National Pie Day Librarian Style

Plus, A No Roll Pie Crust Recipe

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A few weeks ago, my co-worker that is responsible for our library branch's Facebook page, informed me that January 23rd was National Pie Day. You see, he schedules daily posts full of cool little factoids that range from famous artist's birthdays to very important bits of knowledge like a day in the United States that is devoted to pie!

It was quickly decided that we needed pie on Pie Day, and by decided, it was agreed upon that I should totally bring some pie to work. My boss really wanted a chocolate cream pie, but our one pie request quickly turned into two, as we needed a dairy free option. I offered up a triple berry pie as a potential selection, and our Pie Day flavor decision was made in about two point six seconds.

I might have been questioning my pie-benevolence just a bit last night as I constructed three pies after spending all day in the VA hospital with my husband as he had to have surgery (he's doing just fine), but before I collapsed into bed, I had completed two strawberry, raspberry, and blueberry pies, and one crust for a chocolate cream pie.

The berry pies I made in the old school way. I cut fat into flour, added a bit of salt and some ice cold water, and rolled out 4 crusts. For the berry filling I boiled water, cornstarch, sugar, cinnamon, and blueberries for a couple of minutes and folded in some drained, thawed strawberries and raspberries. Pieces of cake. Er, pie.

As I was four bells past exhaustion, I must admit that I spent next to no time on my lattice work, for all I cared about at that point was tastiblity. The berry pies did turn out pretty nice, and I know they tasted good because my family inhaled almost the entire pie that I had baked them before bed.

The cream pie allowed for my expedient nature to be displayed, as I could utilize my absolute favorite pie crust with the cream pie, as it needed a pre-baked shell. My no-roll pie crust recipe is just the greatest for no bake pies.

To start with, you get to mix up the crust in the pan it is going to baked in, which of course means no mess!

You begin by adding some flour to the pie plate.

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Next, comes a bit of salt and a bit of sugar.

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After that comes whatever brand of vegetable oil you are partial too. To be honest though, I've only used vegetable and peanut oil on this crust. Both taste acceptable. You want a light flavored oil.

Finally a bit of milk goes into the fray.

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Using a fork and my hands I mixed all of the ingredients up into a ball and pressed the dough into the pie plate. I even horridly fluted the edges a bit! After the artsy part, I stabbed a few holes into the bottom of the crust and popped it into a 375 degree oven for a few minutes.

And that is all there is to it! No flour all over the place! No dough stuck underneath your fingers. Instead, you get a glorious, flaky pie crust that is fit for whatever no-bake filling you wish to chuck into it.

My coworkers inhaled the pies with about as much relish as my family did when they massacred their triple berry delight. All in all I thought our National Pie Day effort was very respectable indeed.

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No Roll Pie Crust

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons milk

Measure and add dry ingredients to whatever pie plate you wish to bake your pie in. Whisk them to combine.

Add oil and milk, and using a fork mix the dough together until combined. Don't over mix.

Press dough evenly into pie plate and make it look pretty, or not, depending on how you are feeling that day.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for 10-12 minutes.

Cool completely before adding filling.

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And as always, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's pie filling dyed iPhone.

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