You must be desperate to trust Yahoo :)

WRT baking mix: I haven't used it much, but if the source of the recipe says self-rising flour is OK I'd be willing to give it a shot one time just to see if they know what they're talking about.

Really though - sour cream apple pie? I admit my bias against sour cream, but even if it weren't there I'd have second thoughts.

That said, I hope it works out for you. Good luck.

I'm pretty sure that self-rising flour can be used as a substitute 90% of the time. How lucky do you feel?

Could you just leave the cream outside for a few days to make it sour ;-)

but even if it weren't there

Referring to my distaste for sour cream, rather than the sour cream itself. I need to go to bed.

Yeah, bmarkey, I really, really should make regular apple pie... but my well-documented crustophobia (paralyzing fear of making pie crust) forbids it.

I'm not sure how lucky I feel, dg. I am usually pretty lucky, but I don't feel like I have much bakers' juju. I can make nice dessert breads (banana bread, carrot bread, gingerbread), but beyond that I'm sort of out of my depth.

I also really wanted to make this Almond Polenta Tart with Caramelized Pears & Cherries, but of course I have no tart pan with a removable bottom. Or even a stationary bottom. And it also calls for sour cream or crème fraiche.

NEVER FAIL PIE CRUST

1 c. lard or other hard shortening
1/2 c. boiled water
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. baking powder

Pour boiling water over lard. Add other ingredients then store in refrigerator until chilled before using.

For the sour cream, blend full-fat Greek yoghurt with cottage cheese.

I have nothing constructive to add, except that now I want apple pie for breakfast.

also, baking mix like bisquick is usually just a replacement for the one tsp. of salt and one tsp. of baking powder necessary. you might be able to use butter, softened, instead of lard. i dunno.

LOLs! Taz doesn't have a stationary bottom! How did it work out?? (The pie)

"... Yeah, bmarkey, I really, really should make regular apple pie... but my well-documented crustophobia (paralyzing fear of making pie crust) forbids it. ..."

Courage, woman. Pie crusts are 10 minute tasks for young children. With a food processor, make that 2 minutes. The butter/shortening/lard debate rages on, but frankly, fat is pretty much fat, insofar as pie crust is concerned. Animal fats can stand a bit more salt, and sometimes are more savory, but I've used vegetable shortening at one time or another in every pie crust recipe I've ever tried. And I've tried, and been successful with dozens of variations on the basic flour/fat/salt/ice water concoction, since I was about 10 years old.

I'll probably make it tomorrow, as it turns out... since we seem to have no money on hand at the moment, but plenty of food in the house for today's meals (so I don't feel like going to the ATM).

Normally I don't really make desserts, as we seem to manage to get plenty of calories without :), and since I'm no baker. But I have clean plates sitting here that belong to my nice neighbors who make me food, so I want to return them with something yummy on them. So, I'm also up for new ideas - but as you can tell, ingredients must be pretty fundamental, since we don't have most convenience and/or exotic ingredients. Or even some things that aren't either, but just aren't part of the Greek cuisine scene.

Paulsc, the ingredients are probably the easiest bit... it's the rolling out and cutting and flouring and lifting and putting in and blah, blah that completely intimidate me. And also, of course, my window of patience for any kind of baking effort is pretty small.

and Wilder, I'm afraid my bottom is rather more stationary than it should be! ay-yi-yi.

"... it's the rolling out and cutting and flouring and lifting and putting in and blah, blah that completely intimidate me. ..."

Put a piece of waxed paper down. Sprinkle a large pinch of flour around the middle of it. Plop down your cold, flattened pie dough (I rest mine in the fridge for as long as it takes to peel apples and make the filling, but I also keep my flour and lard in my freezer, so the dough is pretty cold when I make it). Sprinkle another pinch of flour on top of the dough. Plop down another piece of waxed paper on top of everything.

Roll out with a rolling pin, or even a drinking glass. It doesn't have to be perfect. It doesn't have to even be particularly round. You can fill in any cracks with pieces of dough you pull off that stick out more than the rest. The wax paper makes it so easy to transfer to the pie pan that I've done it with one arm in a full hand-to-shoulder cast.

Literally, 3 minutes to roll out a pie crust, another 3 for the top crust, if you're making a double crust pie, and another 2 minutes to flute the edges! This is so not rocket science, taz.

So, maybe 4-5 minutes to mix, tops, in a food processor, and then another 8 to roll out, fill and flute the edges, plus whatever time it takes you to peel, core and slice 6 apples and throw a little sugar, butter and cinammon on 'em. If I wouldn't weigh 400 pounds pretty quick, I'd have pie for dessert 3 times a day!

Can u haz crème fraîche there, taz? It can go in for sour cream in most recipes.

Half and half oughtta be easy, just half milk, half cream, right? Sour cream? I've never, ever, not once seen it here. So I'm thinking about doing this.

I think milk fat % are different in the US to Europe. You should look up the % of various dairy products, and simply mix milk and cream to make the same % as US half and half. Note: I think I did this once before, and the proportion wasn't exactly 50 / 50.

Sour cream is really soured cream. I make it all the time (for my feeble pseudo-mexican stuff), by just acidulating single cream with lemon or lime juice (you don't need to add much). Just stir in the juice and it thickens up super fast. That genuinely is all sour cream is. Seriously - that is it.

For the sour cream, blend full-fat Greek yoghurt with cottage cheese.

AAAAAAAAAARGH.... *runs away*