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Back to Basics: The Only Apple Pie Recipe You’ll Ever Need

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So you’re having lunch with a friend and this is how the conversation goes:

Her: “Pilates?”

Me:  “Wow, that would be wonderful!!”

Her:  “Great!  Which class would you like to take first??”

Me:  “Oh heavens, no.  I thought you said Pie and Lattes”

The struggle is real…

Make this pie.

Actually, make two.

People will come.

Life is good!

*this makes 2 large pies

Ingredients:

1 recipe for homemade pie crust*

*in this recipe, you can use 1/2 shortening and half butter if you like

Filling:

6 pounds apples (a variety of good baking apples is fine – granny smith [always available], courtland, jonagold, empire, crispin), peeled, cored and sliced.

6 tbsp flour

4 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/2 c sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

pinch salt

Topping:

1 egg (for egg wash)

sanding sugar

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1.  Prepare you crust and roll out according to your pie plate of choice (we are going to use mini spring form pans).  Press into the bottom of the pans and set aside (ideally, the pastry should stay cold so keep it away from the oven).

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2.  Preheat your oven to 425.

3.  In a large bowl, combine the filling ingredients and gently stir to combine.

4.  Fill the pie tins – don’t be scared to over fill here ( the apples will reduce when they cook)

*NOTE:  if you have left over pie filling, just put it in a large Ziploc bag and freeze for another time.  If you dump it into a baking dish and top with a crumb topping, you have an instant apple crisp!

IMG_20140926_1242145.  If you would like to try a crumb topping on some instead of a double crust, check out the topping for my apple crisp …(it works great here!)

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6.  If you are doing a double crust, make lids out of the remainder of the dough (roughly the size of your tins or pie plate) and cut a little triangle or hole to let the steam escape.

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7.  Beat the egg for the egg wash in a bowl; brush a bit on the edge of the crust in the pan and then place the “lid” on top, pressing down the edges to seal.

8.  Brush the top with the egg wash.

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9.  Sprinkle the top with sanding sugar and place the tins/pie plate on a cookie sheet to avoid cleanup in case the juices bubble over.

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10.  Bake on the lower rack of the oven for about 20 minutes; reduce the temperature to 375 and cook for 40-45 minutes for the smaller tins and about 60 minutes for a pie plate.  If the top starts to brown too quickly, place a piece of tin foil over top of the pie (do not seal it) to avoid burning.

 

apple pieOnce they are made, let the pie cool for a bit (I know that’s hard but you want the juices to congeal a bit so they don’t all drip out of the pie!!).

Serve with ice cream and some really, really good friends!!