This may be a small tool, but it’s been made to last a lifetime. Wash and dry it by hand to preserve the olivewood handle. We did notice that the wood seemed a little dry straight out of the box and a little mineral oil rubbed into the handle might help extend its life. As you can see, this is a great tool to have in the kitchen whether you’re a beginner home cook or a pro. It can replace some of the work done by food processors or electric mixers, which is helpful if the power ever goes out or if more than one person is cooking at the same time. This pie-decorating method is different from the others because you’re going to add the decorative pie crust topping to a fully baked and cooled pie, such as brownie pie or chocolate chess pie, rather than an unbaked pie. The pictured pie is my favorite pumpkin pie. Here’s what you need to make this pie crust design: An egg wash—a simple mix of milk (or water) and egg—creates that golden sheen we see on bakery pies, and it even gives the crust a little extra-crisp texture. Without the egg wash, the pie crust will brown but will look extremely dull. For a little sparkle, I always sprinkle pies with coarse sugar prior to baking. Gives the top a lovely sweet crunch and looks pretty, too. With all of this pie-making practice (including recipe fails!), I’ve learned which kitchen tools are most helpful for making homemade pies. And I’m so happy to share it all with you.

A pie maker with a crimped edge is also a great option. This gives your pies a traditional look, and it helps you get that wonderful crispy crust! Other good features to look out for are non-slip feet and a cool touch handle.Using a pastry blender keeps your hands cleaner, and it also doesn't add as much heat to the ingredients as your warm hands might. But the most important reason is that pastry blender helps to evenly incorporate the fat into the dough, ensuring a lighter, flakier pie crust. Note Before You Begin: These designs, with the exception of the baked cookie cutter shapes design (step 3 below), all go on top of an unbaked pie. So start with your pie already filled and ready for a pie dough topping. After topping with your designed top crust, bake according to the pie recipe you’re using, such as this apple pie, apple cranberry pie, caramel pear pie, or other pie recipe. You can't go wrong with the Spring Chef Stainless Steel Dough Blender. It's suitable for home cooks and pros, and it's offered in a larger size. If you're looking for a set, we like the Spring Chef Dough Blender and Pastry Cutter Set. What to Look for in a Pastry Blender Material Why not add a fun design to the top of your pie to make your dinner guests smile before you slice into your masterpiece? Or perhaps a cute animal shape or a fun picture? And why not try some letters and add one of your guests’ names or even a “Happy Birthday” message to the top of your pie to really make it stand out! Planning a themed party?

At Lakeland, we love a party with a theme. And if you’re looking to throw a themed party yourself, you’ll need the perfect baked yummies to match your theme. With our huge range of cookie cutters, scone cutters, biscuit cutters and pastry cutters, you can’t go wrong.Not sure what to look for when it comes to the best pie maker? Take a look at this buyer’s guide. Dimensions

Our cookie and pastry cutters are perfect for creating fun culinary delights and can even be used for cutting icing. With a variety of patterns to choose from, from floral and fruits to dinosaurs, insects and unicorns, there’s something for everyone! All this recipe testing, photographing, and filming video tutorials means that I have made a LOT of pies! Once cut, the lattice will expand to cover the width of the pie, but the length will stay the same. Plan accordingly, by making sure your dough is as long as you need it to be to cover the surface of your pie, although it only needs to be about half as wide. We found the lattice easy to stretch over the pie with attractive results, but don't worry if it takes one or two attempts to master.Egg is a binding agent. It binds ingredients together and gives them stability. Using egg not only binds the dough ingredients together, it also makes the meat pie to be crispy. Water and Milk The Spring Chef Dough Blender earned the top spot on this list thanks to its solid performance, ease of use, and comfortable handle. To perfectly blend together pasta doughs, we recommend the Gorilla Grip Pastry Dough Blender and Butter Cutter. From fruit pies like apple pie, cherry pie, peach pie, and blueberry pie; to rich and smooth cream pies like French silk pie, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie, and cheesecake pie… Less powerful pie makers will take longer to preheat, and your pies may take a little longer to cook. Pie Maker FAQ How to use a pie maker?

There are a lot of options in the Lakeland range when it comes to finding the perfect cookie cutter. But there’s no need to get overwhelmed! Finally, the look of your pie making machine may also be a consideration. Some have a traditional vintage design, while others are more contemporary. Wattage This cutter provides a little versatility when it comes to cutting pie crusts and pasta, with both a straight-cutting wheel as well as a fluted cutting wheel for a slightly more decorative cut. It's suitable for slicing through pie dough, pasta, or any other relatively thin or lightweight pastry dough like puff pastry or Danish dough. This is my favorite, tried-and-true pie crust. It’s buttery, flaky, and holds its shape in the oven. But if you prefer an all butter pie crust or want to use store-bought dough, that’s fine too.

If you have any experience molding fondant decorations into silicone molds, you've already got a good idea of how easy it is to produce impressive 3-dimensional shapes this way. Williams Sonoma has created a silicone mold specifically for molding pie crust strips, outfitted with five designs that would otherwise be difficult and time-consuming to create by hand. Karen Resta, the original author of this roundup, is a writer specializing in food culture and history, cooking, pastries, and restaurants. She's also a former pastry chef and has traveled to Budapest, Kyiv, and Paris during their fashion weeks as a photographer and writer, always finding the best authentic pastries along the way. She now spends a lot of her free time baking at home and recommends quality within your given budget. Having the right tools available and knowing how to use them well (it can take practice, like anything else) makes all the difference, and she curated this list with that in mind. The instructions suggest using this like a large cookie cutter—by pressing it into the rolled-out dough from above. But we found this method didn't cleanly cut through all of the dough without an extreme amount of pressure. Instead, we laid our dough over the cutter and gently rolled it with a flat rolling pin, cleanly pressing the lattice shape into the dough from below and making perfectly clean cuts. Not only was the lattice pattern crisp and elegant, but the resulting pie baked up with a delicate lattice crust that was as beautiful as it was crispy. We used this fluted pastry wheel to cut strips of dough for a lattice-top pie, and were impressed with the durability of the cutter overall and the stability of the wheel itself. There wasn't any excessive wobbling of the wheel while cutting, and it rolled cleanly through chilled pie dough without needing to push too hard into the dough. It's also easy to control to keep it cutting straight, which is ideal for people who prefer to free-cut their dough instead of using a straight edge as a guide.