Apple Pie Recipe

An apple a day will keep the doctor away ... Try this delicious and healthy recipe...:)

Apple Pie Filling

Ingredients :

10 -12 newton pippin (preferred) or granny smith apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
2 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 - 1 cup sugar, depending on how tart the apples are.

1 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions:

Peel, core, and slice the apples 1/4 inch thick or use the apple peeler corer and place in a pot over low heat.
Mix the cinnamon, sugar and constarch in a bowl. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples and stir. Cover, simmer and stir occaisionally until apples are soft but not mushy. 20 to 25 minutes or more.

While the apples are cooking slowly, it's time to prepare the pie crust.
Don't be intimidated by homemade pie crusts. Your family and friends will be impressed if you just follow along with my apple pie recipe.
It's really easy if you know what to do and what to avoid. I will explain exactly how to do it.

The Pie Crust

Ingredients :

2 1/4 cups white flour, sifted twice
2/3 cup shortening, chilled
1 tsp. salt
6 - 8 tablespoons of ice water
9 inch pie plate

Directions:

Put the 8 tablespoons of water in a bowl, add 4 or 5 ice cubes and put in the refrigerator.

Make sure that your shortening is cool and not room temperature.

To make a flaky crust the shortening needs to be cool in the fridge for 15 - 20 minutes before using.

Double sift the flour. Take a sheet of wax paper and sift 3 cups of flour on to it.

Gently spoon flour into a one cup measuring cup. Level it off with a knife, and place this flour back into the sifter which is sitting in a large mixing bowl.

Continue measuring the other 1 1/4 cups into the sifter in the same way.
Be careful not to pack down the flour. We want it light and fluffly.

Add the salt on top of the flour and sift again into the large bowl.

Add the shortening to the bowl. With a pastry blender, cut the shortening into the flour until the particles are about the size of peas.

Now add 3 tablespoons of the ice water all over the dough. Mix lightly and quickly with a fork.

Then add one tablespoon at a time and mix again until all the flour is moistened.

If it looks like you need more moisture you can add up to 7 or 8 tablespoons of water.

The mixture should be neither dry and crumbly nor wet and sticky.

Stir with a fork until it forms a dough and almost cleans the sides of the bowl.

Press the dough into a ball with your hands. Cut the dough in half with one half a slightly bigger than the other.

Place the half for the top crust in the bowl and cover it with a damp paper towel (use cold water). This will keep the dough from drying out.

Sprinkle flour lightly over your pastry cloth and place the dough in the center. Push down on the dough with the palm of your hand to flatten it into a circle.

Rub flour over rolling pin and begin rolling. Always roll from the center of the dough out, lifting the rolling pin at the end. Make your dough the same thickness throughout, between 1/16 and 1/8 inch thick. If the edges split, use your fingers to push the egdes together.

Use your 9 inch pie plate as a guide for size. Roll the bottom dough a good inch wider than the pie plate. The dough needs to be big enough to come up the sides of the pie plate.

When the dough is the correct size, pick up the dough and place it into the pie plate so that it covers the plate. If the dough hangs over the edge of the plate more than an inch, trim it off using your fingers.

Add the cooked apple mixture to the dough. Mound the mixture up in the center of the pie.
Dot with butter, say a tablespoon or two worth on the apples.

Take your second pie dough that was covered in the bowl and roll it out the same as above. Make sure the dough is a little larger than the pie plate.

Fold the dough into quarters , take a butter knife and make three 1 inch slits one inch apart in the folded ends of the dough. These slits allow steam to escape. Also don't cut the slits too close to the edge of the pie as pie juice will leak out.

Pick up the dough and cover the top.bIf the top crust hangs over the edge of the pie more than an inch trim with your fingers. Seal the edge of the pie by tucking the top crust under the bottom crust to seal the edge and keep the juices in.

Place 2 inch wide strips of foil around the edge of the pie. This area of the pie always tends to get more done before the rest of the pie is cooked.

Put the pie on a cookie sheet in a 425 degree oven. Cook for about 50 minutes total.
Remove the foil strips after the first 30 minutes so that the edges will brown nicely. Bake till pie is a nice golden brown.