David and I have been having stressful, rotten times at work lately. Yesterday his bad day outweighed mine, and so I took care of stuff and let him chill. I was productive and washed a ton of dirty dishes that had taken over our kitchen, and then I baked, which was so relaxing to me, even though it took a while. I’ll post more details if I remember to take pictures of the final product, but TRY THIS.
I wanted to try out this Vodka Pie Crust from Cooks Illustrated, but I didn’t want to make a whole pie. So I combined the crust with the recipe for the apple pocket pies. Pie crust seems kind of advanced and scary to me, but trust me, this was SO EASY. I had heard this crust could be kind of sticky, so I was worried when mine was on the dry and crumbly side. And when I rolled it out, I saw some huge chunks of butter that I didn’t see on Smitten’s blog entry, because I have a crappy pastry cutter. But I went with it, and hoped for the best. O.M.G. AWESOME! I don’t know if I can choose a favorite between this crust or the pastry from the original pocket-pie recipe, but I think this one was definitely flakier. It totally melts in your mouth. O.M.G.
I am thinking about making an apple pie to take to Thanksgiving, but I’ve been hesitant because my mom makes awesome pie crust (she totally goes for it and uses lard) and I sometimes wonder why I should try to perfect the already-perfected. So I tried this crust just to see which crust I would use if I made a whole pie. I was hoping for a clear winner, but I don’t know!!
I think I would like this vodka crust better for a whole pie, but the other crust is good for the mini pies? I don’t know! Maybe I’ll just have to make both again and have a side-by-side taste test. Any testing volunteers?
November 20, 2008 at 10:42 am |
mmmm…. crust…. i will eat crust as long as it has no filling. especially of the fruit variety. other then the texture, what affect does the vodka have on the crust? does it enhance other flavors?
November 20, 2008 at 11:14 am |
These little pies are so small, they have about a teaspoon of apples in them. So it’s basically all crust, which is what makes them so good!! I didn’t notice any flavor effect from the vodka. You certainly don’t TASTE any vodka, and in terms of flavor, the crust is kind of plain. But I can only assume the vodka is to thank for the incredible flakiness. Kind of like vodka is to thank for my flakiness!
November 20, 2008 at 2:11 pm |
I know part of the reason you use vodka in awesome marinara is because the alcohol enhances or releases flavors (not sure which.) So perhaps there’s some of that happening here too? Either way I want to try them.
November 20, 2008 at 3:28 pm |
oh, and i really like my little angry purple square.