Easy as Pie

Easy as Warm Homemade Apple Pie that is. Mmmmmm.

But before I go into the recipe, I should note:

Pie is not easy.

Baking a pie is a labor of love, so you better give a lot of love back to those people baking one for you!

Flour gets everywhere.

You will be on the verge of tears when your crust is crumbly.

Don’t Google pie advice in the middle of baking. It’s as bad as WebMD, everyone has a sob story.

That despite all the things I just said, I really love baking.…and eating pie.

As yesterday’s post stated, I decided to test my culinary skills by channeling my grandmother and Aunt Dot through pie baking. I’ve never made one in my life, but with Thanksgiving and the lovely support of my blog friends I felt up for the challenge.

Don't your mornings start with butter?

When I say I jumped out of bed Sunday morning to make a pie I’m not kidding you. I literally brushed my teeth, tossed my hair in a ponytail, threw on my apron, and got down to it. By 8:15am I had flour everywhere, eggs shells on the floor, and Shawn Colvin playing in the background. Bliss on a Sunday if you ask me 🙂

Beginner’s Apple Pie Recipe

(adapted from this recipe)

Pie Crust (makes two 9 inch rounds)

• 2 cups all purpose flour (spoon into cup and level off)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, cold, cut into 10 pieces
• 2 large eggs
• Ice water (as needed)

Apple Pie Filling

• 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/3 cup of white sugar
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 6-8 medium-sized apples (McIntosh or Granny Smith)

Directions

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl.

2. Cut each piece of butter into 4-5 smaller pieces and mix evenly with dry ingredients.

3. Use fingertips to pinch butter into smaller pieces, or use a dough cutter to break butter apart. Continue until mixture is cool and powdery with no visible pieces remaining.

4. Add the eggs and use fork to break. Slowly work your way around the bowl while you stir up from the bottom with the fork until the dough is almost completely mixed.

5. Add in couple drops of ice cold water.

6. Invert the dough to a floured work surface and gently knead it into a consistent mass. Add water as needed if dough is dry. Try not to work it too much!

7. Divide dough in half, then flatten each half into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. And pray to the pie gods you made it correctly.

8. On a floured surface roll the 1 ball of chilled dough out working your way from the center to the outside. Leave the other ball of dough in the fridge. I put wax paper down on the counter before rolling to help stop sticking.

9. Lift the rolled dough off the wax paper by slowly wrapping it around the rolling pin. Unroll the dough over the pie dish. Press dough firmly into sides of dish. (and accept that you don’t have perfect pie crust edges, life will go on). Put in refrigerator as you make filling.

10. Now it’s time to make the filling. Peel, core, and slice the apples into 1/8 inch slices or small chunks.

11. Mix apple slices with sugars, flour, salt, lemon juice (don’t let any seeds get in there!), and cinnamon. And debate if you just want to eat apples covered in this goodness every day.

12. Remove pie plate from refrigerator and gently pour in the filling.

13. Remove the other ball of dough and roll out like before. To make a lattice top (which I think is easier) cut as many 1 inch wide strips as you can.

14. Place the strips across the pie in a criss-cross pattern (it’s ok if you don’t weave them in and out, Martha isn’t watching). Press ends of strips into crust to seal it in.

15. Brush top with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. This will help it brown up and look pretty.

16. Bake 400º F for 15 minutes. Then 375º F for 45 minutes.

17. Remove and stare at your amazingness as the pie cools for at least 45 minutes. This will let you take lots of photos, do a little happy dance, and dream about your next pie experiment.

I will say the filling was divine, but the crust was a little dry. I don’t think that was because of the ingredients, although there are a million recipes to try, I think I might have over mixed.

I’ll be posting more links and photos to pie recipes from fabulous bloggers as the week goes on, so keep checking in for more tasty treats! Believe me your husband, wife, sister, brother, mother-in-law, neighbor, mailman, and even that nosy coworker who is always staring at your lunch in the breakroom will be thankful you found these recipes. Oh and I should mention, the Pioneer Woman also happens to be dedicating this week to pies which means that great minds think alike right? 😉

Got a favorite pie or Thanksgiving dessert recipe you’d like to share? Leave it in the comments or email me, I love trying out new things!