Grub Sunday at Silver Creek

Once a month, Silver Creek has Grub Sunday, which means that one family brings treats to enjoy during fellowship time. I volunteered for today. This is what I made. The decorations are from the church. The dishes are mine, made by Kevin Byrne, a potter in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

I put out a pitcher of ice water and a pot of hot water with mix pouches for hot chocolate, cider, or tea.

I wanted to make something with pumpkin because it is Thanksgiving week, so I made pumpkin magic bars from this recipe from Bakers Royale. They're very good! The filling is just like pumpkin pie. I don't think there are actually seven layers, but I wrote that on the little sign because I thought people would be more familiar with that name.

I still have a lot of apples and wanted to use some up, so I made apple hand pies. For the filling, I used the instructions from this page at Fork Knife Swoon. The crust recipe is the trusted recipe I always use from Mark Bittman's cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I made two batches of dough, used all of it, and have just about a cup of filling leftover. This would be really good on ice cream or even just eaten by itself.

This is the pie crust recipe. I use it for any recipe that calls for pie crust. It is very easy and can be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge or freezer. You can use your own preferred recipe, store bought crust, or the one from the Fork Knife Swoon page if it's easiest.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
(I do 1 cup white and 2 T wheat flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (one stick) butter, cold
3 tablespoons ice water, plus more as needed
(The original recipe calls for sugar but I never add it because the filling is sweet enough.)
(Remember, this is only one recipe, and I made it twice for the amount of filling I had. I usually make two batches separate because it's more manageable.)

In a food processor, combine dry ingredients. Add cold butter, cut into pieces, and pulse until the texture is like cornmeal. Move it to a bowl and add the water. Mix with your hands until you can form a ball (then squash into a disc so it's easier to roll out later). Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm. Roll out on floured surface. For hand pies, roll to 1/8th inch thickness.

I rolled out the dough and cut it with the top of my flour sifter, which is about four inches across. You could use the rim of a bowl or cup, or a large biscuit cutter. Fill the discs with a small amount of filling (for the size I made them, only about a tablespoon of filling would fit). Fold over and press the edges with the tines of a fork. Put in the freezer for a few minutes. Remove from freezer and brush the tops with egg white and sprinkle with sugar. Use a knife to cut vents on the top side of the pie.

Then bake at 375 degrees F until golden brown, about 20 minutes or so.

Enjoy!