Pies--YUM!

When I was a younger woman and still trying to decide what to do with my life, I worked with my Mother and Father in their restaurant business's, the whole time wishing I was doing something else.  Anything as opposed to the smell of burgers, donuts, coffee, etc., would have been a mighty nice replacement.  There were only two smells that I could abide, a beef roast all covered in thyme that Dad would cook for the Tuesday special, and Mom's pies in the oven baking--every other day or so!  They were deemed to be the best in SLC, though she detested the task of making them each day.  The last straw for her was one specific November when it seemed as though all of SLC had ordered at least two pies apiece for Thanksgiving, and filling the orders darn near put her under.  She vowed never to make another pie and completely quit making them for a few years.  Now at age 91 she is still baking them for her card playing friends.

Her pie crust was made by "feel" and not by recipe and she insisted that success was due to the warmth and TLC in her hands which translated into flaky crust.  After that November, I was never sure there was any TLC in her hands or feet for that matter!  Anyhow, try as I might, I have no particular feeling in my hands and don't get the same result.  This year, while she was staying with me for a couple of months, we had some good times in the kitchen making pies together trying to get the "feel".

I follow a specific crust recipe which I pull from my trusty cookbook purchased during a cooking class that is personally signed by one of the authors.  Since lemon meringue has always been my favorite, I have practiced and fine tuned a version from the book that is very lemony, holds up in the fridge without "weeping" (if there is any left when Ken is around) and is one of the best I have had.

Last year we celebrated Ken's 70th Birthday with about 100 or so friends here on the farm.  Although there were about 150 assorted homemade cupcakes, (made in a frenzy just days prior), he never got over the fact that there was no lemon pie.  So this year for his birthday, you guessed it, lemon pie........Life is good!

Here are pics of some of our favorite pies

Fruit Tart

Bourbon Pecan 

Lemon Meringue