Vermont Rolling Pins & A Pie to Honor My Friend

When I was in my early 20s, and my girls were wee ones, my sweet friend, Jan, taught me how to make a pie. I'd had her pies at our small group, and various other occasions, and they were wonderful. She was like a big sister to me, so one day she had me over with my girls, and I learned how to bake an apple pie!

Miracle of miracles, it came out amazing. Beginners luck, eh? Turned out, I could consistently make good pie crusts! I couldn't believe I had done so well to make the pies! She was such an encouragement to me. She even had me convinced I could sell them to people. Don't think I didn't give a good long thought to it. Of course, I didn't think anyone would pay money for a homemade pie. Guess I should've considered it a bit more!

As I got older, I started collecting items that made pie making more enjoyable. I had a Pampered Chef party, and bought a pie shield and pie server. So long tin foil lining and forks for removing a piece of pie. I had a rolling pin, but the ends kept coming out. I had never really looked into getting a newer one.

When my girls were old enough, I taught them how to bake pies so they could enter them in the County Fair. They got some great ribbons with their pies! It was so wonderful to pass that skill onto my girls. To watch them bake pies made my heart happy. I hope when they have little girls they'll pass on their skill of baking pies.

Now that I'm in the new house, I can FINALLY bake again! It's been almost 2 1/2 yrs. As I was looking for a new rolling pin. It was time for me to get one that would be around for a long time, and maybe even be one I could pass down to one of my grandchildren. I reached out to Vermont Rolling Pins, a made in America company, to ask if I could review one of their rolling pins. If you're a baker, or a baker at heart, you will melt when you see their rolling pins.

Is it possible that something as simple as a rolling pin could make you long for a new kitchen? I can wholeheartedly say, "Yes!" Ok, so maybe not a new kitchen entirely, but to redecorate it so I could have a wall for rolling pins. Plural.

I decided that the Beehive was too beautiful to stick in a drawer, so I bought the hand forged hooks as well. I knew I couldn't display it like I wanted, it would have to go under a cupboard, but it had to bee seen. It's that gorgeous. Once we have our peninsula installed (hint, hint honey) I plan to hang a column of rolling pins! That way they become heirlooms that can be given to my one day grand babies!

To go back to baking pies, wasn't as easy as I had hoped. One of the things Jan taught me is dough can be finicky. The weather/humidity can affect the dough. Today, when I was making my pie, for the life of me, I could NOT get the flour/salt mix to hold any moisture. I definitely added too much water, but if I hadn't I wouldn't have been able to make doubt balls for the crust. GAH! There was no happy medium.

I could also tell as I was rolling out the dough, that it was way too stiff. Thankfully, the Beehive has a great weight to it, and I was able to roll it out. It wasn't easy to say the least. It's clear I'm going to need to work on my crust making skills.

Since I hadn't been to the grocery store recently, the only fruit I had lying around were frozen strawberries and raspberries. They had to do. lol Oh, and I must've left my dough sheet back in Minnesota. I was disappointed I wasn't able to find it. I'll have to get a new one, although most of the time I just used flour on the counter.

Mixing the berries together made me think of all the pies I used to make back when the girls were young. I loved taking them to the berry farm, picking raspberries, and making pies. Those were some very special days. I hope we can find somewhere to pick berries around here! Heck, I'm hoping my raspberry bush that we brought from MN will grow. Guess who isn't holding her breath?

The best part of baking a pie, aside from eating it when it's finished, is the house smelling like something yummy is baking! I was so anxious to see how it was going to turn out!

It looks great, but have to be honest and tell you the crust is too hard, much like I expected it would be. I'm used to my crusts being flakier. And I mean golden, buttery flakey. I guess that just means I have to keep trying. I think my next pie will be apple. We have a group of young adults coming over on Thursday, so I'll have to try it again.

    

Like I said earlier, I bought the hand forged hooks and I also got the bee oil to take care of it. See, I wasn't kidding when I said I want this to be an heirloom! Vermont Rolling Pins also has a countertop stand, and there are a couple other options of displaying them vertically.

One of my favorite elements of their rolling pins is the option of personalizing them! YES you can do that. It's totally a thing! Imagine giving it as a gift! It's a special feature that only leaves a hint of the personalization. I'd actually like to get my next one...probably the Monster, to have the name Noble Est 2015, on it!

They're not limited to rolling pins! They have serving tools, rolling pins for children (still rolling pins, I know), and a pasta roller. There's even pizza tools!

Now that you've been introduced to them, it's time to follow them, and enter my giveaway tomorrow! Check them out on Facebook and Instagram.

What do you have that you consider an heirloom?