Mrs. Yeager's Rhubarb/Apple Pie(Elaine Faber) Mrs. Yeager’s Rhubarb –Apple Pie
(This is an excerpt from the novel, Mrs. Odboddy and Then There was a Tiger)

“Let’s start at the top of the recipe for Rhubarb-Apple pie. Cream two tablespoons butter with one-half cup brown sugar and one-half cup white sugar.” Agnes measured the two kinds of sugar and dumped them into her large amber-colored glass mixing bowl.

Godfrey picked up the card. “Here, I’ll read and you measure. Work in two level tablespoons flour with a pinch of salt.” He glanced up at Agnes. “How much is a pinch of salt?”

“Oh, you know. Just a pinch…” Agnes brought her flour canister to the table and popped off the lid. “Oh, my stars!” She slammed the cover on the canister and jumped back. Her hand flew to her mouth.

“What’s wrong? Are there ants in the canister?”

“Oh…um… it’s nothing. Oh, dear.” She lifted the lid again and tipped the canister toward Godfrey.

Godfrey’s eyes flew open as Agnes’s WWI service pistol clanked against the side of the canister.

“I forgot I put this here for safe-keeping. I’ll just use the flour from the sack in the cupboard.”

“Why…Why on earth did you…? Never mind.” Godfrey waved his hand. “Nothing you do surprises me anymore. I’m sure your explanation will make no sense whatsoever.”

Agnes pulled the flour sack from the cupboard and set it on the table. “Of course there’s a good explanation. I brought the gun into the kitchen for protection. I wanted it handy in case I needed it in a hurry. I didn’t dare leave a loaded gun anywhere Maddie might get hold of it.”

Agnes measured two tablespoons of flour from the flour sack and added it to her bowl. “I didn’t think there was much chance she’d ever look in the flour canister. But it sort of slipped my mind that I put it there.” She chuckled. “Shall we get on with the pie? What’s next?”

“It says; mix the flour and sugar mixture with one pound of rhubarb cut into pieces, and three apples cut into very small pieces.”

Agnes mixed the ingredients and then dusted the counter with flour. She opened her Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, turned to the Pastry and Pies section, and ran her finger down the page to plain crust. “Here’s the one I need for a double pie crust.

“Two cups flour.” She shoved the cookbook across the table and tapped the recipe. “Here, Godfrey, you read it.” She measured the flour and dumped it into the bowl.

“Okay.” Godfrey straightened his glasses and read, "Add one teaspoon salt. Cut in two-thirds cup shortening until the mixture resembles small peas. Add five to seven tablespoons of cold water, one tablespoon at a time. How can shortening and flour resemble peas?”

“It means you take a fork or a pastry cutter and squish the flour and salt into the shortening until the chunks are the size of peas. Watch.” She ran the fork through the ingredients repeatedly, squishing and tossing the mixture until the chunks squished into little chunks, then added a few drops of water until it began to resemble dough. “That’s about right. See?”

“Okay. Form dough into two balls for double crust. Flatten one at a time on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough from center of ball to the edge, making a round disc approximately three-eighths-inch think. Place in pie pan.

“I think I’ve got that part. I’ve done it a zillion times.” Agnes quickly rolled out the dough, flipped it over the top of a pie pan, and trimmed the crust to fit the pan. She dusted the crust with a sprinkling of flour.

Godfrey picked up the recipe card and began to read. “Add the rhubarb and apples mixture to the pie pan and add a top crust. Bake in hot oven, 425º for fifteen minutes and then reduce heat to 325º and bake for thirty minutes longer. “Shucks! Will it take that long?”

“Goof-ball.” Agnes filled the pie shell with the fruit mixture and attached the second crust to the top. She wet the edge of the bottom pie shell and pinched the two crusts together. After trimming the excess crust, she pressed ridges all around the edge of the pie with her thumbs.

Godfrey finished reading. “Cut slits in the top to let out the steam, sprinkle sugar on top, and pop in the oven. It looks delicious already. We make a pretty good team, don’t we?”

Agnes rolled her eyes and squeezed his arm. “You’re right. Godfrey? Dear? Will you pop the pie into the oven? I should return my pistol back to the top of my closet.”

*****

Read the whole novel at: https://tinyurl.com/yx72fcpx

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