I am in charge of props for a stage production for my daughter’s drama club. I’d like to get your advice for two of those props.

1-Pie Crust Dough. This does not need to be edible. The actor will be rolling out the dough with my French rolling pin. The director suggested we use homemade play doh for the pie crust dough, but I don’t like the smell and don’t want my French rolling pin to become contaminated, plus, it tends to get crumbly and make a mess. I want something that holds together while it is being worked, otherwise we’ll have a mess all over the stage. I was thinking perhaps marshmallow fondant. Thoughts?  I’m actually not sure why we don’t just use real pie crust dough made with shortening, so I’ll have to ask the director about that. Maybe it will be too greasy. Hmm, now that I think about it, the actor might not have time to wash her hands, so it should be something clean. Any ideas?

2-Cherry Lattice Pie-Needs to be fake so we don’t have a mess. Won’t need to be cut. I could do salt dough, but that tends to shrink and crack, and I’ve not worked with it much. I saw one online that used Crayola Model Magic, but that stuff is really expensive. We are a homeschool group with a tiny budget.  (The inside can be styrofoam to take up excess space.) I was also thinking marshmallow fondant for the pie as I know it will dry hard and not crack. Not sure if it shrinks, though. I don’t want the pie falling out of the pie pan during the show. About 10 years ago I made that circus cake in my gallery. The animals were made from fondant, but not sure if it was MMF. my mom saved them in her curio cabinet and, surprisingly, they are still in great condition. Also, what would I use on the cherries to make them look shiny, like a real cherry pie? What about the sheen on the pie crust?

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much!

Interesting requests - sorry I can't help much :(  The only thing I'm thinking you can use to make the cherries shine is some piping gel.  Maybe just get one of those little tubes of red gel?  I've not used marshmallow fondant - just Wilton's plain and it didn't crack on me at all - as you notice on the things you made yrs ago - it works great, easy for rolling out. It might depend on how humid your area is. To color it use a very lightly smear of some unsweetened cocoa powder?   Then if you want a glaze on it use uncolored piping gel.  It will eventually dry.  Yrs ago I made some church windows - I think on some hard plastic - and after a week or two the stopped being sticky.   Then there are recipes for 'salt dough' that might work for you.  You mix salt, flour and water but I don't  remember exactly the order or amounts.  Hope this helps some.

kakeladi/Lynne

I've used a salt dough for yrs.  It dries rock hard when dry but is plyable for molding.  If  you're interested it can be found on the internet or message me - Ill send it to you.

I’m sorry! I thought I responded, guess it was just in my mind. 

thank you for your response.