Golden Leaves for Your Pie

What you need

• Ready-made pie crust dough, 1
• Flour, for dusting
• Rolling pin, 1
• Leaf-shaped cookie cutter, 1 (optional)
• Paper, 1 sheet for a leaf template (optional)
• Butter knife, 1
• Eggs, 1, beaten
• Sugar, a little
• Pastry brush, 1
• Baking tray, 1
• Parchment paper, to line the tray
• Oven mitts
• A baked pie, store-bought or homemade, 1

How to do it

Grown-up prep: Have a finished pie ready to decorate, set out the dough and tools, and stay close by for the oven parts.

1. Look at your pie together. How many leaves will it take to cover the whole top?
2. A grown-up preheats the oven to 375°F. A grown-up does this
3. Dust the counter with flour and roll the crust as thin as a coin.
4. Cut out about 20 leaves with a cutter or paper template, enough to cover the top of your pie.
5. Press leaf veins into each leaf with the back of the knife. Ask for help if you need it
6. Line the tray with parchment paper and lay your leaves on it.
7. Brush each leaf with beaten egg, then sprinkle on a little sugar.
   Ask: What do you think the egg will do to the leaves in the hot oven?
8. Bake at 375°F for 8 to 10 minutes, until golden. A grown-up does this
9. Let the leaves cool, then look closely at how they changed.
   Ask: How are your baked leaves different from the soft dough you started with?
10. Lay the leaves all over the top of your pie until it is covered.
11. Taste one leaf! What shapes will you make for the next pie?
    Ask: If you could bake any shape to top a pie, what would you choose?

Play it again

• Shape swap: bake stars, hearts or snowflakes to match the season.
• Pattern challenge: design a leaf pattern on paper first, then copy it exactly on the pie.
• Snack stack: bake extra leaves with cinnamon sugar just for nibbling.