of strawberries (enough for 5 cups when hulled and halved)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
Pinch salt
Sanding sugar, for dusting

For the apron:
1/2 yard print for body of apron
1 package (3 yds) of 7/8″ double fold bias tape for the straps/waistband
Thread

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Recipe-A-Day Week Vol. IV, Day 7: Quakertown Crumb Pie

April 23, 2011 Crafts, Food, Sewing , , , , ,

Other pie/apron projects: January Pie: Lemon Meringue, February Pie: Milk Chocolate Pudding, March Pie: Thin Mint Grasshopper.

Okay, I’m finishing this week of recipes with my April pie and apron.

Originally I wanted to make Shoo-Fly Pie this month using the Lancaster County Amish Cookbook, a locally produced book I picked up during our visit to Amish country. But all the Shoo-Fly recipes had either “Wet Bottom” or “Gooey” in the title. This was traumatizing for me, there was no way I could make a pie described as either of those things. So, I picked this yummy Quakertown Crumb Pie recipe instead. And I used up some of my Lizzy House “Dish” fabric, which has been waiting for a good kitchen project.

I had to decode the original recipe a little and make some changes, but in the end this was pretty delicious. Also, all the pie recipes in this book make 2 pies, so I did my best to halve them. It’s hard to halve an egg, but I tried. I also still had a round of pie dough in the freezer from January, so I was able to use that. This was fast and pretty yummy, but it’s a different kind of pie to get used to. We actually didn’t finish all of this one.

Quakertown Crumb Pie

FOR THE PIE FILLING:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/5 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup hot water
1 tsp baking soda
1 unbaked pie crust

FOR THE CRUMBS:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar

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March Pie: Thin Mint Grasshopper

March 30, 2011 Crafts, Food, Sewing , , ,

Other pie/apron projects: January Pie: Lemon Meringue, February Pie: Milk Chocolate Pudding.

Confession: The apron I made this month was a bit of a nightmare, so I made the pie for St. Patrick’s Day and didn’t finish the apron until…about an hour ago. It was the Cottage Apron from the book One-Yard Wonders, which is a cute book with barely-there instructions. Seriously, if you don’t already know how to do things like make darts (which I didn’t), this is a tough one to finish. I wasn’t thrilled with the directions, but the apron is pretty cute once you get there.

The pie recipe I settled on is The Pioneer Woman’s recent Grasshopper Pie recipe. I’ve known since I started this pie project that I wanted to use Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies in a St. Patrick’s Day minty pie. This was because I’d bought yards of Girl Scout cookie fabric last year with no idea what to do with it. I wanted to stash-bust that Thin Mint fabric into an apron. And I did. And the pie was yummy, but not Adam’s favorite thing. Understandable, it has a weirdly sweet and strange taste that makes me think of childhood. And toothpaste. It’s very 50s, very retro, and fabulous in an Ambrosia salad kind of way.

Here’s what you’ll need:

For the pie:
1 box of Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies
2 Tablespoons Butter, Melted
24 whole Large Marshmallows (or Container Of Marshmallow Fluff)
? cups Half-and-half
2 Tablespoons Creme De Menthe Liqueur (more To Taste)
2 Tablespoons Creme De Cacao Liqueur
Drop Or Two Of Green Food Coloring
1 cup Heavy Cream
Extra Cookie Crumbs, For Sprinkling

For the apron:
One-Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins
1 yard of fabric for the apron
1 yard of fabric OR 2″ wide ribbon for the straps
1 pack of 1/2″ single fold white bias tape (I’m still using up my Christmas Apron 2006 stash)
Thread

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February Pie: Milk Chocolate Pudding

February 28, 2011 Crafts, Food, Sewing , , , , , ,

Other pie/apron projects: January Pie: Lemon Meringue.

This month’s pie and apron gave me agita.

One of my favorite desserts as a kid were those store-bought mini graham cracker crusts with Jell-O chocolate pudding scooped into them. So I thought I wanted to make a full-size version of that for Valentine’s Day. And a pink-and-chocolate-brown apron to go with it. Easy right?

Not so much.

The Jamie Christina “Pretty Ditty Apron” pattern is super cute, but since I’ve never done any gathering or ruffles it was definitely a challenge. So I didn’t have it finished for Valentine’s Day. First problem. Then I made this pie with stale graham crackers. Second problem. Adam scooped out all the pudding and just ate that, but even that was not my finest pudding. I was determined to finish the apron and remake this pie, something I cobbled together from various recipes. But then I got sick, and it didn’t look like I would get it done by the end of the month. But yesterday I did both: finished the apron, and remade the pie properly. And I love both.

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January Pie: Lemon Meringue

January 30, 2011 Crafts, Food, Sewing , , , , , ,

I’ve been procrastinating all month on the 1st pie of my pie-a-month New Year’s resolution. I knew I was making Lemon Meringue, Adam’s special request. But it wasn’t until I had the idea yesterday to make a matching apron each month to go with the pie that I finally got motivated. I have decided this is a genius way for me to use up some fabric stash (that’s not even the only lemon fabric I own), get creative with my pie plans, and once and for all feel like Donna Reed.

So of course I spent yesterday afternoon making the apron instead of making the pie. But still. Then of course last night I had to go on a mission to buy pie weights. But I needed them if I’m going to be a serious pie baker, like Kerri Russell in Waitress (minus the bum husband). I finally got the crust baked by about midnight, left it to cool overnight, and did the rest today. In very long, drawn out stages (this is not a quick pie to make). So I didn’t actually finish the pie until after 9pm tonight. But delicious and so fun for a first pie of 2011

I used Martha’s Pate Brisee recipe for the crust (because it didn’t call for shortening), and America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book’s recipe for the filling and meringue. And I used 2 yards of lemon fabric from the Farmer’s Market collection from RJR fabrics, about 8′ of ribbon for the ties, white thread, and a length of yellow bias tape for the neck. I’ve tried to explain how I made the (completely improvised and certainly not by-the-book constructed) apron as we go along with the pie. Enjoy!

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