My children and I have a lot of fun making homemade apple pie. Over time, we have been blessed to learn how to make a tasty apple pie. We have also learned, through the process of trying, what equipment and techniques to use in order to cut down the pie making time. I remember making homemade pies with my mom and grandma. Thanks to their love and guidance, I learned how to make good quality pie crust and how to make a good apple pie filling. I am so pleased and grateful to be able to teach my children as well.
The kitchen gets a bit messy, but the goal of teaching my children, along with the opportunity for us to spend time together, is well worth having to clean up afterward. To me, having them learn through trial and error about what works and does not work is a valuable life lesson. In addition, having a sense of accomplishment is also very important. I do not think they would learn these lessons of life by simply putting a frozen apple pie into the oven, or adding a can of pie filling to a store bought pie crust. Like many others, we appreciate it when effort is put forth. When it comes to apple pie, the homemade version is definitely worthwhile. The smell of homemade apple pie on a cool autumn evening is simply splendid.
The following recipe is one of my favourites for a tasty homemade apple pie. I highly recommend using ice cubes in the water as really cold water is quite helpful. I also find that a ceramic peeler, the kind that is often used to peel potatoes, also works great for peeling apples. I like to peel the apples over a flexible cutting board as this allows for easy clean-up once the peeling process is completed.
Preheat oven to 190 Celsius, or 375 Fahrenheit
Ingredients for crust: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup shortening (recommended: Crisco) Ice water
The recipe for the pie filling follows below.
In a medium-mixing bowl cut the shortening and salt into the flour by hand or with a pastry blender hands until it is the texture of cornmeal. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of ice water over the mixture and mix just until the dough is moistened. Add more tablespoons of water, one at a time, until all the dough is just moist. In most cases, you will only need a few tablespoons of water. Please be careful not to add too much water. Take care not to over mix. Divide the dough in half and roll into a ball. Roll 1 ball into a circle to fit a 9 to 10-inch pie plate. To transfer the pastry to the pie plate, wrap it around a rolling pin and ease it into the pie plate. Be careful not to stretch the pastry. Be sure to put a few pierce the crust with your fork to allow steam to escape. It is especially important to put steam holes in the crust that covers the pie crust filling. Trim it even with the edges of the pie plate. Add the apple filling (ingredients listed below) into the pastry lined pie plate. Make sure they are laying flat. Cut butter into small pieces and put it on top of the filling.
Roll the remaining pastry into a 12-inch circle. Place the crust on top of the pie filling. Trim off 1-inch of crust beyond edge of the pie plate. Crimp the edges as desired. Cut slits to allow steam to escape when baking.
Cover the edges with foil to prevent over browning, or use pie crust shields. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.
Ingredients for pie filling: 1/2 cup to 1 cup all-purpose flour 6 to 7 cups apples cut into thin slices 1 cup white sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2 tablespoons butter
In a medium bowl combine the apples, with the brown and white sugar. Add flour, cinnamon and continue mixing until they are well coated.
Be sure to cool pie on a cooling rack. The pie is best served after it has had some time to cool off and "settle" a bit. I cook the pie in a glass pie pan, such as one made by Pyrex. Enjoy!
