Apple Pie

I realize that it's not technically apple season but as I was driving over to Eastern Washington on Thursday, all the apple trees were in bloom and smelled heavenly. In honor of that, I would like to share with you my apple pie recipe, which I'm thinking of renaming "Miriam's All-Time Favorite Pie Ever" as my sister-in-law has told me that she could eat an entire pie at one go!



Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Apple Pie Filling:



5 or 6 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 TBSP flour



Mix everything together in a large bowl and let it macerate while you make the pie crust.



Pie Crust: for those of you brave enough to try your hand at making your own!
2 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 cup shortening
1/3 cup ICE water



Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the shortening til the mixture resembles coarse crumbs then add the ICE water. Work dough together but DO NOT overwork it! You'll probably want to chill the dough for a couple hours before dividing into two equal balls. Roll out one on a floured surface, then place in a pie pan. Place filling in pan, dot the fruit with 2 TBSP of cold butter that have been cut into little pieces and then top with second rolled out disk of pie dough. Crimp edges together and cut vents in the top so steam can escape as it bakes. Don't worry about how it looks, really, as long as the filling's not oozing all over the place.



Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes then lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake an additional 40 minutes or so.



Cook's Notes:



1. I like to use a couple of varieties of apples as you get some different flavors. I love green Granny Smiths because of the tartness; I also like Braeburn, Gala and Fuji.



2. The butter pats on top of the filling will do two things; first, it adds a little richness to the filling and second, as the cold butter melts, the steam helps give a nice lift to the top crust.



3. Pie crust isn't scary! I promise. There are just a couple things to remember; Crisco is less expensive than butter and tastes just fine but chill it first so you'll have a lovely, flaky crust. By all means use butter, but keep in mind that it's quite finicky particularly for beginners and again, expensive. I also capitalized ICE water. The easiest way to do this is to fill a glass measuring cup with ice and water before you begin and then measure out the 1/3 cup of water that you need. The way you get a flaky pie crust is by keeping your shortening and your water COLD and by not overworking your dough. See, as you mix the flour and the fat, you make lots of little layers and when those layers start heating up, the water in the fat releases steam. The steam evaporates and leaves these teeny tiny layers of crust which are nice and flaky. You want that in pastries; not so much in a boyfriend! Or any friend, I should say.



4. Most importantly--your hands come clean. Get in there (with clean hands!) and TOUCH YOUR FOOD. As long as you have proper hygiene, you and your food will be fine, but you need to know what pie dough feels like so that if it's too dry, you can add a touch more water or if it's too wet when you're rolling it out, you throw some more flour on it.



Eat well,
Holly

***the pie pictured is actually strawberry-rhubarb but I included it to show you more or less what your finished product ought to look like.