Apple Pie

My family went apple picking a couple of weekends ago and I have since been a pie making machine! I made 4 pies this weekend!! Here is how I do apple pie:

I used the same crust that I used for my strawberry rhubarb pie, from America's Test Kitchen. Start by combining 1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 tablespoon of salt in a medium mixing bowl.

Press 6 tablespoons of butter into the flour mixture with a fork. The butter should be chilled a cut into smaller cubes.

Press in 1/4 cup of vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces.

Then, mix in 2 tablespoons of vodka and 2 tablespoons of cool water. When I posted about this exact recipe for the Strawberry Rhubarb Pie recipe I was a little dramatic about my dough at this point - the dough is mushy and you do need to use a lot of flour to roll it out. However, the dough is very manageable - I referred to it as cake batter in my last post, but it is probably closer to a cookie dough!

***This recipe makes one single pie crust, I chose to top my pies with a crumble, but if you would like a crust on top of the pie as well, you could just double the pie dough and cover the pie with a crust.

Roll out the pie dough on a generously floured surface - I am terrible with measurements but I think it's about 1/8 to a 1/4 of a inch thick. 

 I place my pie plate on top of the dough to make sure it will fit when I transfer the dough to the plate.

Then, gently roll the dough around the rolling pin.

Gently unravel the dough over the pie plate.

Lift the edges that are hanging over the side to let the dough fall into the pie plate and use a butter knife to cut along the edge of the pie plate to remove the extra dough.

Use your pointer finger and thumb to flute around the edges of the pie and use a fork to poke some holes in the dough that is at the bottom of the pie plate.

 Sprinkle some flour across the bottom of the dough.

For the filling, I used the recipe from the Fannie Farmer cookbook. Peel and core 6-8 apples.

Chop the apples into smaller slices and place them in a medium sized mixing bowl. Mix 1/2 cup of sugar (The Fannie Farmer cookbook calls for 3/4 - 1 cup of sugar but I reduced this), 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1 1/2 tablespoon of all-purpose flour into the chopped apples.

Pour the apples into the prepared pie crust.

Top the apples with 2 tablespoons of butter cut up into smaller pieces.

I did not take pictures of the crumble making process because it got a little crazy - making crumble to top 4 pies is no joke!! The crumble recipe I use is also from the Fannie Farmer cookbook. Start by mixing together 1/2 cup of butter and 1 cup of sugar. Once the butter and sugar are well combined, add in 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I typically add a little more flour so the dough crumbles more easily - I never measure how much I add, but I recommend adding it a tablespoon or two at a time until the crumble is a little thicker.

Spread the crumble over the top of the pie, so that all of the apples are concealed by crumble.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the pie for 10 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the pie for 30-40 minutes more.

Let the pie cool a little before serving, but it is delicious when it is still warm!!

APPLE PIE
ingredients
for the crust...
1 1/4 all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
6 tablespoons butter, chilled
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
2 tablespoons vodka
2 tablespoons cool water

for the filling...
6-8 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons butter

for the crumble...
1/2 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of salt

directions
for the crust
1.  Combine the flour, salt and sugar in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Slice the butter into smaller cubes and press it into the dry ingredients. Once the butter pressed in, add the vegetable shortening in the same way.
3. Mix in the vodka and cool water - the dough should form a mass.
4. Roll the dough out on a generously floured surface until the dough will fit into the pie dish (I think the dough is between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch when I transfer it into the pie plate).
5. Roll the dough up around a rolling pin and gently unroll the dough unto the pie plate.
6. Lift the edges of the dough to help the dough fall into the pie plate. Use a butter knife to cut the  superfluous dough off and use a fork to poke some holes in the bottom of the pie plate. Sprinkle some flour in the bottom of the pie plate.

for the filling
1.  Peel, core and slice 6-8 apples and place them in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Mix sugar, cinnamon, salt and flour in with the apples.
3. Pour the apples into the prepared pie plate.
4. Cut up the butter over the top of the apples.

for the crumble.
1. Mix the butter and the sugar together in a medium mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the flour, cinnamon and salt. I typically add in a little extra flour to thicken the crumble, if you do the same, I recommend adding in the flour a tablespoon or two at a time.
3. Spread the crumble over the top of the apples.
4. Bake the pie for 10 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit, then lower the heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake the pie for another 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy!!