CEDAR FALLS -- Sue Fletcher loves pie.

She loves talking about pies, reading pie recipes, listening to friends' stories about their favorite pies, eating pie, and especially baking pies.

Fletcher has compiled a "pie storybook," as she calls it, to indulge in her "A Slice of Life, As Sweet As Pie" that is filled with pie recipes, stories and photos submitted by friends.

"I love to try new pies -- what a great way to get to know someone. But in my wildest dreams, I couldn't have imagined the variety of pies that are in this cookbook, and the stories people shared are sad, funny and touching," says Fletcher.

Apple pie is a perennial favorite, Fletcher learned, and men especially love pie. "They seem to like raisin pie, and they like the bubbly edges of fruit pie," she says.

She learned to make pies from a woman she met in Bible study. "It was the best pie I'd ever tasted and I asked her to teach me how to make it. Then it became a quest to find the perfect pie crust recipe and bake all kinds of pies. We have pie almost every Sunday and I use my family as guinea pigs. We've had some great pies … and we've had some real rejects, too," she recalls, laughing.

A friend suggested she put pie recipes into a cookbook, and Fletcher sent out an e-mail appeal for submissions.

Pies are meant to be shared, and Fletcher is sharing the proceeds of the cookbook sales. For every $25 purchase, $17 goes to charity, selected from suggestions by recipe contributors. They include Cedar Bend Humane Society, Cedar Valley Hospice, Pathways Behavioral Services and YMCA Together We Play. For a complete list, visit sliceofpie/wordpress/com.

The cookbook can be ordered at the Web site or purchased at Iowa Bank locations in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, and Europa Cycle and Ski.

Here is Fletcher's favorite pie crust recipe, found in the November/December 2007 Cook's Illustrated. The secret ingredient? Vodka.

Foolproof Pie Dough

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon table salt

2 tablespoons sugar

12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1/2 cup vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces

1/4 cup cold vodka

1/4 cup cold water

Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt and sugar in food processor until combine, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 12 to 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour).

Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining 1 cup flour and pulse until evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses.

Empty mixture into bowl. Combine vodka and water. Sprinkle liquid over mixture. With rubber spatula or wooden spoon, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.

Divide dough into two even balls, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days. Freezes very well.