Adventures In Apple Pie

I love apple pie. I love it like I love my toe rings.

It is essential to life. And in the Fall I just feel the need to bake apple pies. Yum.

And yesterday the sun was shining and we had company coming over in the evening and, well, we just needed pie.

Now, around Chez Knit we don’t use a pie crust made with butter or Crisco. No our family tradition, handed down from my Iowa grandma, is an oil pie crust. I love this crust.

And because I love all of you I will share it with you.

This is what you will need to make the pie crust. Just 4 simple ingredients. How difficult could this be. And just so that you know, I often times make 1 1/2 of the recipe. It is easy to do those calculations.

Put the flour in the bowl.

Add the salt

Try not to spill the salt on the counter. I was having trouble yesterday with spilling things. I managed to spill half of my travel mug of coffee on my skirt just before going into bible study. I was damp and smelled like Starbucks for two full hours.

Add the milk and the oil. And then you just mix everything around with a spoon until it is all incorporated. If it seems a bit dry you can add a few drops more of milk or oil.

BWAHAHAHAHA a pie crust brain.

Sorry.

Cover the crust with some plastic wrap and let it rest while you prepare the filling.

Now, I sort of have a recipe for the filling but it uses words like “pinch of” and “chunks of”. I know there are those of you for whom those words in a recipe strike fear into your hearts. You know who you are. So, I have translated the recipe to what I think are the correct measurement. You will find them written out in the recipe, the link for which you will find at the bottom of this post.

You need these ingredients

And a bunch of these. I usually use Granny Smith but you can use what you like. I would suggest that they be apples that are tart or semi-tart and firm of flesh.

Wouldn’t we all like to be firm of flesh. I know I haven’t been for many a year.

At any rate. I didn’t have quite enough Granny Smith so I filled in with what I had on hand.

Peel, core and chop them up. Everyone has their own chopping method. Whatever floats your boat.

Then you are going to add…..
                                                         Sugar
                                                            Salt
                                                            Cinnamon
                                                             Nutmeg
                                                           Flour

Mix everything all together and then you need to test a piece of the apple
If you need to add more sugar or salt or spices you will know at this point. Adjust as needed

Roll out the crust. I roll mine between plastic wrap. Works like a dream and makes it very easy to move it into the pie plate.

Put the bottom crust into the pie plate. Add the apples, pushing down on them so that they are nice and packed in there. Dot with the butter and then put the top crust on and crimp the edges.

And then I had a bit of trouble. Trouble here in River City. I had crimp issues.

Now I can tell you, if this pie had been JUST for HHBL and I then the thing would have looked just perfect. But because this was for company there were tears and holes that needed to be fixed. It always happens, no matter how many times I make a pie. But so what. Into the oven it went to cook and bubble and make my house smell delicious.

Oh yes, can I bake a pie or what.

Ummmmmmm, Deb?

Yes?

There is this little proverb that says something about pride going before a fall?

Yeah, I might have heard about it but you know, I am an old pie hand and this one is just looking delicious.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

And then it was time to cut into the perfect pie, as our company looked on…..

And I was horrified to see a “Pie Fail”.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It tasted great but looked a bit, how shall I say this, a bit juicy.

Let this be a lesson to you grasshopper. Make sure that you put in enough flour when you are making the pie. Don’t get distracted taking pictures of the process and writing the blog post in your head.

And I also think that part of the over juiciness of the pie was that I used some Fuji apples and those are just too juice and not firm enough for pie.

Oh well. It still tastes good. Believe me I would know. I had some for breakfast.

Link –>    Apple Pie    <- Link