Friday, February 13, 2009

Fry Pies, Corn Chip Salad and Family Games



My family and our neighbors had our annual evening of fun. Loreen has been my friend since she use to baby set for my daughter who is 20 now. Loreen and her husband have 4 growing boys. They are a hard working Amish family.

Us girls go down to her house in the afternoon and cook something new together. Then the guys come for supper. Last year she taught us how to make home made pretzels. This year we made 'FRY PIES'. At first we were very intimidated by the pies. Loreen had made them but not with out her mom or sisters.. I think she was nervous about being unsure of the method. We soon got a system going. It was easy. She had made raspberry filling ahead of time from raspberries the boys had picked last season. Brittney had a hard time not eating it by the spoons full. It was sooo tasty. We set up 3 stations. Loreen mixed the dough. I rolled and shaped it. Brittney filled and pressed them shut. Then Loreen fried them in the deep fryer. They had to hook up the generator to the deep fryer because Amish do not have electricity. The cord is plugged into an extension cord that goes out side to the generator setting on the porch. We could tell when the deep fryer oil was at the right temperature because the generator would shut down.. Then we took turns glazing them. Loreen had the boys turn the stove down because it got hot as us busy bees were working away. We made 35 pies. They were beautiful!!! and Delicious. We divided the left over between us to freeze. They freeze very well.


I got a lot of flour on my clothes and the broken one is the one I dropped.. (5 second rule... I ate that one right after I put a lot of glaze on it.. )
Fry Pies
yield 25 pies approximately

Dough
9 cups cake flour (velvet)
1 Tbls. . salt
1 pt. cold water
3 cups pre-creamed shortening

2 quarts pie filling ( I think that sound like a lot.. ?##!?)

Glaze (This will make enough for 2 batches..)
4 lbs. powdered sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
1/4 cup milk
1 t. vanilla
1 1/3 cups water or as needed for consistency

mix dough then roll out dough in circles... put filling in the center ... fold over and seal edges...OR use a pie or tart press... (that is what we used)
we found they fry better if we refrigerate them while waiting to put them in the fryer. Oil should be 375 degrees. We cooked them at 400 degrees. You will have to experiment because deep fryers can run different. Put them on a cooling rack to cool. Drizzle them with the glaze on both sides. more glaze the better I say..

I made lasagna and garlic bread. Loreen made a corn chip salad. We had ice cream and fry pies for desert. As it got dark they lit the lanterns. It's funny but they seem just like regular lights. After dinner we played a card game.
CORN CHIP SALAD
1 of lettuce
1 bag of corn chips (or to taste)
3 - 5 boiled and diced eggs
1 cut shredded yellow cheese
optional chopped or cubed ham, and or bacon
Dressing
1 cup salad dressing (miracle whip)
little bit of vinegar
1 Tbls. mustard
1/3 cup sugar
mix dressing ingredients together
layer in a bowl... lettuce... eggs .... cheese... (optional ham and or bacon) ..then crumbled chips.... cover with dressing. Just before serving toss..
You might have to tweak this recipe.. It is all done in guesstimates.. Let me know if you change it up..