Humble Pie

My in-laws brought some 40 apples to us the other day. I thought it would be nice to make some apple pie and apple crisp and apple pancakes and...you get the idea.

Yesterday I had a chance to make a pie. For the first time since I'd been given some silicone bake ware as a gift I was making a pie just for the family -- not for any guests. This was finally my opportunity to try out the silicone pie dish.

I've been very pleased with the silicone loaf pans and I don't use metal ones any more. I use the silicone muffin pans less often, but they are easier than their metal counterparts as well, especially in the cleanup phase.

As for the pie plates, their diameter is a little larger than my metal pans. This makes them a wee bit too big for the Pillsbury prepared pie crusts. (I hate making and I don't like eating my own pie crusts.) It was hard to make a good seal and impossible to crimp the edges.

When using silicone in the past, I have not noticed any variations in bake time compared to using metal bake ware, so I did not even consider that there may be a difference using the pie plate. I popped it in the oven, set the timer, and continued with my day. After ten minutes it was time to reduce the oven temperature and reset the timer. Everything looked good.

When the timer went off again the top was a wee bit burnt. Not badly enough that I was smelling it through the house, but badly enough that the pie didn't look so good. I picked a few blackened pieces of apple from the vents before taking this photo. Rick to the rescue...
To solve the problem of how the pie looked, I called Rick at the office to ask if he could buy some vanilla ice cream on his way home. It is amazing how ice cream can cover burnt crust blemishes!

The last straw for the silicone pie plates was the difficulty I had in removing slices of pie from the plate. I served the pie a la mode in bowls because it would not remove from the dish without falling apart. Those pie plates are likely destined for the Goodwill store.