Apple Pie

There is nothing more traditional than apple pie for the holidays!  Although there are tons and tons of similar recipes for apple pie, I always like to try and change things up a bit.  After a few years of baking and playing around with recipes, I have finally made up the one that I love and constantly use!


For apple pies I typically create a lattice design out of the dough.  However, I completely blanked on taking a decent picture of the finished product, so one of the photos is of an apple pie I made, while the other is a blueberry pie, but it shows the lattice design.

Warm Apple Pie

Ingredients:

5 apples (Gala and/or Braeburn - I usually use either 3 Gala and 2 Braeburn or the other way around)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon cornstarch 

Butter

Lemon juice

Pie Crust:

3 cups flour

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, diced

1/3 cup vegetable shortening, chilled

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar 

6-8 tablespoons ice water

*Make sure all ingredients are cold before making dough! If you do not feel like making your own dough, the Pillsbury piecrust work beautifully as well. 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  If making dough, combine flour, sugar, and salt.  Add butter and shortening until the dough starts to crumble together.  If you do not have a food processor then it is easier to use a fork to mix the ingredients.  Add a tablespoon of water at a time until the dough sticks together and you are able to roll it into a ball.  Refrigerate while prepping the apples. 

Peel, cut, and core apples and place in a bowl.  Add a little lemon juice to help keep the apples from browning.  Set bowl aside. 

In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, spices, and salt together.  Now, take out your dough and cut it in half.  Roll out one half of the dough and place in an 8-inch pie pan.  Trim away the excess dough, but make sure to leave enough of the dough just hanging over the edge of the pan.  

Take a little bit of the sugar and spice mix in your hands and sprinkle the bottom of the dough in the pie pan.  Then, add the remainder of the sugar and spice mix to your apples (save another little pinch of the mix to sprinkle on top later if you would like).  Stir the apples so that the sugar and spice mix spreads evenly.  Then, add one tablespoon of cornstarch to the mix.  If you want a very juicy pie, then do not add any cornstarch, but be forewarned that the pie will be messy.  If you want a more firm apple pie, then you can add a second tablespoon of cornstarch. 

Once the apples, sugar and spice mix, and cornstarch are all mixed together, it is time to pour them into the pie pan.  Make sure to spread apples evenly and close any air gaps the apples may create.  

Taking the second half of pie dough, roll it out and place on top of the apples.  Fold the excess dough underneath and decorate the pie as you wish.  Like I mentioned earlier, I prefer the lattice design, but you can also cut out leaf designs, or any other design you wish to create.  Once you are done with your dough, melt a little butter to brush over the top of your piecrust and add the remaining sugar and spice mix. 

Cut strips of aluminum foil and place around the edges of the pie so that the edge of the crust will not burn.  Place the pie in the oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes.  Remove the aluminum foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the apples are tender and the crust is a golden brown.  

Serve warm and enjoy! 

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