APPLE PIE

(Peggy Schoen)

The extra comments (in italics) do not need to be part of the recipe; I've thrown in all the details because if someone has never made a pie before it can be helpful to have a few extra tips. (Comments are Peggy’s)

Preheat the over at 475° F.

One Crust for a 9-10 inch pie plate:

1 1/2 cups of Flour (shaken down to ensure a full measure) + 3 tablespoons.

Blend with 1/2 cup of canola oil (any oil will do, but this one won't clog the arteries)

Use a fork to blend oil with flour -- it blends fast and easy

Add 3 tablespoons of cold water.

Blend water with flour and oil mixture and divide into two pieces.

Roll out 1st crust between sheets of wax paper (this is important otherwise it will stick to the counter top.

Lift the crust up (using the wax paper) and place it on the bottom of the pie plate. Sprinkling a little sugar on this bottom crust (optional).

Roll out the 2nd crust and let it sit on the counter, covered with the wax paper so that it doesn't dry out.

Dry Mixture: I usually do this before I make the crust and just set it aside.

Blend together, 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of nutmeg, 1/4 cup of flour.

Apples: I always use Macs; my mother and grandmother always did so I keep up the tradition. They are good cooking apples because they break down well in a pie, and also they are great for applesauce and eating raw if any are left over.

5-6 large crisp apples (depending on how big you can get them)

Slice up 3 of the apples onto the bottom crust.

Sprinkle about 1/2 to 2/3s of the dry mixture evenly over the apples.

Slice up the remaining applies and sprinkle over the rest of the dry mixture.

Lift up top crust (again using the wax paper to make it easy), and drop it on top of the applies. Seal and pinch the crusts (go around the perimeter, tucking in to the top crust over the bottom crust, and then pinching them together). Finally (and this is very important), use the fork to poke holes in the top crust (each fork mark should be about every inch or two to ensure that air can escape as the pie heats up).

Bake on bottom of oven for 10 minutes at 475° F. (this helps the bottom crust to cook quickly before the juices soak in and make it soggy). Reduce temperature to 375° F. and bake another 30 minutes. The pie is done when you can see that juice is bubbling out of the fork holes. Cool on a rack.

This recipe has been been kitchen tested.

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