Happy Belated National Pie Day!

I missed National Pie Day recently but made up for it yesterday.

And because it's Mama's favorite, we made it cherry (I didn't think of Washington until I read that Sew and Sow had made a cherry pie yesterday too!).

Despite two sticks of butter, my crust was dry and crumbly. No matter, because with two sticks of butter, it tasted divine (though it was flaky, not tender, as I thought all-butter crusts were, but then I'm new to homemade crust). Sis helped with the crust, brushing on the milk and sprinkling the sugar--she devoured that crust when the pie was ready. And Bud, as usual, took to the insides, sour cherries from a jar (instead of pie filling, which we used last time), a 1/2 cup of sugar (more than Sew and Sow's 1/4 cup from the year before), cinnamon, and flour (4 teaspoons because I didn't have the traditional tapioca) to thicken.

And like the Vermonters' definition of a Yankee as someone who eats pie for breakfast, Bud asked for some at 7 a.m. this morning!

I said no (but only because I had promised Sis crepes), but we'll be having it for lunch!

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All-Butter Pie Pastry (double-crust), in a food processor

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup cold unsalted butter cut into 1/4" pieces

about 1/2 cup cold water

Put flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor. Pulse several times to mix. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and pulse 7-8 times to cut the butter in well. Remove the lid and fluff the mixture with a fork, lifting it up from the bottom of the bowl. Drizzle half of the water over the dry ingredients. Pulse 5-6 times, until the mixture is crumbly. Fluff the pastry and sprinkle on the remaining water. Pulse 5-6 more times, until the pastry starts to form clumps. Overall it will look like coarse crumbs. Dump the contents of the processor into a large bowl.

Text the dough by squeezing some of it between your fingers; if it seems a little dry and not quite packable, drizzle a teaspoon or so of cold water over the dough and work it in with your fingertips. Using your hands, pack the dough into 2 balls as you would pack a snowball. Make one ball slighlty larger than the other; this will be your bottom crust. Knead each ball once or twice, then flatten the balls into 3/4" thick disks on a floured work surface. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight before rolling (if more than one hour, let warm 5-10 minutes before rolling).

Ken Haedrich, Pie