[Photograph: Williams Sonoma]

This lattice pie mold ($9.95 from Williams Sonoma) isn't the first such mold that Williams Sonoma has created. It follows the apple shape, the star, the heart—all things that were amazingly cute, but amazingly unpractical in my humble opinion. With this addition, I finally saw some functionality come into the picture: The basic shape is universal enough for savory and sweet pies, empanadas, mini calzones, and so on. And if it could do all that, I'd be a happy little chef.

The mold has two cutters on each outer side, one with a plain fluted round and the other with diamond cutouts in the same shape. One of each creates the bottom and top crusts of a lattice pie, but two bottoms can also make one sealed treat. When you flip open the mold, two circles on the inside have crimped edges to sandwich your pie halves into a whole.

Now, I'll confess: I love making lattice tops. Love, love, love weaving dough. But you know what else I love? Having really nice looking shortcuts for those days where there aren't enough hours, or for when guests appear out of nowhere, or when the kitchen is simply too damn hot to function properly. Maybe this toy is only for the latter occasions, but at just under $10, it might just make me look like a super savvy hostess even on days when I don't have the most-est.

In theory, that is. In reality, my store bought shortcut doughs were too sticky, even fresh out of the fridge, to cut lattice tops with. Each diamond would stick to the rest of the mass, not coming out cleanly or beautifully. Chalk it up to a warm apartment, but even denser doughs required a little nitpicking, and I had to roll out the doll in between each set since they're a little on the large side. That aside, my real gripe had to do with the inner function: sealing. Since the same diameter is used for all four sides of the mold, there's no accounting for the natural shrinkage that happens when you stuff your pie—even minimally—with deliciously caramelized fruit. The dough doesn't quite reach the edges, and no matter how aggressively you push it shut, it won't crimp cleanly—sometimes it'll stick or stretch on the way out, too.

My two solutions? Saran Wrap the inside of the mold for easy pie removal, and stretch the circles before stuffing them to account for their literal shortcomings. I'll offer a third for the laziest (er, shortest on time) of you: only use the bottoms. I hate it when gadgets need trickery to work best, but I'll keep this one in my pantry—for emergencies only!