Back-up Pie

I used to bake a lot. Now I don't. And this puts me in the funny position of thinking of myself as a baker, but without the frequent baking experience that makes me confident something will turn out well. I decided to bake two desserts for Thanksgiving, and got the cake made without incident. The pie, however, resulted in a freak-out. After I made the crust, I started thinking about how much I hate blind-baking crusts (fear of shrinkage ...) and then became convinced that the pie was going to be a disaster. And I hadn't made enough dough to start over if disaster struck. As a result of all my freaking-out, my husband ended up going to get a pie at the grocery store. From my perspective, this was a desperate move — who serves grocery store pie at Thanksgiving? But once I had my back-up pie, I got over my fear and made the pie. It wasn't perfect — the crust seemed too buttery when I baked it off, I probably should have baked it longer, and it wasn't great in the end — but the pie was still pretty good.

Now I've committed myself to making three dozen cupcakes in a few days, and am having second thoughts about that.