Apple Pie

Yum! Good old fashioned homemade apple pie! The kids and I made this yesterday for Dad's Day. The recipe is at the very end.

To butter the pie plate, I just take a cold stick of butter cut in half and smear it around all over in the pan. Then I use a pastry brush to make sure that I've got the butter all over the pan.

Then I take a big blop of flour and shake it all around the pan and discard the excess.

Let the pie crust sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. It rolls much easier. But then let it sit out for 2 minutes so it's not quite so hard.

After I roll it out, I place the pie plate on top and cut around the edge with a paring knife, leaving about a 1-2 inch border, depending on how deep your pie plate it.

My three little taste testers. They have to make sure that everything is just right......several times!!

Getting ready to mix the spices in with the apples.

Caught red handed snatching an apple....I mean, tasting an apple to make sure it's ok! (I'm lucky there's any apples left!) To put the pastry in the pan, I fold it in half on the table and it's much easier to pick up to place in the pan.

With the filling in and the top draped on top. I like to leave long edges so that when I fold them under, the filling won't leak out the bottom.

After folding under the edges, I crimp the edges and make slits in the top for ventilation.

I have these nifty pie edge covers, to prevent over browning. I just spray them with Pam so they won't stick, but if you don't have these, you can simply use foil to wrap the edges.

Here's the 'lucky it ended up a pie after the taste testers tasted everything....and tasted and tasted and tasted' end product. I got the top slightly over brown for my liking, but the hubby taster likes it that way and says it's perfect; and since it was for him I'll take it!

Double Crust Pastry:

2 1/4 C. all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 T. sugar

2/3 C. shortening

9-11 T. cold milk

In a bowl, stir together the flour, salt and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening until you have small crumbs and everything looks 'wet'.

Sprinkle 1 T. at a time of milk over the mixture and toss it with a fork after each T. I usually end up using 11 T. of milk because I like mine a little bit moister.

Split the mixture in half and place each half in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Let it rest for 2 minutes after taking it out of the fridge. Roll out and place in the pie plate.

Pie Filling:

6 C. sliced apples, about 1/4 inch thick (I use 7-8 medium sized apples)

1 T. lemon juice (optional)

1/2 C. white sugar

1/4 C. brown sugar, packed

2 T. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Milk

Sugar

Place apple slices in a large bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice to keep from browning, if desired. Add white sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg. Toss to coat. Transfer apple mixture to the pastry lines pie plate.

Roll out the second pastry and cut slits in it for ventilation. Place on top of the apples and tuck both pastry edges under. Crimp edges. If desired, brush milk on the top and sprinkle sugar on the milk. This will make help the pastry brown and make it a little sweeter. Cover edges with foil.

Bake at 375º for 40 minutes. Remove foil. Bake 20 minutes more or until fruit is tender and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Mine usually takes 10-15 minutes less, so watch it close that last 20 minutes.

Keeping Things Yummy!

Jess