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Mmmmm, that looks good. You're welcome. I always use Crisco for pie dough. My mother could roll hers ok, I just got fed up with patching and the floury mess. My MIL used lard, and it rolled into perfect circles, but I like Crisco better. Both are probably not good for you :-).

I punch vent holes in the top of mine, but if they are extra juicy, they boil over which isn't so good. Line the oven with foil. But we'd never have pie if I hadn't started doing it the "new" way.

I use a standard pie crust recipe for 2 double crust pies for a 9X11 baking dish and before I get all the ice water mixed in, I put the reserve an 8-oz cottage cheese container full for the top after I've added just a little water, then quit the water so it will be drier and more crumbly. Then I finish with water what's left in the bowl.

Except for pumpkin pie where I use an exact recipe, I always just guess now, so it's hard to explain how to do the filling when people ask me for recipes. Cherry I usually thicken with cornstarch (and sugar) on top of the stove first, also any berry pie. Apple, peach, fresh apricot and rhubarb, I stir the flour and sugar together and toss, then fill and add the topping, sometimes dot w/real butter, sometimes don't bother. I squirt it with cold water last so the sugar will stick better.

All those neat things people posted look so good! I usually just make that marshmallow creme/chocolate chip fudge. But somebody would have to mention eggnog. I'm just craving it this year. Swiss Valley I like the best around here. I hadn't been eating well and have gone through 4 cartons already, have two more in the fridge.

Happy Holidays! Yeah, I tasted my Crisco yesterday and it didn't taste real fresh but thought it was ok. So I made up a batch of dough, the 5-cup flour version for the huge pan, and was pressing it around the edges first and decided to taste it. It tasted off (haven't used any for months). Well it wasn't totally rancid but just wouldn't do, I knew it would not be the same. So I threw it all out, washed everything up and have to start all over tonight. My son brought me a fresh can; luckily I had plenty of flour and the rest and luckily I decided to wait until I had the crust ready before I thickened the cherries which was a darn lucky thing because sometimes it goes thin if it sits too long.

Anyway, my son had already brought me 4 packages of frozen cherries, they were huge! The size of bing cherries but the sour ones. He must have paid a fortune for them. First I was going to use 3 because they filled the usual pot I use, but after they thawed, I decided to add the 4th one. He said they had fresh cherries with stems at the store! The sour kind? Yes. Imagine! We are so spoiled. But sometimes I use the canned stuff, Aldi's is pretty good. My son put his foot down, wouldn't hear of that :-(

So I didn't do so hot today. One time I borrowed some crisco from a neighbor and fried chicken in it (I use half butter and half crisco). It was totally rancid, tasted awful. I would never make anybody eat anything I cooked that I suspected of being the least bit off. But I didn't know until it was too late that time. We just wouldn't eat it, and I normally love my fried chicken. The other two women were Polish so I couldn't explain what had gone wrong. Paula (the neighbor, don't blame her) crisco bad lol. That's how I had to talk to them, short words and pointing.

The one Polish lady needed a feminine product and I needed some, too. So she asked me to get her some, and I came back with a huge pack because it was cheaper. She was visibly upset that I bought so many, so I did the math on paper and said "me half you half". Then she was relieved.