Not Everything Turns Out Well

For the holiday weekend I decided to cook some dessert.  I looked in the Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook and found an interesting recipe for "flat" apple pie.  It is basically an apple pie, but instead of putting it in a pie pan, you wrap the crust over the top.  I even got to use my new toy... a pastry cutter!  I had to buy one (OK, Tina read ahead, realized that I needed one, went to the store, bought one, brought it back, and gave it to me).

The butter on the top makes sure that the crust turns nice and golden brown.  It worked, and the crust turns out very nice.  I pulled the pies out a little too early and only one survived.  Compare the two pies below.

If you look closely you will see that I did not wrap it tightly... DO NOT DO THAT!  This allows all the juices to run out of the pie, over the edges of the flat cookie sheet (I know, should have use one with edges) and right onto the bottom of the oven.

That alone is not the bad, except when the juices start burning and the entire kitchen fills with black smoke.  I had to open the windows and doors on the first floor and get out a box fan to clear out the smoke.

The burnt juices on the bottom added a unique "smoked" flavor to the pies.  Unfortunately, my apple pie lover son thought that they were disgusting.  And he was right... they tasted really bad.  I am sure normally that they would be good, but the smoke flavor was too much.  Both ended up in the trash and I will chalk this up as a learning experience.  I guess you can't make a few pies without breaking a few eggs... literally!

Next up is Chicken Spaghetti...

Looking forward to "eating" with you again!

Mark