I made an apple pie for my parent's cookout last month. It was super-delicious. :) I'm posting about half the recipe, here, too. The actual recipe can be found in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (otherwise known as "the plaid cook book").
These are very large photos, taken with my new DSLR, so please wait a minute or two for them to load! They're worth it, I promise. :)
First you need a kitchen:
And you also need a dog:
Then you need the recipe, which can be found in the Better Homes and Gardens Plaid Cookbook... I use the Bridal Edition, generously given to me by my friends Sara and Kevin:
The ingredients...
PASTRY FOR DOUBLE CRUST PIE
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 of a teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of vegetable shortening
8 to 10 teaspoons cold water
APPLE PIE
6 cups thinly-sliced apples (I use 3 or 4 granny smith apples, about 4.5 cups in actuality but more than enough apples)
1 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I don't use this)
1/3 cup dried cranberries (optional)
milk (optional)
sugar (optional)
And a nosy fat cat.
Start making the crust by stirring together the flour and salt, then cutting in the shortening until you make pea-sized crumbles. You're supposed to do this with a pastry blender, but I don't have one, so I just use a fork. Then add the water one tablespoons at a time and mush it in with the fork until you have a sticky dough.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface--I just use my (clean!) countertop. Separate it into two halves, and form each half into a ball.
If you wear rings or bracelets, take them off. I always forget and end up cleaning pastry out of my wedding rings.
Mush the pastry dough ball down with your hands into a circle, then finish it out with a rolling pin.
Roll the pastry up and unroll it over a pie plate. You don't have to grease the plate first.
Slice up the apples. Technically you're supposed to peel them as well, but I just give them a good washing and leave the peel on... I like it that way. :) You can sprinkle lemon juice over the apples if you want, but I don't... they don't really have time to darken anyway.
Stir the 3/4 cup of sugar, the flour, and the cinnamon together. You could add nutmeg, too, but I don't (just because nutmeg is expensive, you use all of 1/8 teaspoon of it for this pie, and I can't taste the difference between nutmeg and cinnamon all that well anyway).
Add the sliced apples and toss them in the mixture you've just made.
Lay the apples out in the pie plate. I am kind of OCD about this and lay them out in a nice, even pattern.
Use up all the apples--I did two layers of apples and then spooned the rest of the mixture out of the bowl.
Roll out the second half of the pastry dough, then roll up it up and unroll it over the top of the pie.
Cut the excess off the top layer of dough. The layer underneath should be slightly longer than the top layer.
Fold the bottom layer over the top layer.
Now, use your fingers to gently crimp the edges together. This is the first time I've done this that it's looked okay, normally the edge of my pie just looks mushy. :) Then cut a small "x" in the center of your pie and cut some vents in as well so your pie doesn't explode while baking. Also, brush the top of the pie with some milk and sprinkle a bit of sugar on it--it'll make the top of the pie nice and crisp.
Fold a square of aluminum foil into quarters and then cut the corner off so that you have a hole in the middle of the foil. Put it around the pie so that the edges don't burn while it's cooking.
Bake your pie at 375 degrees (F) for 40 minutes, remove the foil and then bake for 20 minutes more.
Take your pie out of the oven, let it cool slightly and then EAT UP! :D
