Apple Pie

Hello and thank you in advance for visiting my blog. Here is a step by step introduction of how to make my Mama's Apple pie. This is one of my favorite desserts that we did together.  As the saying goes, apple pie is as American as it gets!!!!

 For a full demonstration and to see the complete pie, please refer to the following YouTube video: My Mama's Apple Pie

Ingredients for the pie filling:

6-8 apples - preferably  Granny Smith
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 and ½ tbsp. of vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar

Directions:

Wash, peel, cork the apples, and then slice.  Depending on the density of the pie, your slices can be thick and thin.  Pour two tablespoons of lemon juice on the apple slices. This keeps the apples from turning while peeling the rest. Mix all the other ingredients together.  Set aside and proceed to work on making the crust.

Ingredients for the pie crust:

2 cups all-purpose plain flour
1 teaspoon salt
¾ stick unsalted butter or Crisco all vegetable shortening.  Both make one of the flakiest crusts that you ever want to eat.
4 to 8 tablespoons of ice water.  To make the water really cold, I put crushed ice in the water and let the water sit in the freezer for a few seconds

Directions:

Blend flour and salt together, then cut up into cubes the butter.  Using a pastry blender, start  mixing all the ingredients together  The combination of the flour, salt and butter should resemble a coarse mixture making it crumb like.  The more you combine the ingredients repeatedly the flakier the crust.   If you do not have a pastry blender , then two  butter knives will work.  You will work the two knives the same way as the pastry blender.  Once this is completed, take the cold water and start adding it in one tablespoon at a time.  Usually 3 tablespoons will get the mixture to form,  an additional 1 to 4  tablespoons of water will get the dough to fully form. You will want to form the dough into a round ball.  Once it forms, then you want to divide the dough making a top and bottom crust.  The smaller divide will be the top crust and the bigger divide will be the bottom crust.   Wrap the crusts in plastic wrap and sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The coldness will make the crust easier to roll out and form.