Baketress Bliss

My fiance and I just celebrated the anniversary of our first date by picking apples. Our first date was actually a twelve-hour long afternoon that included apple picking, strolling, laughing, grocery shopping, and a thwarted attempt to watch a football game that never came on. We made the best of the afternoon sharing teacher stories and celebrating the glory of the apples we picked. Now, a year later, we ventured into another new territory together - turning those anniversary apples into a delicious pie!

Using my Mom's (actually my great-grandmother's) crust recipe, I attempted my very first apple pie last night. The fact that it is half-gone by the next day is indicative of our success. Mike (A.K.A. "Biscuit") was an expert at slicing the Macoun apples we picked into perfect-sized pieces. I worked with a dough that was comprised of:

2.5 cups flour

1 cup Crisco

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup of milk

1 tablespoon vinegar

I mixed all of the dry ingredients together first, then cut in the Crisco with a pastry cutter (a life-saver - much better than using the two butter knife method of years past!). The next step was to combine the milk and vinegar together and THEN add that to the dry mixture. This produces enough for both a top and bottom crust. My Mom reminded me of the importance of pricking the crust, both bottom and sides, before adding the apples.

The apples were sliced (we used about 10 medium sized Macouns - a lot, but it made for a nice, lumpy, full pie!) and placed in a large mixing bowl. Before they could discolor, we added 1 cup of sugar, some cinnamon, some nutmeg, a tablespoon of flour, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. When it came to the cinnamon and nutmeg I do not measure. Some recipes suggest using 1 teaspoon of each - I probably use at least a tablespoon (3 teaspoons for those making the conversion) of cinnamon, and a bit less of nutmeg. That appley-goodness mixture goes straight into the pie pan. Before adding the top crust, Biscuit and I sliced up a few pieces of butter and strategically placed it atop the apples to make for a gooey-ier center. We covered the pie, crimped the edges, put three venting slices in the top. I coated the crust with a light butter-wash and threw it in the oven.

The pie baked for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. After ten minutes, we lowered the temp. to 350 and baked for another 40 minutes. The results were divine! Biscuit went out, back to the supermarket, convinced that a pie of this magnitude should not be enjoyed without vanilla ice cream. Upon his return, we could not wait for the pie to cool before we cut in. The crust was PERFECT! Oddly enough, I am not much of a crust person when it comes to pies, but this was really outstanding. Biscuit said that everything; the crust, the apples, the soupy-ish filling; were just perfection. I was glad that we were able to make this together.