Oh My Apple Pie!

After watching "Good Eats" the other day, my husband requested that I bake a pie. Of course I was up for the challenge, even though I've never baked a pie before. The result was fantastic! Both the husband and I had to have second helpings immediately. I threatened to not let him have a second piece and he threatened imminent divorce if I kept the pie from him. 

I googled looking for a crust recipe that didn't contain any shortening. I've never used shortening before and didn't want to buy any. I finally found a recipe that only used butter...a lot of butter! It's called the Perfect Pie Crust Recipe. I was sold on the title alone. 

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
4 to 8 Tbsp ice water

Cut up the pieces of butter into small squares. Stick 'em in the freezer for a few minutes. 

Meanwhile, mix the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of your mixer. 

Throw the butter in and mix some more. 

Slowly add the ice water by tablespoons until you get a nice mealy texture. I ended up using about six tablespoons. 

Dump the mixture onto a clean work surface and kneed a few times. 

Shape into two discs. 

Place into ziplock bags and chill in refrigerator until ready to use (but at least for 1 hour!). 

For the filling, I used Grandma Ople's off of Allrecipes and adapted it slightly. It had great ratings and I figured over 3,000 people couldn't be wrong. 

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 4-6 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced (I used 4)

Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add flour to create a paste. Add water and sugars, mix well. Let mixture simmer for a few minutes. 

Roll out your dough for the bottom of the pie and arrange your apples inside. I added half of the sauce mixture to the apples, then I put the lattice crust on. Then, pour the rest of your sauce evenly over the entire pie. 

Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake for 30-35 minutes. 

Let cool for a few hours, otherwise, it'll be a big soupy mess! 

Enjoy at your own risk!