I Fought the Pie, and the Pie Won

Perhaps I should've known after 28 years of avoiding making a homemade pie crust it really wasn't going to be as easy for me as I'd watched it be for my mom. Those of you who know my culinary tendencies will not be surprised to learn that up until Saturday, I've always purchased a pie crust and added a homemade filling--on the three occasions I've actually ever made a pie at all. My mom makes this crust that almost tastes of shortbread--very buttery--a recipe she got from her mom. I watched her make it for my birthday; then she wrote out the recipe and just about convinced me it really wasn't that hard. So I was thinking I'd try to make homemade pecan and pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving this year but had the sense to realize I should practice first. I'd been asked to bring a dessert to church Sunday, and so I decided I'd try to make a pecan pie (canned pumpkin is hard to come by here). Making the filling wasn't too bad, but the pie crust wouldn't. Without boring you with a play-by-play of what went wrong, I think the consistency was off, which then made it impossible to get the rolled out crust off the countertop and into the pan. Wes had taken over by this point, and he tried I don't know how many times. In the end, in exasperation, he just patted the dough into the pie plate with his hands. He told me I still ought to take the pie to church, but I was utterly ashamed of how it looked--not a fluted edge in sight. He called it rustic-looking. It did look better once it came out of the oven, so we ended up taking it, me with my tail tucked between my legs. The filling tasted fine; Wes thought the whole thing tasted fine, but the crust was anything but shortbread-esque. Wes assures me if he takes over the whole process from start to finish, next time he'll be able to produce a superior pie crust. Perhaps like our children's birthday cakes, pie crust making will now be handed to Wes, or else we may be having store-bought crusts for Thanksgiving after all.