Apple Pie from Scratch

One down side of renovating your house while still living in it is the dust. The film on the kitchen counters has discouraged me from cooking these past couple of months. Well now that the dust is finally settling... I'm Back! You can expect to see more weekly recipe posts. And what better way to kick start Election Day than with an all American homemade Apple Pie!

What you'll need..

Pie Filling:

6 cups of thinly sliced apples
3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
few shakes of nutmeg
1 tablespoon of diced unsalted butter

Pie Crust (the below makes ONE pie crust. For an apple pie you will need two pie crusts. I usually make each crust one at a time):

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups chilled Crisco
4 to 5 tablespoons of iced water

1 tablespoon of milk

1 tablespoon of diced unsalted butter

Peel and thinly slice apples. Combine sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and gently fold into apples. Add 1 tablespoon of diced butter to the apples. Place apples in the fridge while you assemble the pie crusts.

Sift flour & salt in a bowl. Dice chilled Crisco and add to flour and salt. Using two knives "cut" the flour and crisco together until it resembles the consistency of cornmeal.

Using a fork, gently work the water through the flour crisco mixture. Add each of the 4 to 5 tablespoons of iced water on at a time (its very important to use iced water).

Empty contents of bowl onto a clean surface and form into a flat circle. Tip: the less you handle the dough with your hands the better and more flakey your crust will turn out

Roll out the dough to a little more than 1/8 of an inch. I use a spatula to loosen the dough from the surface. Use a rolling pin and spatula to carefully transfer the dough into a 9 inch pie plate.

Roll the pie crust out and into the pie plate. Gently press the crust down into the pie plate. I usually place the first crust in the fridge while I make the second crust. It's important to keep the dough cool - makes for a flakier crust.

After the second crust is completed, fill the pie plate with apple filling and gently cover with the second crust. Trim off any extra dough from the outer edges and pinch the top and bottom crusts together.

Sprinkle the top of the pie with a little milk and remaining tablespoon of diced butter. Cut a few air pocket holes in the center of the pie crust to release the steam while it bakes.

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. Turn down oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes (or until crust is golden brown and juices start to bubble). TIP: place some tin foil underneath the pie to catch any over flowing apple juices.

I think this pie is best served the day after it bakes at room temp with a scoop of chilled vanilla ice cream. Get in my belly!!! It's perfectly AMAZE-licious right out of the oven as well.