Ladybug Book #4: Ugly Pie

Primary grade students have heard a story about an ugly pie and Ol' Bear's quest to gather the ingredients. The author, Lisa Wheeler, wrote Ugly Pie in a regional dialect. Words like Ol', hankerin', and taste-bud-temptin' made for some interesting discussion about the purpose of apostrophes in words along with a quick review of contractions. The illustrator, Heather Solomon, used interesting art techniques like drawing Ol' Bear five times on the same page to show that he's traveling down a path in the woods.

At the end of the story came the recipe for Ugly Pie! Most children knew what it was just from looking at the formatting of the text! A quick email to Lisa Wheeler gave us permission to reproduce the (copyrighted) recipe here in case you want to try it at home with your children. If you make it, leave a comment to let us know how it was! By the way, the author reports "The pie is yummy. Tastes kind of like carmel apple."

If you've been itchin' for some Ugly Pie, today is your lucky day! 

Here's Ol' Bear's recipe, handed down from bear to bear for generations. 

Recipe for Ugly Pie  

Ugly Crust 

2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup lard (or shortening)
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 to 8 tablespoons icy cold water (brrrrr) 

First, mix together the flour and salt. Then, using a fork, cut little chunks of that ugly lard into your flour until you get what looks like itty-bitty pea-sized balls. Set aside half this mixture in another bowl for later. Next, sprinkle 1 tablespoon of icy cold water over those pea-sized balls. Gently toss it with a fork. Repeat until your flour mixture forms an ugly ball of dough 

Spread a little bit of flour on a flat surface (like your kitchen counter). Pat that ball of ugly dough down like you mean business. Then roll it with a rolling pin until it becomes a flat, ugly crust. It doesn't matter if it looks nice and round and pretty. This is Ugly Pie! Place in a 9" deep-dish pie plate. 

Ugly Filling 

6 cups peeled, sliced Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup molasses
1 teaspoon lemon juice 

In a large bowl, toss apple slices with lemon juice. Then mix in molasses until apples are completely coated with ugly brown goo. Set aside. 

5 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar 

In a medium-sized bowl, mix the dry ingredients listed above. Add to the ugly apple mixture until everything is nice 'n' moist. 

3/4 cup red raisins or cran-raisins
1/4 walnuts chopped fine 

Toss raisins and walnuts into apple mixture. Make sure all ingredients are well coated. Place into pie crust. Your pie should look fairly ugly by now. 

Ugly Topping 

Take the crumbly flour mixture you set aside earlier. Sprinkle over the top of the pie. 

Cover the pie with an aluminum foil tent to prevent overbrowning. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20 minutes. 

When your pie is done, you will have the most delicious, most beautiful UGLY PIE you ever saw!

reprinted with permission from Ugly Pie by Lisa Wheeler, illustrated by Heather Solomon.  Thanks for showing kids an example of copyright in action!