My Number One Tip for a Tender Pie Crust

For years, the one thing I couldn’t bake successfully was pie crust.

I made angel food cake that was like eating sweet clouds. I rolled and folded and rose danish pastry like a pro. I could make cream puffs in my sleep. I even mastered French macarons.

But pie crust still eluded me.

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Peach Cobbler Blondies

In my dining room, I have a chalkboard in a pretty frame. It’s the one chalkboard in the house (we have several) that the kids are not allowed to draw on; it’s just for me. Sometimes I draw pictures (a Thanksgiving turkey, a Christmas tree, the Easter bunny), but most of the time it’s the specials board for my imaginary bakery. Every so often, usually as the seasons change, I dream up a new list of goodies, draw little flowers and coffee cups and swirls, and pretend I’m actually going to bake these things and sell them in a quaint bakery/coffee shop, situated in an old mansion in some sweet-but-accessible neighborhood, where I also rent the upstairs rooms and host poetry readings and live music in the others. Also there’s a huge play room for the kids and a patio with fairy lights.

Yeah, I’m a grown-up, but I still play make-believe.