What's an Ugly Crust Pie?
The MidPoint Cafe on Route 66 has always been lucky to have accomplished bakers work at the cafe, turning out pies just like Grandma used to make. Gwen Snyder of Vega, who worked in cafes all along Route 66 from Amarillo, Texas to San Jon, New Mexico, worked in the cafe for years until arthritis took its toll and she could no longer bake.
As a friendly gesture, Joann H. offered to help with baking duties. Joann had always enjoyed baking and the opportunity to do something she loved was an attractive offer. Little did she know that “baking pies” meant making from 10 to 20 pies per day!
Joann had a recipe handed down to her from her Grandmother Glenn for the best pie crust ever; a recipe Grandma called “No-Fail Pie Crust.” The crust recipe did not fail…it was consistently great. The only problem was that Joann could NOT seem to make her crusts as beautifully shaped as she remembered her grandmother doing…they were misshapen, lumpy, and UGLY.
Instead of taking the time to learn the art of pie-crust shaping (after all, we have to turn out a lot of pies!), Joann simply started calling her pies the “Ugly Crusts” and let it go as that…really ugly crusts, but really great tasting pies!
The name has stuck, and after many years of baking pies, the crusts have gotten a little less ugly, but they still are not as pretty as Grandma Glenn’s were!
