An Apple Pie Recipe That Will Take You Back To Grandma’s Kitchen Window (The Food Network Has Nothing On Grandma)

I married up. This is a fact. But, when talking about food, I married WAY up. My wife and all her sisters are excellent cooks, including my sister-in-law, Heather, who won a national pie baking contest. As you can imagine, I've inherited some pretty good pie recipes. Here is one of them.

CRUST INGREDIENTS:

3 cups flour

1 3/4  teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup shortening

1/3 cold water

CRUST COOKING TOOLS:

9 ” pie plate

Large bowl

Pastry Blender

Plastic wrap

Wax paper or parchment paper

Rolling pin

Paring knife

Mix 3 cups flour, 1 3/4 teaspoons salt and 1 tablespoon sugar in a large bowl.

Cut it 1 cup shortening with a pastry blender.

NOTE: I recommend a good pastry blender, not one of those flimsy wire ones. Here is one from Amazon.com. It's only $6.50 and worth every penny. 

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Williams-Sonoma has a good one too that only costs $10. I have owned both of these and can recommend them both. 

Click Here

When you are done cutting in the butter, it will look mealy, like this. Then mix in 1/3 cup water and...

Form it into a ball of dough.

Place it on a large piece of plastic wrap on a counter.

Place a piece of wax paper (or parchment paper, which is even better) on top and press the pie dough flat with your hands. Try to keep it as close to the shape of a circle as possible.

Once you've gotten it as flat as you can, with your hands, use a rolling pin to flatten it more. And continue trying to keep the dough in the shape of a circle (as close as possible anyway).

Remove the wax paper. 

Roll the pie dough and the plastic wrap around your rolling pin.

Now unroll it over the top of your pie plate and form it around the edges.

Remove plastic wrap and cut around the edges of with a paring knife. Next, we make the apple pie filling.

APPLE PIE FILLING INGREDIENTS:

6 apples, peeled, core removed, and chopped

NOTE: Use Granny Smith apples for a tart pie or Braeburn for sweet pies. Avoid Red Delicious at all cost. They are red, but they are NOT delicious. I usually use the Braeburn.

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Juice of half a lime (ONLY if you are using Braeburn apples)

4 tablespoons butter

Pre-heat oven at 400 degrees. Mix your 6 chopped apples, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/8 teaspoon salt, and juice of half a lime in a bowl - until apples are coated with the sugar/spice. Pour into pie shell and add 4 tabs of butter (tablespoon each) on the top - like in this photo.

Like this. 

Press a fork down on the edges of your pie crust to make it look pretty.

Cut slits, like so.

Brush your crust with whipping cream or half and half.

Cover your pie with foil and remove the foil for the last 20 minutes of the cooking time. This prevents the edges from getting burnt. NOTE: I no longer cut my foil into a circle. I realized that I don't need to do that. I just tear a sheet and cover.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes then reduce heat to 350 for another 35 to 45 minutes.