Summer = fruit pie

Pie!

Right now we've got both fresh apricots and raspberries available, so that means making my #1 favorite fruit pie. If you are pie-phobic (my mother who was an otherwise accomplished cook avoided making pie crust like the plague), I highly recommend this recipe for Easy Pie Crust. Truly, this is no-fail. It's so easy to handle - great for making a pretty lattice top.

I break pie-making into small do-ahead tasks over a few days so that it isn't so daunting time-wise.

1. Put the recipe out on the counter; serves as a visual reminder of the pie-making project.
2. Measure out the pie crust ingredients; wrap and put butter and shortening in the freezer.
3. Mix the pie dough; wrap in two pieces (lower and upper crust) and refrigerate.
4. Pull lower crust pie dough from fridge, let stand 1 hr, roll out and place in pie pan. Wrap finished bottom crust in plastic wrap and store in fridge.

All of the above can be done a few days before you actually bake the pie. In general, I like to bake pies early in the morning before it gets too hot,so having the bottom crust all ready to go gives me a running start on it.