Pie Pleasure

I adore apple pie. I hardly bake but I don't mind contributing this dessert to a gathering. The only time I'll get messy in a kitchen is to create a dish I want to devour. In the name of sweets, sharing is caring – Follow the easy recipe below to make this super-satisfying treat. (I don't know the origin of the recipe so I can't credit it. The directions for the filling are from a family friend but I don't know how she got them. The step-by-step instructions are written in my own words.)  Enjoy!  

9 inch pie

Pie Filling

- 6 small Macintosh apples

- ¾ cup of sugar

- ¼ cup of flour

- ½ stick of butter

- a bit of salt

- a small amount of vanilla extract 

- as much cinnamon as you want 

Pie Crust

- 2 cups of flour

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- ¾ cup of Cristco

- 6 tablespoons of water

First thing: Heat oven at 400 degrees.

Filing

- Peel apples. A peeler is the easiest/safest way to accomplish this but a knife also gets the job done.

 - Cut the apples. Fastest way is with a manual apple-slicer where you place the ring in the middle around the apple core and then push down. 

- Place all the apple pieces in a bowl that's big enough to stir them around in without overflowing.

- Cut the apple pieces. The slicer will leave you with big chunks – cut those in half.

- Pour (in any order) the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and drop in the butter. 

* I loveee cinnamon so I pour in a lot. Even when I'm done pouring, I add more. If you enjoy this spice, I suggest you get shaker-happy as well. *

-  Mix everything with a spoon until all the apple pieces are covered with brown goo. (Make sure you break down and spread out all the butter.)

Crust

- Pour the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. 

(If you don't have a mixer or prefer the manual method, no biggie – just stir everything.)

- Set the mixer at a medium speed and add in the Crisco chunk by chunk.

- The flour will start clumping in little balls. Turn the mixer off and mix the flour with your hand so that all of it is moistened with Crisco. 

- Set the mixer at a low speed and add the water slowly, pouring it in different spots so that all the dough is wet asap.

- Turn the mixer off when most of the dough has balled up. Clump the rest of the dough together by hand.

- Break the dough ball in half.

- Dust flour all over a large piece of wax paper and place one of the dough balls on the paper.

- Dust the dough ball with flour and put another large piece of wax paper on top.

- Flatten the dough with a rolling pin until it’s big enough to cover the bottom and edges of the pie plate. (I use a glass one.)

 - Remove the dough from the wax paper and place it in the pie plate. 

Pour the filling in the pie plate/on top of the bottom-crust. Spread it so that it is level to the top of pie plate (meaning don't let it sit in a massive tall mound).  

 - Repeat the dough-flattening procedure. Make sure the second ball of dough becomes expansive enough to cover the pie and tuck into the edges of the bottom-crust.

- Make slits in the middle of the top-crust with a knife, like 5 of them. (The insides need to breathe while baking.)

- Pinch and roll the edges of the top-crust and bottom-crust together.

- Press down the dough around the whole pie with a fork.  

- Cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil (to prevent burning the crust).

Bake for 30-35 minutes. (Time varies depending on the power of your oven. It also depends on how crispy you want the pie. I like soft crust so I proclaim the pie to be done when the crust is golden in the middle. More brown means more crunch.) 

 

                               Pie 1 - for me 

 

                               Pie 2 - for the fam

* My pies always have uneven lumpy crusts. I don't see the need for precision when it comes to pie. No matter the presentation, they taste amazing! * 

(all photo cred to me)