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1. With a paper trimmer or scissors, trim printed photos to size. Use white artist’s tape to secure the photos to the die-cut frames. 2. Join two candy canes at a slight angle with hot glue for the front of the easel. Once the glue is cool, add another drop to keep the third candy cane support in place.
Angela Flournoy Email Save 1. To create the place card holder, tie twine around one end of two cinnamon sticks. Wrap it around two or three times to bind the sticks together. Add a dab of hot glue to keep the twine in place. 2. Once the glue on the twine is dry, use one of the place cards to measure where the second band should start. Repeat the process. Angela Flournoy Email Save 3. Position the place cards between the cinnamon sticks. Tuck a piece of fresh rosemary into the twine.
“If you try to cut and serve a pie straight from the oven, it will usually fall apart. Let it cool down for at least 10 minutes before serving in order for it to have a better shape. “I have found that frozen pies that have been reheated hold their shape the best. If you’re trying to impress your guests with shapely and picturesque slices of pie, I’d freeze it first.” Alexandra Crafton Save Email Here, Lucas and Blythe get excited as their mom brings out ice cream to serve with the pie. “The taste, atmosphere and tradition of pies are important to me. My mom was kind enough to share her recipes and knowledge with me, so I could continue the tradition with my husband and two children. Now, I love adding new features to familiar tastes and sharing them with others,” Whiteley says. Alexandra Crafton Save Email Add ice cream, whipped cream and sprinkles of cinnamon to serve. “If you’re serving it hot with ice cream — no need to wait! Throw the ice cream on right away and let it melt over the top, creating a creamy, sweet mess.”
Step 4: Bake Baste the crust with water and sprinkle it with sugar. Then bake for 30 minutes. Family secret: “One of my big secrets is leaving the pie in the oven for 30 minutes after it has baked with the oven off. Once the timer goes off, I turn off the oven but leave the pie inside. This prevents the crust from burning but allows the apples to continue to get soft. You don’t want your apples crunchy.” Alexandra Crafton Save Email Tip: “The baked pie itself can be frozen too. I like to keep a pie in the freezer for last-minute dinner parties, potlucks or company,” Whiteley says. “Just pop it in the oven for half an hour, and you’re good to go! Or you can eat it cold, and cold pie is my absolute favorite. Just let it thaw for a few hours and enjoy!”
At this point, Whiteley says, “I then begin painting my canvas.” “My pie crusts really feel like art pieces to me, and I look at each new pie as a blank canvas. They can be customized for any occasion and used to express creativity.” One option for a decorative pie crust is to add a first “blank” layer to serve as the background. Simply place the flat, rolled-out dough on top of the filled pie. Then cut off excess dough surrounding the pie. Alexandra Crafton Save Email There are a lot of fun tools you can use when it comes to decorating your pie. Whiteley says, “I use any tool I can think of: spoons, forks, knives, cookie cutters, toothpicks, embossed rolling pins, pie crust design cutters and my fingers! But never scissors. The dough isn’t strong enough. You don’t have to have expensive or multiple tools to create a beautiful pie. There are many designs you can make freehand.” Alexandra Crafton Save Email In addition to regular-size pies, Whiteley also enjoys making personal-size pies, pictured, especially for her children.
Put Pie Together “After the dough and filling are made, it’s time to assemble, which is the fun part!” Whiteley says. 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (200 degrees Celsius). 2. Divide dough into two balls for the top and bottom crusts. Technically, this recipe is supposed to be enough for two double-crust pies, but Whiteley’s family likes thick crust, so she usually makes one pie and uses any leftover dough to make pie crust cookies. Alexandra Crafton Save Email 3. Dust the countertop with flour. Coat your rolling pin with flour as well. Roll out dough to desired size. It should be about an inch larger than the bottom of your pie pan. “If the bottom crust is too small, it’s no problem, as you can easily add pieces and push them into the pan. It will be covered with the filling, so it doesn’t have to be pretty,” Whiteley says. Alexandra Crafton Save Email 4. Using a spatula, carefully lay the flattened dough inside the pie pan, letting the edges hang over. 5. With a fork, poke holes in the bottom layer. 6. Add apple filling. Alexandra Crafton Save Email Family secret: Add slabs of butter to the top of your filling for a more succulent flavor. “Adding 3...
Crust directions Whiteley bakes with an all-butter crust, so before starting, she lets the butter come to room temperature. “If the butter is too cold, it won’t combine well with the flour, and if it’s too runny, it will make the dough too sticky, so having room-temperature butter is essential,” she says. 1. In a bowl, combine 3 cups flour and 1¼ cups butter with a pastry cutter or a fork until mixture forms pea-size lumps. Tip: Do not overmix, or your crust will turn out very tough. Do the bare minimum to get it mixed together. 2. In a second bowl, combine egg, apple cider vinegar and water until frothy. 3. Carefully stir egg-vinegar-water mixture into flour-butter mixture until the dough forms a ball. If the dough is too dry, add another tablespoon of water. 4. Put the dough in the refrigerator to chill. “Working with chilled dough is more efficient than working with room-temperature dough, as warm dough is soft and fragile. If it is slightly chilled, creating unique designs is easier,” Whiteley says. Tip: Refrigerate dough and filling overnight if you don’t have time to make the pie all at once. Whiteley often does this when making multiple pies at a time to save time ...
Crust ingredients 3 cups flour, plus more for dusting countertop and rolling pin 1¼ cups salted butter, plus an optional 3 tablespoons for topping the filling 1 egg 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar 4 tablespoons water “Mom’s crust was famous. Everyone knew that her pies were delicious, but the crust in particular got people talking and requesting more. The filling was to die for too. Mom didn’t use any old recipe either. Hers was something special. She put so much time and love into her fillings. And it was more than the incredible flavor that I craved,” Whiteley says. Family secret: Apple cider vinegar is the secret to the success of this recipe. It helps break down the egg and makes the dough easier to handle. You can substitute lemon juice if you don’t have the vinegar. “The apple cider vinegar and egg are different from most pie crust recipes but really give it a savory, unforgettable flavor,” Whiteley says. Adding an egg to the dough makes it flexible, which helps in the crust design process.
“Everything I know about pie, I learned from my mom,” Whiteley says. “She taught me to never use Golden or Red Delicious apples. They’re not good baking apples. Gala, Fuji, McIntosh, Granny Smith or Honeycrisp all work great. “It’s just a matter of personal preference,” she adds. “McIntosh is my go-to for pies, while Honeycrisp is my favorite raw. Each kind provides something different to the filling.”
1. Lay your runner out on the table and arrange the larger pumpkins on top of it, concentrating them toward the center of the table so you’ll have space for plates and food later on. 2. Place the smaller white pumpkins among the larger ones, spreading them out evenly. Tuck individual stems of the seeded eucalyptus in between the pumpkins. Try to fill in all of the empty space so that the centerpiece looks full and substantial.
Jours & Nuits Save Email 2. Lay the tablecloths. Before laying your tablecloth, cover the table with a thick cotton undercloth. “This will provide some comfort to your guests when they rest their arms on the table,” Robier says. “It will also dampen noise, such as when you set down your silverware.”
3. Write your guest’s name or a personalized message on the bottom of the place card, or leave the image as is. Optional: Tie a bow using the decorative twine and use a dot of hot glue to attach it to the place card. Angela Flournoy Email Save Your guests will get a kick out of these cards, especially if you use portraits taken from past parties. The photos can help spark conversation and memories of parties from years past.
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