When I married into my husband’s family, I learned that his grandparents on his dad’s side had owned a bakery. Many of his siblings had specialties. One sister made cream puffs. One sister made cheesecake—but my daughter took that over years later, and now she’s the queen of cheesecakes. My husband’s mother was the pie baker. In later years, as her hands became crippled by arthritis, I volunteered to take over the pie-baking. I had picked apples from a tree in our backyard when I was a kid—then watched my own mom bake apple pies with them. But I had never made a homemade pie crust. And I would never use Mom’s recipe—she used lard.


   Armed with my trusty Farmer’s Journal cookbook, I began to bake pies. I tried many variations on the pie crust—first using only butter, then half-butter, half margarine. I even tried a canola oil crust. But none of my crusts matched my MIL’s. Finally, I asked her what her secret was.

   “Crisco,” she said.

    “But it’s loaded with trans-fatty acids! That’s not healthy,” I replied.

   She rolled her eyes. “Are you going to be eating pie every day?”

   I shook my head.

   “Then what’s the harm of having a really good piece of pie as a treat?”

   I used butter-flavored Crisco for my next pie and got raves for it. Our kids grew up eating pies a lot, and I was always looking for a new kind to try.
 

   We always go apple-picking in the fall, so I’d often spend days making pies, then put the assembled but uncooked pie into a freezer bag for baking later. One year, after we’d gone to Michigan and gotten a bushel of peaches, I made a pie for that night—then froze a couple more. I traded one for a new tattoo (I LOVE bartering!) I brought the other with me to that year’s Thanksgiving. When I told people it was a peach pie, many swooned when they tasted it, because there are no good peaches in November!
 

   But my single most-requested pie is my sour cherry pie. I always add a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt. Here is the recipe.

🍒🍒🍒

Sour Cherry Filling

If using canned sour cherries, use 4 cans...drain the juice and use part of it, then drink the rest. Or use 4 cups of pitted sour cherries.

Mix with ¼ tsp. almond extract and set aside. In a small pot, mix 3/4 cups sour cherry juice with 1½ cups sugar 2 Tbsp cornstarch, and 2 Tbsp. Tapioca (instant)

Cook over low heat until bubbly and the juice begins to gel slightly.

Mix in cherries and pour into pie crust. 

Put the top crust on and crimp the edges with your fingers. (Or use a fork to make what my Mom used to call "bird's feet.") 

Use a fork to make tiny "steam escape" holes, then sprinkle 1 Tbsp. sugar on top crust.

Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

Hint: Line the bottom of the oven with a sheet of aluminum foil in case the pie bubbles over. Enjoy!

🍒🍒🍒


  My family loves to camp. One of our favorite places to camp is north of Grand Marais, Minnesota, near the BWCA (Boundary Waters Canoe Area.) One summer I was so unhappy about leaving, that I began to think about how wonderful it would be to fall in love with a local person, to have a reason to move up there. I’d already written the first two chapters in my head before we got home!


   In my first Minnesota Romance, For the Love of His Life, Veronica helps her grandmother run a resort north of Grand Marais, MN. “Ronnie” is over every morning to bake pies for the day, while her grandmother starts the day’s soup. One morning they get a call from Ronnie’s cousin, Jared, who is a famous indie-movie director. He wants to film the story of one of their ancestors, who helped found the city of Grand Marais. The problem is the actor he wants to have as a star was just arrested again--for his out-of-control behavior. The man has demons.

Jared asks if they will allow him to pay for his star to stay at the resort—and he asks Ronnie to begin teaching the man how to deal with living outdoors. She taught Jared how to fish and hunt, to commune with nature, when he was a wild teenager.
 

When the actor arrives, he’s a spoiled brat of a man. Raul thinks all people adore him because in LA he’s surrounded by sycophants who cling to his fame. He makes a pass at Ronnie, and when she refuses him, he calls her fat. Can they get past that? And when Raul finds himself developing real feelings for a woman, for the first time in his life, will Ronnie believe him? After all, she tells him that he “lies for a living.”
 

The first pie that Raul tries is Ronnie’s famous sour cherry pie. Since pies figure so prominently in this story, I have a page on my website labeled Pies, that gives my Never-fail pie crust recipe, as well as a few of my family’s favorites.

The first pie Raul tried, was topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Also the pie that the bar owner Tom craves is the free slice Ronnie will give him for sharing info.

Excerpt:

Jared Miller, the famous yet reclusive director, is on the phone asking for a favor from his Grandmother who owns a resort in northeastern Minnesota.  

   "What is it this time?"     

   Jared cleared his throat audibly. "I'm afraid it's bigger this time. I need you to let me send you a guest who will be there until I can get the crew up to start filming my next movie."     

   "And how long with that be?" Veronica grinned at Gram-Marie while the older woman rolled her eyes and shrugged.     

   "I don't know...it depends on a lot of things. Maybe a month? Six weeks tops. I've got to get a whole lot of folks packed and up there, so it's gonna take some time."     

   "And who is it you are expecting us to tolerate for an unspecified amount of time?"

    "Ronnie! Would I send you someone you'd only tolerate?"     

    "Hell yeah! You'd send us Satan to baby-sit, if your next movie depended on it."

     "Funny you should say that, cuz. He's only the biggest, baddest star in the business right now."     

   "Who is it?"      

   "You've heard of Raul Roderick, right?"    

   Marie snorted. "Who?"     

   Jared chuckled. "The Gamer King? Avenge Tastes Sweet? MOFO-Town?"     

   "No," Marie said, while Veronica smiled at her, all the while filling the pie crusts with the flavors of the day.     

   "Well then, how about his romantic movies? Make Mine Latino? Or Three's a Crowd, But I Like Crowds?"     

   Veronica giggled. "Jared, you should see Gram-Marie's face! She looks like she just sucked a lemon!"     

   "What on earth are you people thinking of with these titles? Or these so-called plots? Why doesn't anyone make the kinds of movies I like to watch anymore?"     

   "Because you're too old for them to consider you a target market?" Veronica whooped as she ducked away from the spoon tossed at her by her grandmother.

     "Old, my ass! I just expect plots and they're too damn busy putting big, fake titties and young men without shirts into everything!"     

   "So you have heard of Raul then?" Jared chuckled.     

   Veronica explained. "Gram-Marie, he's the kind of actor who is very good at looking good in his movies, and he's always shirtless at some point. But he's kind of limited to playing the same kinds of men over and over again...not much range, and even less talent."

Buy links: https://books2read.com/u/4XX9aN
 

Where to find me and my pie recipes:

Website—http://www.fionamcgier.com
Blog—http://www.fionamcgier.com

Also:
Smashwords--https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/fionamcgier
Facebook--https://www.facebook.com/fiona.mcgier/
Goodreads--https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2987252.Fiona_McGier
BookBub--https://www.bookbub.com/profile/fiona-mcgier-27d35716-8cc6-4638-8470-03331056b1d7
Amazon Author Page-- https://www.amazon.com/Fiona-McGier/e/B003J8QJGE/

 

About Author Fiona McGier

 

Fiona has always had stories in her head. Characters intrude into her thoughts and insist on showing her scenes from their lives. She discovered that when she ignores them, they start to yell louder; if she writes their stories and they can live in readers' heads as well, they usually leave her alone...only to be replaced by a new group of storytellers. Her head is usually a very crowded place, but she likes it that way.


 

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