Adventures on My Frontier

Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust

*1 1/2 c. Crisco (vegetable shortening)
3 c. all purpose flour
1 egg
5 Tbsp. cold water
*1 Tbsp. white vinegar
*1 tsp. salt

* I had to use margarine as there is no Crisco in my house, at this time. And I only had apple cider vinegar, I was afraid this might mess the recipe up big time, but nope, turned out great! Though not super flaky, still really yummy. On the salt, make sure you reduce the amnt. used if you substitute margarine. I think I added in about 1/4 tsp. instead of a whole.

In a large bowl with a pastry cutter (I have yet to obtain one of these lovely instruments, so I used 2 butter knives then switched to a potato masher), gradually work the Crisco into the flour for about 3 or 4 minutes until it resembles a course meal. In a small bowl beat egg with fork and then pour it into the flour/shortening mixture. Add cold water, vinegar, and salt. Stir together gently til all ingredients are incorporated.

Seperate the dough into thirds. Form 3 evenly sized balls of dough and place each ball into a large Ziploc bag. Using a rolling pin, slightly flatten each ball of dough (about 1/2 in. thick) to make rolling easier later. Seal bags and place them in the freezer until you need them. (If you will be using them immediatly it’s a good idea to let them chill in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes)

When you are ready to use the dough to make a crust, remove from freezer and allow to thaw for 15 minutes. On a floured surface roll out the dough, starting at the center and working your way out. (Sprinkle some flour on the surface of the dough if it is too moist.) If the dough is sticking to the countertop use a metal spatula and carefully scrape it up and flip it over and continue rolling until it is about 1/2 inch larger in diameter than that of your pie pan.

With a spatula, lift dough carefully from surface of the counter onto the pie pan. Gently press the dough into the corners of the pan. Go around the edge of the pie pan pinching and tucking the dough to make a clean edge. (This does not have to be perfect. If you look at the crust I made it is a bit messy looking, but turns out great after it is baked.) And voila, your crust is set for some yummy pie baking!
Pecan Pie recipe is below.

Dear Pioneer Woman,
This was the first time I made roll-out pie crust and they were beautiful, even with my recipe fiddling!! And thank you to Sylvia who passed the recipe on to PW!!

Love,
Ruth

Make sure to scrub your potatoes really well! Get all the dirt off of them. You could peel them if you like. But that takes off all those super good for you vitamins and minerals. Watch for bad spots and cut them out before slicing. I am using 4 medium sized ones here. The great thing is that even if you have left-overs they are still really good! Unlike most fast food places, blech!

After washing up the potatoes I put the spices in the big plastic bag and toss them together. So that when the potatoes are added there should be a more even distribution of everything. This time I used garlic powder, basil, seasoning salt, and black pepper. You can use whatever mix you like; less, more, none, it is all up to you! Ahhh, I love experimenting!! My Charles does not like my experimenting so much, hehe. He has always liked these though!

I am cutting these up into steak fries, mmmmm! If you have a bit older potatoes you may run into some bad spots you could not see when they were whole. That is fine, just cut them out and keep going.

As you cut the potatoes to whatever size of slice your heart desires. Place them in the bag with the herb/salt mixture. When they are all in there seal it up securely and don’t squeeze all the air out. The air is good to help everything blend.

Toss the bag around a lot to make sure the potato wedges are well coated with spices, salt, and pepper. Or whatever you feel like having on them, or not having on them.

Drizzle some olive oil onto the baking sheet. Not quite this much, I was trying to get a good picture so I poured a little extra. Then use your hand or a paper towel to spread it around. You don’t even need oil, really. It helps the potatoes to get a crispier brown to them. However I usually don’t even use it… I just felt like it this time. ;-)

Here they are, ready to jump into the oven. I arrange them as best I can to all be touching the sheet and none really on top of any others.

Here is the finished product, delicious, healthy fries. Bet you never thought you would hear that in the same sentence! I cooked them for about 35 min., and I think they could have stayed in 40-45. But they were pretty well cooked.
It varies for every size you do. So far I have only done steak and regular fries. Regular fries are between 10 and 20 min. Set your timer or watch your clock and check on them every 5 min. after 10 min. has passed. Also you can do the fork test, poke em’ to see if they are cooked through.
Another thing you can do that I did not. Is halfway through their cooking time, reach in and flip them over. With a metal spatula, tongs, fork, whatever you may have on hand. They usually don’t need that though. The tops will start to get brown pockets on them as they near completion.

The start of my first foray into pecan pie baking! I lay all the credit for this beautiful recipe at Pioneer Womans feet! She rocks and she is one of my great inspirations! Check out thepioneerwoman.com, and you will not regret it!
Here is the recipe that turns the above mess into harmonious pie!
Pecan Pie

1 unbaked crust (recipe also on PW)
*1/3 c. melted butter (regular, salted)
1 c. white sugar
3 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
*1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. corn syrup
1 heaping cup choppen pecans

* Instead of butter I used margerine, and I got mixed up on the vanilla and used over 1 tsp. of it. Everything turned out beautiful though, so feel free to add in more vanilla and substitute for butter. Though I do not think you should try Crisco, just my thought. ;)

Mix together well, white sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter, eggs, and vanilla. I mixed together everything and then added in the butter. To make sure that there was no chance of it cooking the eggs.

Spread out the chopped pecans on the bottom of the unbaked pie shell. And pour the syrup/sugar mix over top of it.
Bake at 350 F for 50 minutes, being careful to not burn the crust or pecans.

Allow to cool for several hours or overnight. Serve up in thin slivers. Mmmmm, good!!

Now I will put up the pie crust recipe. I took no pictures while I was making it! So it will just be the recipe… my utmost apologies!