My First semi-Homemade Pie. Ever.

I was having one of those "being a mom is so hard" kind of days when my husband told me that he was taking the kids and for goodness sake would I go do something for myself.

So I decided to make a pie.

I've had the Crisco recipe for pie crust on my fridge for weeks now but I keep finding an excuse not to use it because, after all, the idea of making a pie absolutely terrifies me.  I had, however, purchased some canned cherry pie filling so at least I didn't have to think past the pie crust.

I made 3 big mistakes:

1. I did not chill the shortening nearly long enough. 
2. My water was not icy cold.  And I added too much of it.
3. Apparently it takes 2 cans of filling to make a pie.

Here is my first semi-Homemade cherry pie:

It didn't taste terrible.  Which is good.  But as I was lamenting my first trial with my husband he said, "Yeah, pies are really hard to make."  In spite of my 3 mistakes, my biggest frustration was actually tenting the outside rim with foil.  I baked the pie for 10 minutes and went to foil the edges and burned my thumb instead.  I guess you can foil the edges first and then take the foil off for the last 10 minutes as well; I didn't know about this option.  Also, I found out that they make silicone rims to make the whole process much easier.  Anyway, the edges of this pie ended up crispy.

Move over quest for the perfect brownie recipe because I think I just found a new lifelong ambition.

Next time I'm going to put my shortening in the freezer and a cup of water in the fridge.  Just to be safe.