A Slice of Pie for Ian

We made our first Pumpkin Pie of the season a couple of weeks ago. Ashley and Caitlin love helping me make this pie. They find it hard to keep their little fingers out of the wet gooey mass when we are adding ingredients. They have learned that they can only taste test the mixture after each new ingredient has been added (and not 100 times in between as they would wish). I have to admire their restraint though, I can visibly see them hugging their hands to their bodies to resist. They've come a long way since we made it last year. It was so chaotic each time we made it that I found myself once placing the pie into the oven only to spot the honey needed in the recipe sitting unused on the counter. I immediately whipped the pie out of the oven and poured the mixture out of the pie shell and back into the blender. I added the honey, poured the entire mixture back into the pie shell and returned the pie to the oven. I am very happy to report that the pie still tasted fantastic. It is a testament to the recipe. Yet another tasty one by Evelyn Raab from her book, The Clueless Baker. Despite the great interest in making the pie Caitlin discovered that she absolutely loved the taste of all the raw ingredients mixed together, but didn't particularly like the pie itself. Funny, I'd forgotten that from last year. I guess I was distracted by the fact that she always excitedly lapped up the whipped cream last year. I used to think that she was full, or distracted herself, and that was why she never finished her Pumpkin Pie

Well, fortunately for Caitlin, and for James who also dislikes Pumpkin Pie, while the latter was baking away, Ashley helped me make an Apple Pie. (Caitlin had decided, with her 3 year old attention span, to go off and play). Ashley was delighted that for the first time I was going to add the lattice top to the pie. Earlier in the year she went through a stint of weaving paper strips, thrilled to practice a skill so close to her Grandma's heart (Janet is a keen weaver). She was very intent on figuring out how to weave the pastry into a lovely top for the pie. She was so proud of herself at the end and then added a second new skill by learning how to crimp the pastry around the rim with the tines of a fork. She was completely chuffed with herself. On the day we made the pies there was much excitement after dinner as the girls share with their Dad how they had helped baked the pies we were eating. It makes the sometimes-very-stressful process of baking with little ones worth while as they beam with pride (and mouths full of pie) at the end of it all.

By the way Ian, I thought of you throughout the process, both the baking and the eating. As we baked, Ashley happily chatted about how fun it was making the apple pie with you last Christmas. May she can make another pie again with Granddad this Christmas!?