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Momma Told Me: Sometimes you have to get a little creative.
Growing up I didn't have much of a kitchen- rather, Momma didn't have much of a kitchen. We lived in a little 2 bedroom condo; the bedrooms stacked on top of the kitchen and living room- a cutout in a sea of identical units. I didn't really appreciate what this meant, as a testament to Momma's patience and skills, until we moved into our family's first real home over a decade later. There was no warm sun shining in from the kitchen window, or wide sill to rest a homemade pie on. We had harsh fluorescent lighting and a kitchen Momma could open the fridge, while stirring the pasta sauce, while filling the sink with water in. There were no frills, and every decision mattered when cooking.
Today, I live in my own 'starter' condo- as so many people my age do here in Southern California, where real estate is prime and space runs limited. If you want to live near the beach you'd better be a millionaire, or willing to share walls, in our part of the state. So, for our family, we go through many of the same space compromises my own parents did. We rely on compact appliances, construct a free standing 'pantry' of shelves in the dining nook, and find creative ways to cut down on waste and messes when in the kitchen. I'll even be honest, my dining table doubles as a workbench when I bake, because I simply don't have the counter-space to feed the large leagues and groups I do, otherwise.
One way I survive working in a micro-kitchen is with various tools and surfaces that allow me to move from one area to the next quickly, efficiently, and cleanly. In addition to over-sized baking cooling racks, I keep Reynold's Cookie Baking Sheets on hand all year. I simply don't have time to wrestle with a large roll of parchment paper while balancing a cookie sheet on one knee and licking cookie dough off my arm (and believe me, I've tried!) Having pre-measured, pre-cut, Reynold's cookie sheets I can simply unfold and go are a lifesaver, especially in my most requested cookie recipe- pie cookies. You could say they're kind of my specialty, so, today, I'm going to share the very simple process with you.
You're going to want to begin by clearing off a nice open surface to work on, and by opening a box of Reynold Cookie Sheets. Line two baking sheets with a sheet each, then line a cooling rack with a sheet, and place two side by side on your flat, level, work surface. Next, unroll 2 pre-packaged, ready-to-bake pie crusts, placing one each on the work surface cookie sheets. Using a rolling pin go ahead and roll out your crusts to an even shape about 1/3 larger than they initially were. Don't worry about flouring your surface, your
Reynold's Cookie Sheets will keep the crust from sticking to your surface as you work.
Next spread a generous layer of fruit preserves on one of the pie crusts. In most cases your recipe will feature a preserve and pie filling of the same fruit variety, but you can feel free to experiment- for example, blueberry lemon tastes delicious. For apple pie go ahead and put a layer of salted caramel down instead of preserves! Once your preserves are evenly applied smear a helping portion of pie filling over the preserved crust. If you are concerned about the cookies being too thick or hard to handle, you can go ahead and shred/dice the fruit filling to a thinner consistency. It really does depend on how 'home-style' authentic you want your pie cookie experience to be.
Next, take your other pie crust and cut even strips (about 12-15, depending on how tight you want your crust weave to be) with a pizza cutter. While thinner strips will ultimately make for a more impressive weave and pie cookie finish, keep in mind you will be weaving the crust top all by hand, and the more, thinner, strips, the more work this will be. If you're not confident in your pastry skills you may want to stick to 10 strips per crust.
However many crust strips you decided to cook, you will next want to lay half of them across your 'filled' pie crust, being careful yo leave a gap equal to the strip size, between each pair of strips. I do this by removing every other strip from my cut pie crust and laying it down with equal spacing. Next you will begin laying the strips in the opposite direction, but with a little more time and deliberation. Carefully lift every other vertical strip to 'weave' through your horizontal strips. Up, down, up, down- until you have gone all the way across. To make the process easier be sure to lift the vertical strips by 'peeling' them down from the top and laying your vertical strip underneath when necessary. Ultimately it's a very
sticky delicious process that leaves one feeling quite rewarded.
The next part can get especially messy, so it's a good thing you have the non-stick power of Reynold's Cookie Sheets on your side. Taking a round (3-4") cookie cutter press circle cuts into the layered cookie pie creation and carefully place the cookies on your lined baking sheets. On virtually any other surface this would mean a sticky mess of saturated pie crust and sugar syrup. You, however, will have the satisfaction of lifting these messy cookies up with ease. Even better, you don't need to space them more than a half inch apart, since the pie crust really won't 'spread' much in baking. Do, however, keep in mind that the various fillings WILL bubble over and spread on the cookie sheet while baking!
Go ahead and brush your beautiful pie cookies with a light egg wash and send them into the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the outer edges begin to brown. Reynold's Cookie Sheets are oven safe up to 420F*, so this recipe will cook evenly, and too perfectly without further fuss. If you're feeling particularly fancy you can brush a little butter on the top of the pie crust with a sprinkle of sugar just 2 minutes before they're done. I also find a little course salt goes well with apple pie cookies featuring a sweet caramel layer. (Reynolds Genuine Parchment Paper and Cookie Baking Sheets (pre-cut
parchment sheets) are tested to safely withstand oven temperatures up to
420°F.)
Ordinarily this recipe would wreak havoc on my cookie sheets- the caramel applie pie cookies, in particular, tend to caramelize and burn all over my beautiful pans. Not only do the cookie sheets help encourage even baking, but they contain the mess of sticky pie fillings, and make the cookies instantly transferable to waiting wire cookie racks. Every good pastry chef knows those seconds are crucial to ensuring delicate pastries don't burn or overcook after removal from the oven! Just slide the cookie sheet off the tray and you're in business!
Because you've saved so much time on cleanup, you'll have a little leftover to package up your cookies- after all, you're not going to eat ALL these delicious pie cookies yourself, are you? I mean, sure, you COULD, but half the fun in baking is baking to share- so there's no need to be stingy. And it's not exactly like the process was THAT complicated you couldn't make more, right? So take your best cookie vessel and line it with a quartered (or folded) Reynold's Cookie Sheet- you're going to want to put layers between these cookies so all of that delicious pie filling goodness doesn't stick to one another.
And since we're on the topic of being thankful this season- why not share some of these delicious, impressive, works of cookie art with the adults who enrich your children's lives so very much every day at school? That's right, we made these particular pie cookies for the kids' staff and teachers with a little printable gift tag project I whipped up. Download the FREE 'One Smart Cookie'
printable tag here, then have your children make fingerprint cookie 'O's to add that extra personal touch!
Being a parent means you often have to tackle a multitude of challenges and obstacles while managing your time and efforts to provide your very best. Whether you have the kitchen of a Michelin Star Chef, or are working in a small space being serenaded by the sound of tiny hands banging on pots underfoot, Reynold's Cookie Sheets are smart, pre-measured, baking tools that make baking easier, more fun, and less of a pain to clean up. After all, I'd rather be eating pie cookies than wondering how I'm going to scrape dried cherry pie filling off my counters and pans!
Do you have a favorite cookie recipe that impresses? You can find Reynold's cookie sheets at grocery stores nationwide (I found mine at Vons,) and discover more fun seasonal cookie recipes on their Facebook page.
What Daughter Says: Get creative with your recipes, not your cleanup solutions, take the stress out of holiday baking with convenient pre-cut cookie sheets.
Holiday Pie Cookies
