Roll up Pies

Thanksgiving is over. Turduckens have been eaten. No more pie till Christmas. Whew! Now the mad dash to the next holiday.

I mailed my Christmas cards out 2 days after Thanksgiving. I know. . .just smack me now. I have always done my Christmas cards in November. My goal is always to have them out no later than 12/1. This year I did them even a little earlier than usual since I knew there would be a lot to do for Thanksgiving.

Since starting this blog a little over a month ago I have kept it very secret. The thing is that a blog is very narcissistic. It’s me, me, me all the time. And as much as I wanted to muse about my time in the kitchen and share recipes with people, I was nervous about putting myself out there all the time to everyone. I am not that kind of gal. I like to keep my life to myself.

If you are reading this in the week after Thanksgiving  it’s likely you got a christmas card from me. My sweet and supportive husband has been gently prodding me to go public and he suggested I just put the web address to the site in my christmas cards. I decided that was a splendid idea.

So. . . .drum roll. . . ta da! I’ve officially gone public.

Since we are going to make it all about me now,  I’ll give you a little snap shot of my childhood. The Roll Up Pie. This is one of those go to images in my head when I think back on my childhood favorites.

These are very simple and so yummy. My mom always made these with the left over pie crust after she had sealed and trimmed a pie. So generally we got them more often during the holidays when she made more pies than usual. There were never enough roll ups since there was usually not much dough leftover and my dad and brother and I all coveted them. The best ones were the middle chunks as they had more cinnamon and sugar in them.

As an adult I moved 1500 miles away from my mom and her roll ups, so sometimes I would make them at my house with a store bought box of pie crust. No pie. . just an entire box of dough dedicated to Roll up pies. I mean who needs pie when you can have these instead. A taste of home.

I still often use store bought crust. It’s easy and quick and sometimes I just don’t feel like dealing with making it. That said, my mom’s crust is pretty simple, too. And although I used to have a pie crust handicap and could not make it to save my life. . .I can now pull of a pretty decent crust.

After you cut the shortening into the flour, add enough ice water to make it start to barely come together. Put half of the dough on a sheet of plastic wrap. Pull the plastic wrap together and push it into a disk. You’ll want to refrigerate the dough for about a half hour to give it time to absorb all the water and become uniform.

Next you’ll roll it out into an oval. The whole oval then gets a generous covering of cinnamon sugar. (I just eye ball the cinnamon sugar but it’s roughly a cup of sugar with a Tbsp or 2 of cinnamon. . you may not use it all but can store the rest for next time or for cinnamon toast. Or you can do what I so and  just sprinkle sugar on the dough and then dust with cinnamon and swirl together with the back of a spoon or a clean hand.)

Now just roll up along the long side (thus the name “roll up” pies).  A little sugar will fall out the ends. No big deal.

Cut the dough into 1 1/2 to 2 inch sections and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Repeat the process with the other disk of pie crust dough. Bake for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Yum! I know if my Dad is seeing this right now his mouth is watering.

Roll Up Pies

1 batch of pie crust dough for a double crust (homemade or store bought)

Cinnamon sugar (a generous amount)

Roll out the dough and cover with cinnamon sugar. Roll up. Cut into sections. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour

2/3 to 1 cup shortening (this really depends on the humidity. When I lived down South if I tried to use a whole cup of shortening it was a greasy mess. Now that I am back in the dry North I can use closer to the cup depending on the season)

pinch of salt

up to 6 Tbsp ice water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in the shortening until the mix resembles crumbly sand. Stir in ice water one Tbsp at a time until the dough just starts to come together. Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge for half hour before using. Makes enough for 2 single crust pies or 1 double crust pie or a bunch of roll up pies!

Thanks for spending a few minutes reading my ramblings. I appreciate it.