The 'Not-So-Perfect' Holiday Pie

Hi Dan,

I was reading your article about Baking the Perfect Holiday Pie. I could not help remembering about the time I baked some beautiful pies for one Thanksgiving day.

I was on the phone with a friend when I was making the dough from scratch. I got to the point of using up the butter and cold water but I had a lot of flour left. I thought, "Well, I must have doubled the flour and not the butter and water." So I added more and continued making the dough.

I rolled out the dough and assembled the pies. With the scraps I made a beautiful grape vine and grapes to place on the top crust. I brought it to my parent's home and my Mom raved at how wonderful it looked. It even looked better once it was baked to a golden brown.

Dinner was done and the pie was served. My Uncle who has three of his natural teeth was the first served. He was cutting into the crust with a fork and I heard him cursing under his breath. His hand was shaking as he added more pressure to cut it. He was unable to do it so I warned everyone.

My older brother who used to eat my most burnt cookies and say how delicious they were, did it again with my pies so I said, "Oh, you like it! Would you like another slice?" Before he was able to say no, I served him the second slice. Yet, he said the mincemeat part tasted good. I responded, "That was from a jar!"

Everyone joined in the fun. My Sister's fiancee piped up and I told him, "Your not family yet. You can't tease me!" We all had a laugh but I have to admit, when Grandma started to tease, I did feel a little pang of hurt feelings. It came out in my voice when I told her she can't tease me either.

No one was able to eat the crust. I helped with the dishes and as we scraped of the leftover crust, we all could not help laughing some more.

Thanks,

Sari