How to make Pie Dough

Hello my crafty friends, happy Saturday to you all! We have a rainy dreary day here today, but we need the rain, so I say bring it on, just not to much. lol I have had some requests on how to make pie dough. So I"m here today to show you how! Now I will have to warn you that this will be pic heavy! I want you all to see all the steps and what they look like, so that's why all the pictures. So lets get on with it!

I am using a Kitchen Aid Heavy Duty mixer with the dough hook. I used to make my pie dough by hand until my hubby gave me this awesome mixer for Christmas years ago. 

You will need 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp. salt and 3/4 cup of Crisco. I use the Crisco sticks because they are so much easier to measure. I cut it up into smaller chunks and throw it in with the flour and salt. Start mixing on low speed.

While it is mixing up, I use my spatula and help push the Crisco into the hook to mix into smaller pieces. 

In this picture you can see what your mix should look like once all the Crisco has been worked into the flour. Those little pea sized balls is the Crisco. 

Now you will need your ice water. Your water should be very cold. Start by adding a tablespoon at a time. I usually add 5 tablespoons, but if is humid, I will cut it back, if we are having dry weather, I will add to it. So start out with 4 tablespoons and then check the dough. If it is soft and holding together without crumbling, you are good to go. If it doesn't add some more water. This is where you will eventually learn the feel of the dough and if it is right or not. 

You are going to mix on medium low until all the dough pulls away from the side of the mixer bowl and is one lump as show in the pictures below. Don't over mix the dough, it will make it tough. As soon as the dough comes together stop your machine. 

Divide your dough in half as this recipe makes two pie crusts, or one bottom and one top. I get them shaped into a circle to start rolling with. 

As you can see, I use a pie rolling mat to roll my dough on, but when I started out making pie dough I didn't have one and just rolled it out on my counter. If it is in your funds to get one, by all means do, it does make pie rolling easier. I have sprinkled four on my mat to keep my dough from sticking. I roll my dough to get started, picking up my dough and flipping it over and putting down more flour if needed. 

As your dough is starting to get to the size you need, you will probably need some flour on your rolling pin. But just enough to keep the dough from sticking to it. You don't want to much extra flour on your dough as that can make it tough too. 

Once my dough is rolled to my size that I need, I use my rolling pin to pick it up to place in my pie dish by rolling the dough around it. I know it looks like I have a lot of flour on my dough here, but I shake it off and it is only some when I first pick the dough up. As you can see in the next picture there isn't much flour there. 

Transfer the dough to your pie pan.

Trim excess pie dough off. My pans have a lip and I cut just inside the lip to get rid of my excess pie dough. You can save the left over dough and roll out, place butter, sugar and cinnamon on top and roll it up. Bake it and eat it. My guys always loved the left over crust pieces when I did them like that. Since it is just hubby and I, I just throw away the left over dough. Or you can use it to make a mini pie if you have some mini pans. Mini pie pans are on my wish list because it is always cool to have a personal pie all to yourself. lol Now tuck your dough under and then you can start pinching your side or making fork marks on the edge of your crust. I always pinch mine because I love the look. 

Here is what the dough looks like once it is in your pan. Here you can see the "lip" I was talking about and the dough that I "tucked" under. It just gives a nicer, cleaner look to the dough when you tuck it under.

Now you are ready to fill it if you are making a pie that doesn't require a "lid". These two pie dough became peach custard pies. Yum, yum! Come back Sunday to see what I made with some other pie dough I made. Hint, it has chicken in it! 

I hope you enjoyed learning how to make pie dough. I promise it isn't hard at all. It just take trial and error to get the "feel" down and that really does't take all that long to learn. Now I hope you will give it a try and please let me know how it goes. 

Thanks for stopping by today for me to teach you how to make the pie dough. I always enjoy having people in the kitchen with me chatting away. lol You know I'm a chatter! As always I appreciate your lovely comments. Crafty and baking hugs, Brenda

Autumn Greetings-BBTB2 Challenge

Hello my crafty friends, I hope your Monday is off to a wonderful start! It was a beautiful weekend here in Central PA. I can't believe we are in autumn now and boy because of our cool weather we have had all summer, our trees are really turning early. By our usual peak we probably won't have any leaves. Not sure what old man winter will bring, but I'm already dreaming of next spring. lol 

Ok you know if it is Monday then it is time for a new BBTB2 challenge. But first we must say good-bye to our sweet design team sister, Jaren. Jaren had a baby about a month or two ago and has other children to care for, so she must be a mommy and give up her designer hat for now. She also is an amazing cook and has a great food blog. Check it out, there are amazing recipes there. Ok, now onto the challenge at hand.

 Our talented and sweet Michelle gave us the challenge of using a squirrel or a nut on a project. Well I wavered back and forth and finally decided to go with just an acorn. My card is a pinterest inspired by a couple of cards. I used Art Philosophy for my banners, circles and the acorn. I used a tiny punch to punch out my cute teeny tiny leaves. I inked up everything but my card base with distress ink, Walnut Stain. A little twine bow on my acorn and some sequins and I called it done. My banner papers and acorn papers were snippets so I will have to go check to see if I can play at the playground this week. 

I hope you will go check out what awesome inspiration my design team sisters have for  you and then come on and get crafty with us and make a project using a squirrel, nut or both and link up with us! As always thanks so much for stopping by and sitting a spell with me today. Now I'm off to bake pies and mow the grass. My kitchen and mowing duties are never done. lol Crafty hugs, Brenda

Jumping over the pond to play in the Snippets Playground this week where you get to play just by using your snippets!

Halloween Fun!

Hello Cardz TV fans! Are you enjoying the new Cardz TV Gallery Blog??? How fun it is to design for this awesome blog with Mary's amazing stamp sets. How fun for you that you get inspiration everyday (except Sunday) using Mary's stamps right here! Gosh there are so many talented designers so you will have a blast getting inspired. Brenda here from Friends Craftin With Friends, lets get onto the projects for today. 

Ok today I have a home decor/gift project and a card for you. I took an old bottle, might have been a Tastefully Simple bottle, I washed it out and put a pumpkin face on the bottle with vinyl using the Cricut cartridge "Pumpkin Carving". I added googly eyes, some orange chevron washi tap to the top of the neck and the bottom of the bottle. For the cap, I used washi tape around the lid and then on top I punched a circle out of some paper. I used brown/white twine to wrap around the neck and added my sentiment. My sentiment is from a new Cardz TV stamp set called Frankly Frightful. I stamped it on a banner die from MCT called Vintage Stitched Label die. I am thinking of making a few of these in different sized and shaped bottles for a cute decoration for the holidays. Would make a cute gift too!

I made a swing card using a die I got on Amazon. Comes with 11 dies, I just love these dies! I used Stitched Spooky Ghost dies from MCT for my cute ghosts. Some snippets of Halloween card stock for my panels and squares. I used the cute Peachy Keen Basic Paper Doll Assortment faces. So cute aren't they?! My sentiments are from the Frankly Frightful Cardz TV stamp set. 

I hope you come back Monday to see what is in store for you next! See you next time and crafty hugs, Brenda

Sugar Cake Cookies

Hi my crafty friends! It is hump day, can you believe how fast the weeks fly by?! Ok, I know if you are working they probably don't fly by as fast for you or if you are younger, like under 40. lol But my weeks fly by and I find myself wondering where the week went. Ok on to Sugar Cake Cookies, who has had them?  They are very popular here in the Amish country in Central PA just like the whoopie pie is. It is a large cookie but it is like a cake on the inside of it. They are so yummy! If you like just plain sugar cookies, you will love these sugar cakes. Here are some pictures to temp you and then the recipe will follow. This recipe is all over the state, but my recipe came from a little old lady who's name was Millie and she had a stand in our Market house in town. I worked for a deli, so there were times I worked our Market house and got to know Millie. She was such a sweet lady!! I loved her. I always would buy a little baggy of these cookies from her. Well one day our local newspaper did a feature on her and her cookies, cause let me tell you she could never make enough of these cookies to sell, she always sold out of them right away! So she gave her recipes out and you know who jumped on the recipe. Sure I had one, but mine never tasted as good as her's did. Now I'm happy to say they do. Millie has since passed on as this was well over 25 years ago, but her cookies live on in the homes of many here in Central PA. I know that I will never forget Millie.

 Before baking, I only put 6 on a sheet because they need room to spread out.

Sprinkling the sugar on liberally. 

Fresh from the oven.

The bigger the cookie, the better. They are all made huge where ever you find them around here!

Here is what they look like on the inside, and yes, I took a bite and then ate the whole cookie! lol  

Here's the recipe:

Sugar Cakes

from Millie Yinglilng

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1 stick of butter

1/3 c. Crisco

1 3/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

Mix these 5 ingredients in your mixer until fluffy.

1 c. buttermilk

1 tsp. baking soda

Mix these two together, making sure to put the buttermilk in a 2 cup container because the baking soda makes the milk froth up. Mix well and set aside.

1/4 tsp. salt

3 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking powder

Mix these dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture. Once all the dry ingredients are mixed in with the butter mixture add the buttermilk mixture in. Mix well.

I used a large Pampered Chef cookie scoop to scoop my dough on to a splat mat that was placed on cookie sheet. If you don't have a cookie scoop, then place batter on the cookie sheet using a tbsp. Then sprinkle the dough with granulated sugar.

You will place in a preheated oven starting out on the bottom rack. Once the cookies have spread out and raised, you will move them up to the top shelf in your oven, baking until they are lightly brown around the edges. 

Removed from the oven and place cookies on a cooling rack, cooling completely. Now if you have baked them the right way you will be able to stack them into a container. If you haven't, if you stack them in a container they will get sticky and gooey and will stick to one another. They will still stick to one another a little even if you have baked them the right way but nothing like they will if you don't. You can place wax paper between the layers if you would like. Mine never last long enough to bother with the wax paper. lol This makes a nice pile of large cookies, I didn't count how many dozen it made, but I would think around 3 dozen if you are using the large cookie scoop and way more if you are using something smaller. 

Enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed my Sugar Cake Cookies if you give them a try. They really are easy to make, just a little bit time consuming because you have to start them off in off on the bottom rack and then finish baking them on the top rack. 

For those of you who asked about the peach pie, I have the recipe here. And those who have asked about a pie crust tutorial, I will try and make that when I make more pies. My recipe is just an ordinary pie crust recipe but people tell me all the time that my pie dough is the best they've ever tasted. That it is so flaky and perfect. Now when I first met my husband, I had never made pie dough in my life!! Never! But he quickly informed me he wasn't eating store bought pie dough, so I would have to learn how to make it. Wasn't sure I wanted to learn how and considered not seeing my husband, then boyfriend again. But because I was already in love with him, I learned how to make pie crust. lol Now my son's can't stand any other pie dough but mine. I have always heard growing up that you can tell by the feel of the pie dough if it was right or not. Never understood that...until now. You really can tell if your pie dough is right by the feel and that takes experience. Not hard, but it just takes time to learn. 

Ok everyone, thanks again for stopping by and visiting me. You know how you always make my heart sing when you do. Crafty hugs, Brenda

A Voting Favor Please

Hi my crafty friends, I have a favor to ask of you. No it isn't anything that require you giving blood to me or anything like that. lol My friend, Lisa over at A Mermaids Crafts needs some votes on her project. Please click here to go to Lisa's blog post and read all about it. After you have voted you can enter to win a SB die from Lisa!! Thanks so much for voting for her, she is an awesome crafter and I do mean awesome!!! A big thank you and crafty hugs, Brenda

Family

Hello crafty friends! I hope you are having a beautiful Tuesday. This is a scheduled post as you know I am baking away and getting my chores done. Darnell is having another NBUS challenge because she reached 600 followers and I want to join in on the challenge. Wow! I couldn't even imagine having 600 followers. I am very grateful for the followers I do have and trust me when I say I didn't even think I would get this many followers! But I do and how it makes my heart sing. I know not everyone comments and that's ok with me. Just knowing that you all are visiting me warms my heart like you wouldn't believe and then when you do leave me a comment, well I'm on cloud nine. lol There are so many talented people out there, like Darnell, that I'm not sure why ya'll are visiting little ole me! lol So anyway, enough babbling. I made my card using never been used schtuff from  my stash. Yes, I have a lot never been used schtuff. I know, I know, right?! So I am trying to use my schtuff. My card is using schtuff that are stamps and dies from My Creative Time called Family Is Everything. I love her products and order more often than I should, but I just can't help myself. This set is just amazing. I love the dies that are in Emma's own handwriting and it's all about love and family! See, you are going to love this set too and yes, the ink splatters are in this set too, lots of them. I took the "family" die and cut it 3 x's out of white card stock and then once out of a pattern paper.I glued them all together to make it look like a chipboard sentiment. Then the rest I just stamped and attached my die cut on a mat layer, popping it up on the base card. I hope you like my little CAS card! Thanks for stopping by today and visiting me again. Crafty hugs to you all-Brenda

 Showing the thickness of layering 4 die cuts together.

Linking this up over at Darnell's NBUS challenge.

Celebrate the Cricut! BBTB2 Challenge

Hello my crafty friends, I hope you are having a wonderful start to your week. Mine will be busy. Busy baking that is! lol I have zucchini coming out my ears and we've been eating them like mad. I also have lots of peaches to get made into peach pies, apples into apple pies and of course hubby wants sugar cake cookies. So I plan on being busy in the kitchen this week starting today. We're also getting out of town for an extended weekend, so I'm really looking forward to that! And of course I will be taking some of the baking with me. lol We are really lucky that we have such great son's who don't mind holding down the fort for us so we can get away for a bit. I think it will be good for hubby and good for me too. There was a nip to the air all weekend and last night we got down in the 40's! I think fall is here, though I'm not ready for it. lol Ready or not it's here! I hope it is warm next weekend in VA. We were so cheated out of a hot summer, but we did have a nice low temp one. 

Since today is Monday, ya'll know that means it is time for a new challenge over at BBTB2. Our challenge this week is being hosted by our sweet and talented Mayra and she has chosen to celebrate the Cricut meaning that we can use any Cricut cut that we want!!! How cool is that?! Love this challenge, of course I love them all. lol So for my project I used the Cricut Artist cartridge, yes again! lol I love the CTMH cartridges. I used the card feature and cut out another one of those cute scalloped gate fold cards like Joy from Obsessed with Scrapbooking did. I used a cute digi from DeeDee's Digital Delights for the outside of my card-isn't that little chipmunk adorable??? The chipmunk and sentiment is called  Fall Warm Up and it has images and sentiments in this set. For the inside I used a My Creative Time stamp and dies. Some of my circles were cut out on the Cricut and some where cut using Nestiblilites. The leaves on the bottom circle on the outside of the card were stamped using a MayMay Made It new fall stamp set. I used distress inks in Antique Linen and Vintage Photo to distress my circles and sentiment mat on the outside and inside and I used them to do all my stamping, Firebrick Red, Vintage Photo and . 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and visiting with me for a spell. I always enjoy your visits and you always make my day with your sweet comments! Crafty hugs, Brenda

DeeDee's Digital Delights has a challenge going on using this cute digital set so I'm going to enter my card over there.