Tasty Tuesday is all about a pie crust recipe by author Michele Stegman. Tell us more, Michele!
All the way home, and while she peeled apples for a pie, Katie wondered just what she had gotten herself into. Adrian seemed to want more than to just pay her back for her help. He wanted a relationship. But did she?
It had been almost three years since Brent died. She had grieved. She missed him, but she was ready to get on with life. But was Adrian the man she wanted to get on with life with?
Well, wasn’t that what the dating process was for? To find out about each other? And no matter how it had come about or how he had phrased it, this was a date.
She had wanted to find out more about Carly’s teacher. Now she had the perfect opportunity. It wasn’t like she was going to walk down the aisle with him next week.
She took two of the frozen balls of pie dough she kept on hand and thawed them in the microwave while she finished cutting up the apples, added flour, sugar, a dash of cinnamon, and nutmeg.
She had wondered about Mr. Adrian Wright. He was attractive enough to be a model for one of those catalogs selling sport clothes. He was lean, black-haired, and had a look in his dark eyes that told every woman who gazed into them they hid some secret only she could unearth.
Adrian’s smile was infectious, especially now that he had quit scowling at her. He was kind to children, and he put himself whole-heartedly into whatever he was doing. But he was old enough to be established in a steady job. Why was he substitute teaching? How could he even live on a substitute teacher’s pay?
Could he really afford to take her out? Maybe that was why he seemed so tense when he asked her.
She rolled out one of the balls of dough and put it into her biggest pie pan, a deep ten inch one, and dumped in the apples. She eyed the second ball of dough wondering what kind of top to put on the pie. Lattice? Cut out leaves and layer them all over the top? A design of an apple tree branch with leaves?
The door bell rang and she heard Carly banging the blinds to look out the window. “It’s Mr. Wright, Mom,” Carly called.
“Open the door for him, Honey.” So much for fancy. Plain would have to do. She was rolling out the crust when Carly shepherded Adrian into the kitchen, hanging onto his hand and bouncing along in her yellow Winnie the Pooh swimsuit.
Adrian smiled and started to say something when he saw what she was doing. “A pie? From scratch? You didn’t have to go to so much trouble,” he said. But the gleam in his eyes told her he was glad.
Adrian, the hero of Mr. Right’s Baby, obviously loves pie. So does my own hero, my husband, Ron. When we first got married I made a pie. And it was good. But it was when I tasted one of my new mother-in-law’s pies that I knew I could do better. She graciously gave me her pie crust recipe and I’ve been using it ever since. I have to admit, I make a great pie.
Katie, the heroine of Mr. Right’s Baby, is a lot like me, except for the way she looks! We both love to bake and cook. We both made our kids lunches with homemade bread and cookies and sometimes tucked little love notes in the lunchbox. Her adopted daughter, Carly, is based on my daughter, Shana. Both of them are little balls of sunshine.
I included the excerpt from Mr. Right’s Baby because she is baking a pie with my mother-in-law’s recipe. Now I’m going to share that recipe with you. I love it not only because it is so good, but because I can make it into flattened balls and store it in the freezer. Then, like Katie, when I need to make a pie in a hurry, all I have to do is take out a ball of dough, thaw it, and make my pie!
Ginny’s Pie Crust
Mix: 4 ½ cups flour, 1 T sugar, 1 t salt.
Add: 1 ¾ cup Crisco (I use butter flavor)
Mix these together. It is easier if you use a stand mixer.
Separately mix together ½ cup water, 1 T vinegar, 1 egg. Whip together and add to the flour/Crisco mixture.
Chill for 15-30 minutes before using.
This makes 2½ double crust 9 inch pie shells. It will keep for 3 days in the fridge, or you can make it into flattened balls and freeze for later.
Thank you so much, Betty, for letting me blog on your site. I love sharing recipes and talking about baking.
Mr. Right’s Baby is available as an ebook or in paperback. Visit www.MicheleStegman.com for information on my other books and to read excerpts. Or connect with me on Twitter or on Facebook.
I’ll fess up. I’ve never made a pie crust from scratch. In fact, I usually buy them ready to fill at the grocery store. But I may have to give this recipe a try. What do you think? Do you like to bake pies? How do you make your crust? I’m curious!
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Betty Bolte's Musings 
Thank you so much for hosting me, Betty! I do hope you try the recipe!
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