Pie reprise

Yummy apple empanada with cinnamon and sugar.

Pumpkin pie #3 for this year.

The kitchen wench does pastry...almost!

I am making pies (well, one pumpkin pie and one apple empanada) this morning. For two weeks the kitchen wench has promised Mom and brother another pumpkin pie, and she must deliver.

Is it creepy when I talk about myself in the third person?

I digress...

The more I make pie crust, the more easy it becomes to get back in the kitchen and do it again. I used to balk at all of the clean up (the pastry blender, the mixing bowl, the countertop) but now I can do it lickety split. However, my crust is still coming out in pieces. It occurs to me that maybe the kitchen wench needs a pastry chef tutor of sorts. If anyone knows a single chef dude out there who wants to teach me (for butter or for worse), please refer them my way.

The last time I made pie it was for Thanksgiving. My aunt recently told me that I needed to check my oven temperature because the crust could have been baked longer. I told her that I have a meat thermometer (that I bought for Thanksgiving) and she told me that wasn't what I needed, instead I need a proper oven thermometer. It is good to have expert family bakers around to tell you when you need to modify things. My aunt is quite the perfectionist, however I am certain that will never rub off on me.

My mom and brother gave me snaps for the Thanksgiving pies (pumpkin and apple) and since my Mom is a master baker I'm going to defer to her on that one. She told my brother and I recently that she is planning on making cinnamon buns and fudge for Christmas. She makes the most delicious cinnamon buns. When you walk in the house after she is done baking them, it smells even better than the Cinnabon at the mall. Really!

I feel the need to celebrate a little at the moment since the kitchen wench recently completed studies towards a masters degree in teaching English as a second language. I'm not sure how to property celebrate this but it may involve a hefeweisen and buffalo wings. And maybe a big Cadbury nut and fruit bar. With our current economy I was going to make a joke about adding extra initials to my name qualifies me to wait tables.

But hey...I'm a foodie, so that would't be all that bad. I hear some folks out there are good tippers!

Happy Holiday baking.