Update on Pie

Yesterday I mentioned that I was trying a new recipe for pie crust.  First here's a little history of my pie making skills.  I used to play around when my mom made pies and use some of her crust to make a potpie size with strawberry jam.  Needless to say it didn't turn out.  The first pie I made by myself was when my mom and brother went out to CA to visit my sister.  I was to stay home and take care of my dad, not that he needed me to do anything but I was there.  I was in a mood to cook and do all those domesticated chores so I decided to make a pie.  My mom never had a recipe but from watching her all those years I figured I could handle it (I mean I was in college, for goodness sakes).  Well, it did not end well and my dad said even the birds wouldn't eat it when he threw it out.  For a long time after that I let the pie making up to my mom.  After she was gone I looked for a recipe and made my first good pie  -  the rest is history.  Anyway I've always used shortening but wanted to try this recipe of Martha's with butter.  On the pro side, it was much easier and faster using the food processor and it was also much nicer to roll out and handle.  On the con side, it didn't brown as nice as my other recipe and it certainly didn't taste as rich as I thought it should having 2 sticks of butter in it.  It was flaky like my other and otherwise a good pie.  I used the Granny Smith apples which cooked up well, maybe a little too much for my liking.  Those apples are very delicious though!  So my conclusion is to try the food processor method but measure, chill and cut up the shortening like the butter using Martha's recipe.  I'm sure I'll be making more pies so I'll keep you posted.