Homemade Pie Crust

This is a simple pie crust that I found very easy to make & brought back many memories as a kid baking with my mom.

You can reference this anytime you want to make some kind of pie that requires a dough crust just as I do!

Ingredients

2 sticks of cold butter (some may use shortening, but I prefer butter)
3 cups of flour
1 TBSP of salt
1 TBSP of sugar
1/2 cup of water

Instructions

Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. 

Cut up butter and add it to the flour mixture. You can mix this in a food processor or kitchen aid mixer, however I don't have the luxury of either so I went old school by using my hands to mix. Slowly add the water until you get a ball of dough.

Cut dough in half, place one-half on floured surface and begin to roll out with rolling pin. Remember to add flour to your rolling pin as well.

Take the first rolled out piece of dough and place it in your pie pan, there should be extra overlaying the edges to assure that you are able to cover the whole bottom of the pan. You can cut the extra off and add it to your second ball of dough.

Take the second ball of dough and roll it out just as you did the first. This will become your top layer of crust for pies such as apple or cherry. Once rolled out you can cut into strips to make a basket weave top layer or you can cut a hole in the center depending on your preference. 

For apple pie I added 1 TBSP of Cinnamon as well. 

Some'mores memories

Growing up it was tradition in our family to go camping. Most of these outing where usually circulated around Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts or church events that either me or my brother where involved with. Camping was also a cheaper vacation for my parents, who wanted to provide the luxury of adventure for us growing up, but lived on a tight budget.

When one thinks of camping there are many things that come to mind; bugs, stars, hot dogs on a stick and camp fires, for example. But for me the best memory was that of burning marshmallows and the delicious treat of s'mores afterwards. Honestly watching those little white balls of fluff go up in flames was exciting and I would usually go through two or three marshmallows before actually making a s'more because of the thrill of watching it burn.

Here's a little secret, I used to pretend I didn't know how to cook them just to watch it burn. I think my parents caught on to that by the time I was in my teens though, cause it resulted in many "STOP IT" comments coming my way.

With the snow falling and the wind hallowing I wanted to bring myself into a happy warm place, one where I could at least mentally be comfortable. However, I didn't have a camp fire to bring these memories back to life. So I devised a recipe (thanks to some Pinterest searching and recipe modification) that came close enough.

S'mores Pie, full of marshmallow gooiness and chocolaty deliciousness. The whole thing was more of an experiment, hoping it would turn into something somewhat edible, but was prepared for more of a laugh. In the end I got a flaming review of excellence and yet another dessert recipe for the books.

Recipe

Prep time: 5-10 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

 

Crust:

1 package of plain graham crackers (there are usually two in a box) crumbled

1 stick of softened butter

1 tps of Vanilla extract

3/4 Tbsp of baking soda

1/2 cup of all purpose flour

1 egg

Filling:

1/2 package of large marshmallows

1 bag of chocolate (I used the melting candy found at a local craft store)

 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

 

Greece pie pan (I used a cake pan).

 

Take the graham crackers and crush them into crumbs. Mix in the flour, baking soda, and vanilla . Once the dry ingredients is mixed well add the softened butter and egg. The mixture will become pasty and thick.

 

Spoon out into bottom of the pan, using a fork to spread evenly, leaving enough mixture to dab on top of pie.

 

Once you have the crust in the pan, lay out the chocolate wafers in any pattern you would like. I didn't have marshmallow fluff available so I melted marshmallows in the microwave and spread on top of the first layer of chocolate.

 

(To melt marshmallows, place in microwave safe bowl for 15 seconds or until they start to expand.)

 

Once you have the marshmallow down add another layer of chocolate wafers and then take whatever is left of you crust mixture and dab on top.

 

Place in oven for 20 minutes until golden.

 

Let cool and enjoy!