69.

Goal 69 was to bake a pie (not apple).

I accomplished this goal on Christmas Day, but I’m just getting around to writing about it because I think I am finally at peace with the disaster of it all.

I had plans to make a cherry pie for Thanksgiving, but I had a request for rice pudding so I put it off even though I thought I had all the ingredients. So, I decided to make the cherry pie for Christmas at my aunt’s house. I made the crust and decided to attempt to make a lattice top, which I also have never tried before. I read the directions and realized I needed an egg white. Turns out we had taken all of our egg’s over to the Caruso’s for breakfast that morning. I had to stop mid crust and run over to their house to steal back a few eggs.

I rolled out the crust and was planning on cheating by using canned cherry pie filling. Also, it wasn’t really cherry season so getting fresh ones was going to be a problem. I set my pie bird in the middle and poured in the filling. It REALLY didn’t look like a lot of filling. I read the can. Apparently you need 2 cans of filling. At this point it is about 12:50pm. I look up the hours for the Acme. It closes at 1pm. Guess what? NOTHING is open after 1pm on Christmas Day. Nothing except for Rite Aid and CVS. If you are ever in a pinch and need some cherry pie filling, I’ll save you the trouble, neither of those places have it. Neither place has any other frozen or canned fruit that will help you.

The only fruit we had at home was apples. So, I quickly peeled and sliced up three apples. I was too angry to look at a recipe so I threw them in a bowl and sprinkled in some flour, sugar and lemon juice. I tossed it all together and then carefully scraped the cherry filling out of my pie crust and mixed that in as well. I transferred this  mixture back to the pie crust and it still looked a bit light. So, I peeled and sliced another apple and placed the pieces on top.

At this point I was in a huge rush due to the fact that I had to get the pie in the oven so we could go to my aunt’s. I constructed a lattice top with little care and brushed the egg white on it and put it in the oven. I had NO idea how long it should cook or at what temperature so I had to wing it. I really have no idea. I think it turned out okay for the most part. The apples were a little undercooked, but I think it was okay.

So, yes, this pie had apples in it, but it was not an apple pie. I’m going to tie this goal in with my motto for the new year which is: “You’ve got to take your victories where you can get them” and call this goal completed.