Belated Pie and Cookies

I'm not so great at doing things in the right order, but hopefully this will be the last time I mess that up. Several weeks ago I brought home some fabulous fresh blackberries from work in hopes of making a pie. I love baking pies (lemon meringue, pumpkin, and blackberry are my favorite, but I haven't broadened my horizons as much as I should) and when I think of summer dessert, I always think of blackberry pie. Turns out I bought way more blackberries than I needed for just one pie, so, bummer!, I had to make two.
The first pie I made the way my dad usually does: buy some frozen pie crust and follow the recipe for blueberry pie on the back. Now this is a great pie. I'm all for frozen pie crusts, too. Nothing wrong with frozen food, people (this is directed towards Ray)! Anyway, so I made that pie for our housewarming party and it was a hit.
My wonderful ex-housemates gave me a nifty fruit desserts cook book for my birthday that I haven't tried out as much as I've wanted to, so for the second pie I went checked out the book. I found a yummy-looking recipe for marionberry pie and decided to sub blackberries. Marionberries are a variety of blackberries. I can't always tell the difference, but occasionally you can, and I prefer marionberry jam to blackberry. Point being, they are essentially interchangeable for pie. I decided to get fancy and not only make a pie with more ingredients that the first one (no nice, simple tapioca, instead corn starch and a variety of fancy other things), but I decided to get really wild and make my own crust. Oh man. So worth it. Now with pumpkin pies especially (or more savory pies), I think the frozen pie crust is fine, and even for not-as-savory pies. Still, if you're making a pie with fresh fruit or fresh anything (as opposed to canned pumpkin), fresh pie crust really makes it.
I've always been one of those kids who loved pie crust (my brother never did and still just scrapes out the filling from the crust), so combine that with my adoration for bread, this pie crust is out of control. the downside, of course, to making your own pie crust, is that cutting in cold butter is a hassle, and letting it chill FOREVER is equally annoying. I stuck my crust in the freezer for half the time instead of in the fridge and it worked just fine. I also made the mistake of starting the pie around 10 at night so it wasn't done until after midnight. Even then, I was too impatient to try it that I took it out a little early and it didn't thicken up all the way. Still, it was deeelicious.
After making the pies I felt the need for something else outrageously sweet so I made homemade oreos from Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/05/my-kingdom-for-a-glass-of-milk/ . I cooked them a little too long and they got very crispy/slightly burned, but it turned out to be kind of nice to have something really crunchy to munch on. Also I used about half the frosting. It's frighteningly sweet but tastes just like the inside of an oreo. I recommend these immediately.