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Recipe: Mom’s Apple Pie

There is nothing better in comfort food than the taste of Mom’s Apple Pie. That rich smell of apples and cinnamon mingled together just makes you think of cozy family times gathered around by the fireplace on a cool autumn day. Nothing speaks of home more clearly.

You can create that same feeling of comfort each time you create your own apple pie masterpiece. Think of the ultimate in flakey pie crust filled with the sweet-tart flavor of apples and cinnamon baking in your own kitchen.

The best time to make apple pies, of course, is when apples are in season in the fall. There are thousands of varieties of apples the world over, but the best kinds of pie making apples are the crisper firmer varieties. Many of these are found readily in Canada and the United States. One of the more popular pie making apples include the Granny Smith apple, which is a crisp, juicy, tart apple that is speckled and light green in color. Other good varieties would include Jonathan, Jonagold, Northern Spy, Winesap, or Pippin. Sweeter varieties that also work well include Fuji, Pink Lady, Suncrisp, Rome Beauty, and Empire.

Apples that you eat raw out-of-hand do not always make the best apples to use in pies. Although the flavor of the apple may be great, sometimes the texture of your regular eating apple does not hold up when baking and your pie filling will turn to mush. An example of a good eating apple that does not do well in pies is the Red or Golden Delicious apple.

You can also use a mixture of different apples to create your pie, or even a mixture of apples and crisp pears for a little different flavor.

Making a flakey pie crust can be intimidating for some people, but it really isn’t a complicated process once you know what you are doing. The trick is not to blend the fat (or shortening) into the flour too much (as you would in a cookie dough). You also need to make sure that the ingredients you use, like the fat and the water, are extremely cold. You should learn to work quickly when making pie dough so that the ingredients do stay cold.

A handy tip to making pie dough is to use a food processor. This eliminates using your hands to mix the dough and the ingredients will stay colder for longer. If you do use a food processor to mix your dough, don’t over-mix it. Use the pulse setting instead of just letting it run on. Your flour-fat mixture when pulsed together should have flour-coated pea-sized pieces of fat throughout.

When adding the cold water to your pie dough, add it a little at a time. You don’t want to add too much so that the dough is sticky. You just want the dough to hold together when you squeeze it together with your hand. Then shape your dough into a ball, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least an hour before attempting to roll it out.

The recipe below is for a cinnamon-y sweet-tart apple pie that will fill your kitchen with yummy smells. Use the tips above to make your pie and expect to receive rave reviews. Enjoy!

Mom’s Apple Pie

Pasty:
1 ½ cups flour
2 TBSP. white sugar
2/3 cup shortening
1 tsp. salt
5 TBSP cold water (approximately)

Filling:
1 lb. bag of firm cooking apples
2 TBSP. + 2 TBSP. cinnamon
2 TBSP. + 3 TBSP. white sugar
1 TBSP. cornstarch

Egg Wash -made up of one beaten egg + small amount of water
Sugar to sprinkle on top

Measure all pastry ingredients, except water into food processor. Pulse a few times until mixture is the size of small peas. Through top, add just enough cold water until dough forms a ball. (Do not over-blend or pastry will be tough.) Shape dough into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about one hour.

Preheat oven to 450?F

Remove dough from fridge and unwrap. Cut dough in approximately thirds- two-thirds will be used for the bottom crust, and one-third for top. Roll out two-thirds of dough on lightly floured surface and line a pie plated with dough. Sprinkle 2 TBSP. cinnamon and 2 TBSP. sugar on bottom of crust. Peel apples and slice and place in pie crust. Sprinkle corn starch over apples, then 2 TBSP. cinnamon and 3 TBSP. white sugar. Roll out dough for top crust and spread over pie. Prick top all over with a fork to create a few holes for steam to escape.

Crimp edges to seal. Brush egg wash over top crust and sprinkle with a little white sugar. Cut vent holes in top of crust with a sharp knife.

Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes.