The pennies worked beautifully--thanks, hardlikearmour!

Not edible. I use marbles as pie weights, seems cleaner than pennies and they are reuseable forever.

Thanks, hardlikearmour--you can probably tell this will be my first pie crust--I hadn't read the recipe closely yet and didn't realise the weights went on top of foil. But I still like the idea of shiny pennies as weights, so thanks for the tip!

I guess if you wanted, you could put them in a mixture of white vinegar and table salt. It creates a dilute hydrochloric acid solution, and makes pennies look brand new again.

Nope. I line the crust with foil before putting the weights on them, so there is no direct contact. I figure they get pretty sterile whilst in the oven.

Thanks for the great advice, foodpicklers! Hardlikearmour, do you do anything in particular to clean the pennies before using them?

I can take no credit, got the idea from Cooks Illustrated. One of the reasons I love them as a resource - they are much smarter than I am!

Great idea, hardlikearmour -- thanks for the tip.

I like to use pennies as pie weights. Just collect a decent sized stash. They transfer heat better than rice or beans, and last forever.

I don't use them for cooking, but I do reuse them as pie weights -- they last for a long time this way. If you wanted to experiment with eating them post pie-weight, then I'd only do it with rice -- who knows, may taste toasted!

conventional wisdom is no, though I've cooked with beans before that were used that way. I'd recommend setting aside a stash of beans for pie weights if you don't feel inclined to buy a ceramic set.