This time of year we all like warm and tasty deserts, so I figured it was time to share my family secret recipe for apple pie and homemade crust.

As a time saver you can use a pre-made pie crust.

Also, a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of warm pie is always a welcomed addition.

Needed Ingredients For The Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups white flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, broken into small pieces
• 5 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
• 8 tablespoons ice water

Crust Preparation:

Measure the flour, sugar and salt together. Stir to combine.

Add the chilled butter pieces and shortening to the bowl. Cut them in with a pastry cutter or knife. Don’t over mix them.

Add the ice water. Mix until the dough holds together (add a bit more water, if necessary).

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it together, then divide in half.

Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour.

Roll out one of the disks on a lightly floured surface until you have a circle that’s about 12 inches in diameter.

Put the circle in a 9″ pie plate, trimming any extra dough from the edges with a sharp knife. Return it to the refrigerator until you are ready to make the pie.

Add filling (see below).

Roll out the second ball of dough and cover top. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together. Cut a couple slits in the top.

Needed Ingredients For Filling:

• 1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 8 medium sized apples (a medium apple = about 1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons margarine

Filling Preparation:

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel, core and slice the apples. Try to keep the size of the slices even.

Mix sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl. Stir in apples. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with margarine.

Cover with top crust and seal the edges. Cut slits in the top.

OPTIONAL: Cover edge with 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent too much browning. Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 13th, 2006 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Food, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.  Both comments and pings are currently closed.