apple pie

last night i made an apple pie

my grandparents were in town last minute

and they came over for dessert.

apple pie is kinda my thing.

in college, i used this pie as currency.

i didn't have a washer/dryer back then,

but the 6 guys that lived down the block from me did!

i would exchange pies for laundry.

i'd do my laundry while the pie baked at their house.

no pie experience is complete without the smell of it baking included.

it never fails me.

so here's the recipe!

first you need a pie crust.

sometimes i use the pre-made, frozen kind.

it works fine.

but last night i went all out and made pie crust.

two batches.

since the first one was complete crap and wouldn't roll out.

c'est la vie.

here's the pie crust recipe:

3c. flour

1/2tsp salt

1 1/4c. shortening

1 egg, beaten

6Tbsp ice cold water

1tsp vinegar (i use apple cider vinegar. obvi.)

Mix the flour and salt together, then cut in the shortening (it tastes better if you use butter instead of Crisco) using a pastry blender (shown below). Stir together the egg, water, and vinegar. Add the liquids to the flour mixture. Mix the dough together with your hands until the dough just sticks together. (don't over mix, or the crust will get too gluey. you're going for flaky here.) Roll out the dough using a lot of flour, then place the crust in a 9" pie pan that you've dusted with flour. Turn the edges under and use your fingers or a fork or whatever to make the edge pretty.

You can use this crust for any pie. It's supposed to make two pie crusts, but I can never get enough of the dough to mix together to make two crusts without seriously over-kneading it. Maybe you'll have better luck than me.

carnations making a comeback.

now for the pie.

Apple Crumb Pie

4-5 medium apples (i've used Gala, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp...something sweet-tart will be fine)

1 9" pie crust

1tsp cinnamon

1/2c sugar

Peel and slice the apples. (usually i don't peel fruits and veggies. all my mashed potatoes are peels-on. i never peel cucumbers. but trust me. you should peel these apples.) Arrange the apples however you want in the pie crust. If they're heaping up into a giant mound, that's okay. It'll make the crumb topping a little tricky to put on, but the apples will bake down and be just as delicious. Then sprinkle the apples with a mixture of the cinnamon and sugar.

Crumb Topping:

1/2c sugar

3/4c flour

1/3c butter

Cut the butter into the sugar & flour using a pastry blender. It should look sorta crumbly. (hence the name) Then sprinkle the crumb topping over the apples, being sure to cover most of the apples (the crumb topping will stay where you put it...so be sure you get good coverage).

Bake at 450-degrees for 10 minutes (to brown the crumb topping a little), then reduce the oven temp to 325-degrees and bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.

crumb topping. before it's mixed.

what the crumb topping should look like post-mixing.

how bout them apples?

my pie. before the crumb topping went on.

 sometimes, if i have scraps of pie crust dough left,

i'll roll it out and sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar

then bake it for 5 minutes or so

to have a snack.

(:

crust scraps. delicious.

 this is the part where i feel the need to point out what a terrible blogger i am.

since i failed to take a photo of my fully assemble pie

either before baking it,

or after it was done.

but clearly it was good.

this pie pan is ginormous.

so i fed 6 people off half of a pie.

and now there is some left for ME.

enjoy!

and be warned.

this pie will take you places.

mark my words.