“We must have a pie. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a pie.”
― David Mamet

Why do I like to bake?

Why does an eskimo like snow?

Because it’s all we’ve ever known!

I grew up in an environment that cakes & cookies didn’t come from the store, they came from the oven in the kitchen…our mother’s, grandmother’s and lots & lots of aunts.  It has always been a tradition of passing favorite recipes, one to another.  Some of them used more times than others, while a few are only pulled from the recipe box during a special time of year.

However nobody in the family baked donuts. Which meant: it was permissable to get these from our favorite local donut shop, Mighty Fine Donuts.  And that was always a mighty fine treat for us!

(The glazed twist & chocolate-iced frycakes were always my most favorite!)

Even today I have a hard time buying a pie, cake, cupcake, or cookie from a bakery shop; although there are plenty of excellent local bakery’s to choose from!

These goodies came from Fuhrman’s Cider Mill & Frank’s Market.

(Okay, so maybe I purchase a nibble-or-two every once in a blue moon, giggles!)

Throughout the years pies became my favorite treat to bake!

Apple, pumpkin, pecan, grape, raspberry, blueberry, strawberry-rhubarb to name just a few.  Most recipes have been passed along through the kitchens of many wonderful baking women; whose hands I watched kneeding the dough, mixing the batter, or whipping up a batch of sweet frosting.

All with heaping scoops of love sprinkled in!  

Imagine my delight, when our daughter recently traveled home for a one-on-one pie baking lesson. What a blessing to have her hands now added to this special tradition!

Two hands that made,

one apple & one grape.

With heaping scoops of love sprinkled in,

a job well done…

fresh from our family’s oven!

“Cut my pie into four pieces, I don’t think I could eat eight.”
― Yogi Berra

hugs n’ blessings to all the hands who are baking for those they love!

Grape Pie

3 1/2 cups concord grapes

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon lemon juice

9 inch unbaked pie shell

Streusel topping:

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

Wash, drain and stem grapes.  Remove skins and simmer pulp for 5 minutes.  DO NOT add any water to pulp.  WHile hot, press pulp through a sieve (or food mill) to remove seeds.

Combine strained pulp with skins.

Combine sugar and flour; add to grapes.  Blend in lemon juice and butter.  Pour into pie shell and cover with streusel topping.

Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.