Burger buns 'n' pie...

 Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie and Bing Cherry Pie

 

 Light Broiche Buns

 

We branded today!  We are running 100 cows on shares for a neighbor (20 miles away) and today was the day to brand their calves.  Two brothers and their hired man came to help so I didn't need to go to the barn.  Instead, I cooked the noon meal.  It was simple, but I spent the time to make fresh brioche hamburger buns for our grilled hamburgers and homemade pies for dessert.  I mean really, who doesn't like to eat homemade bread and pies no matter what else there is on the menu?

I guess I had made the brioche buns before because I wrote "excellent" on the recipe (although I don't remember doing it) so I decided to make them today.  They were excellent.  The dough was incredibly sticky so I didn't handle the it much at all except at the end when I formed it into rolls, and even then, I used a scraper to portion out the dough for each bun.  The recipe recommended using the scraper and that was a great tip.  I used flour as a help for forming the buns so I could lightly touch them and get them into the pans.  The thing I learned is that the stickier the dough, the lighter the bun, and these were pretty light and tender.  I'll be making them again.  If you want the recipe click here.

Now onto the pies.  I made the family favorite -- Rhubarb Custard Pie as a gift for CarpenterSon & JJo's anniversary on Wednesday, and so I figured I'd make another pie for OnlyDaughter & OnlySIL's anniversary gift.  Their anniversary isn't until the last day of May, but I'm going in to babysit grandmother for their girls as they keep a golf date they have planned.  Anyway, I made one Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie for them and a Bing Cherry Pie for my branding crew today.  I had frozen several quarts of Bings last summer and I figured I might as well use them up since it will soon be cherry season again.  The Bing Cherry Pie was a huge hit!  The men raved about it.  It was really quite simple:  just cherries (about 4 cups),  3/4 cup of sugar, 1/4 c. cornstarch, and two capfuls of almond extract.  Toss it all together and put in a crust, dot the top with butter and add the other crust and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mix.  Bake about an hour at 375*. 

The Strawberry-Rhubarb pie recipe was very similar.  I found the recipe here , and although I cannot give you an actual quality-control taste recommendation, the look of the pie is amazing.  I really thought I should take a little nibble out of it for testing purposes, but I didn't think it would be nice to sample an anniversary pie before the couple got a taste.  (I do hope they let me have a bite though!!)

It was really fun for me to spend the entire morning in the kitchen.  It's always enjoyable to try out new-to-me recipes and to whip up old standby recipes.  I have an old standby pie crust recipe that makes seven single crusts.  You know it's an old recipe when you read "lard" as one of the ingredients.  I have since changed it up a little by making the crusts with half lard and half butter.  I think it's superior to the old recipe, but honestly, an all-lard crust is heavenly too. 

How do you like your pie crusts?  Do you have a favorite pie recipe or favorite pie you like Best Of All?  I just love all pies.  My step-dad used to say he liked only two kinds of pie.  Hot and Cold.  I wholeheartedly agree!