Agreed. Crumbles can also have some really nice texture you can’t get with a pie. The crust on the bottom is always blah. I like the idea of a combo- lattice crust and crumble. Then you get the yummy bit of the crust!
I found this amusing and am definitely on the potatoes with texture side of the spectrum: How to make mashed potatoes better: there is only one difference between decent and shockingly good.
Literally means “melting”, it’s cutting potatoes until they look like scallops (the meat, not the shell), searing both flat sides on the stovetop, then cooking in an oven in a pan of butter, herbs and stock until they’re cooked and have absorbed a lot of stock. My first time making them, but they came out pretty tasty.
Wait, is everyone talking about streusel here? 
A fruit crumble or crisp is a fruit filling, similar to a pie filling, baked in a dish with a topping of oats, butter, flour, sugar and other mix-ins of choice. There is no bottom crust. You could use a streusel as your topping if you wanted. Sometimes people use a bottom crust but top the pie with streusel instead of a top crust. They can be called crumb-topped or “Dutch” style pies.
No pies, but making a pineapple no-bake cheesecake. Tasty!
Pie crust anxiety and avoidance today. Still not over the catastrophic failure of both my (up to then) reliable pie crust recipe AND my attempt at an emergency cookie crumb crust a few Xmases ago. Tomorrow I will have to breathe deeply and get on with it.
This is my grandmother’s recipe, which my mother has been making for longer than I’ve existed on this planet, and these rolls were always the highlight of Thanksgiving dinner growing up.
That’s a very old recipe, so allow me to translate a few things.
I have made this recipe once. I should really try again. I am a much more experienced baker now.
ETA: I forgot, you can substitute butter for the shortening.
No. I can’t.
We had this problem until we started using the pizza steel. If you have a pizza stone or steel, just put it in the oven while it preheats. When you put the pies in, it guarantees a nice bottom, IME.
Using cast iron, either as a pan for the pie, or upside down that you put your pie plate on, may do similarly.
Definitely better than nothing, but I’m not sure it would be as effective. I only say that because I’ve noticed when I preheat the oven with the pizza steel in it it takes much longer to reach temperature than when I preheat it with our large (12”) cast iron skillet in there, which is still longer than preheating empty.
Nicely scienced. I wonder if I put the cast iron grill and the big cast iron pan and the spare medium sized if it would equal a pizza steel.
Regarding the bottom crust, my gut tells me it’s about the thermal mass of the object (pizza steel in my case) the pie pans/cookie sheet is in contact with, so I’m not sure loading the oven with separate pieces would have the same effect. But it still helps even out the overall oven evenness.
Caveat: this is me trying to apply building science knowledge to the thermal dynamics in an oven, so take it with a grain of salt 
Ooh, you could also use one of those giant blocks of salt as thermal mass.
Well I didn’t mean you specifically, lol. One can substitute butter, or probably any fat or oil, in place of the shortening, if one so desires or needs to.
Squash rolls are nice. They’re lovely and golden and fit in with a harvest theme. More flavor than a standard dinner roll, but not stretching the category so much that people would think you’re trying to serve them something weird or sneak in extra vegetables when they aren’t looking. Just one extra ingredient that makes them a little more special.
Here’s a recipe that’s very close to the one that was given to me fifty years ago by the head cook at the summer camp where I cooked. This recipe uses less sugar than hers, and I’m sure one could use even less, depending on one’s own preference.
My recipe has you roll out the dough to 1-inch thick, cut with a floured round cutter, roll the edges of each in oil to prevent sticking together, and bake in a greased 9x13-inch pan.
Back then we used Hubbard squash, which was more common then/there, but any orange winter squash would be fine I’m sure. Fresh is best, of course, but I saw that my co-op sells canned butternut squash puree, right next to the canned pumpkin puree. (And I’m sure canned pumpkin puree would be fine too if that’s what one has on hand.)
Thank you for your translation.
Many recipes of my collection are worded like that.
Best to all grandmas for writing it down.
Even more “fool proof “ now.
I’m really glad Mindy asked for recipes, because I’m going to try to make those rolls again. The first time I tried, years ago, they didn’t turn out so great, but I’m a much more experienced and knowledgeable bread baker now. They will probably never taste as good as my mom’s, but if I can get close, I’ll be happy.
That looks interesting, too… also, it looks like I can make the dough ahead (today) and then just make them into rolls and bake them tomorrow… Although I wonder if I could do a rise, then prep them and put them in a pan into the fridge, so all I have to do is take them out, let them come up to room temp and then bake them? What you lot think of that?
So far, I just made the brine for the turkey - it just needs to cool so I can put it in a couple of bags with my turkey parts and I just took the cranberries off the stove so they need to cool too…
They do, but my family would revolt! We once made squash dumplings and then later that night we all got a stomach bug. My better half can’t stand the smell of butternut squash any more! The DO look yum!
