Doing Justice to the Family Name

Today at work we had our department Christmas shin dig. Due to the economic crunch we opted for a potluck. The food was plentiful and mighty tasty. I originally signed up to bring plates and napkins…can’t go wrong there and very hard to screw up on unless you just don’t bring any.

In the words of mi padre, “I smart. I rock star.” ;)

However, the night before I decided that I needed to finally make the raspberry pie I’ve been wanting to make since Thanksgiving. Well I decided if I was going to be baking I might as well go the two for one route since I was already doing the cooking thing.

Don’t get me wrong I enjoy cooking I just don’t do it much for myself. I will gladly cook for others...for a small fee...allegedly.

I digress.


Since my last pie “fiasco” (another story for another time, except this pie was chocolate chip) turned out the way it did. I decided I would do one filling at a time. Good thing too, since the last time I made this raspberry pie was a little over three years ago. The first go round wasn’t completely horrid, but due to my lack of skills in taking notes on my pie recipe aka writing clear instructions on the card,I added the corn starch to the already hot liquid mixture...

Yeah you guessed it...

It clumped faster than you can say instant mashed potatoes...or even faster than you can make them!

I checked out the back of the corn starch bag and the second line down went something like this, “if you are planning on adding ***’s corn starch to hot liquid we recommend that you first mix it with cool water—(doh! Hand to the forehead- NOW you tell me! Thanks guys. Really. I appreciate it. tons).

So I continued to boil the concoction in hopes that it might be able to further break down the corn starch globules. No dice, mostly. I really only succeeded in creating much smaller chunks. So I fished them out of the pot and continued in my quest for pie fame only slightly undeterred by the mishap.

The second go round, I started with the corn starch and water mixing business b/c, “my momma didn’t raise no fool” (although some days that fact is debatable ;) ). It went fabulously. The only hiccups were the overflowing of the gelatinous mixture, which is pretty usual for this recipe, so I took it as a good sign and put both pies in the fridge to set.

Bright and early this A.M. I decided to bring one of the pies b/c Heaven knows I don’t need two of those suckers hanging around the house…

A lovely cheese pizza raspberry pie just for me.
Insert two extra inches to each thigh here.

I decided to bring the “defective pie,” made from Lady’s recipe (which may or may not have been worked up by grandma mom...yo no se...Lady?) and added my own little twist.

I’ll give you a hint...

They’re GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRReat!


OK so that’s not really what I changed, but if you know where the quote comes from I will divulge my top secret ingredient, ooooooorrrrrrrr maybe send you a piece of my delicious pie! Although this pie might not make it through the mail too well :(

Despite my worries of some unsuspecting coworker noshing into a loverly chunk of corn starch, I received MANY complements on the tastiness thereof! One person even requested the recipe, and even said she would be trying it out over the holidays because she enjoyed it so much.