Apple Pies

LOL! Yes, I am still at it with the apples! What can I say? They are free!

Yesterday Emily helped me and it's a good thing or I couldn't have accomplished alone what we did together. First we made crusts. It has taken me years to get around to being able to be a pie maker in any edible way. I never could understand that saying "Simple as Pie!" I thought pie crust was extremely hard to make....it's not like "real" dough.....you can't over handle it. I just had a difficult time with it for a long time. Then I read in a cookbook about making the crust in a food processor. I decided to give it a go, and guess what? I had successful pie crust! For me, I don't think it was the recipe so much as the method. Another thing I learned was that while you are at it with the food processor, and all the mess is out, why not make a bunch and stick them in the freezer? This is SO handy! When you need them, just sit them out for an hour or so to thaw and then roll and go.

So, yesterday, in about an hour and a half, and with a pretty good system for 2 people, Emily and I make 28 pie crusts! Of course they are single pie crusts...but still, that's 14 pies if you use 2 crusts.

It was as simple as adding:
1 cup flour
1 pinch of salt
1/3 cup shortening
Press the button on your processor on and off in bursts until you get a cornmeal-type texture, then add cold water a tablespoon at a time (up to 3 tablespoons) until your dough rolls itself into a nice ball! That's it. Emily kept the processor running while I added the water. She did flour and salt while I did shortening. We popped the "ice cream scoop-looking dough" out of the processor and onto a piece of plastic wrap. Slightly flattened it. Put it into a freezer ziploc...til we had 8 crusts in there and popped it in the freezer. Simple as that. (So we ended up with 16 crusts divided into 2 ziploc bags.) Then we made 12 more balls of "dough" for making pies right away.
Rolling out was another thing I had difficulty learning. I had to try different things till I found a method that worked for me. WAXED PAPER! Yes!!

I wet the counter a bit with a damp dish cloth. Lay out a piece of wax paper. Flatten the ball a bit and lay it in the middle. Tear off another piece of wax paper and lay it on top. I use a marble rolling pin that is heavy and helps do most the work. Roll it out (rotate the wax paper as you go---if it slips around too much, just slide part of the two pieces of wax paper over the edge of the counter and hold it against whatever part of you leans against the counter...lol! And roll away from you.)
Peel off the top layer of wax paper...Emily thought this was super cool and fun! Tip your pie pan over on the crust, upside down of course.
Turn the pan over and gently press the crust down into the pan.
Then carefully peel off the wax paper.
If the edges of your pan show like on this pie pan, just tear off a piece of crust on a long hanging side and patch it up. (my motto is, we're just going to eat it, I'm not in a "pretty pie" contest!)

The filling... I guess there are plenty of ways to make apple pie filling. My family's favorite way to do it comes from my Grandma Fay. She always shredded the apples right into the crust. I've watched my mom do that, too. She quarters and cores them and uses a hand shredder and shreds them right out of their peeling, and right into the crust in the pie pan.

I have a theory about peelings: 1) I figure they have lots of fiber, color, and vitamins if you leave them on--and I don't mind them..and 2) it's a WHOLE lot less work to leave them on--and use an electric shredder!!

I decided to use a variety of the apples, as I've heard mixing varieties make a good pie. So we quartered them, cored them, and put them in a big bowl of lemon water. Then we used the food processor to shred them, with the shredder blade. Boy was that interesting. For some reason, when Emily was running the machine, and I was putting them in, they kept popping out of there like fish out of water! I wish I'd had a third person to get that on video...lol! At least it kept us laughing.
I filled a big bowl and made a lucky guess (before I called my mom and asked how much sugar she uses--she said 1/2 a cup per pie. You could probably even use less.) So, I added a cup of sugar, threw in a little cinnamon and flour (for thickening juices while cooking) and mixed it up gently....
Then put it in the pie crust. One bowl filled two 9 inch pies. (I have no idea how many apples that would have been...guess it depends on the size you use.) Emily was busy picking out all the biggest chunks of peelings...lol!
Most the time I was making them I was really tired and my back hurt, and I was wondering *?WHY?* I wanted to do all this work. Everyone just gobbles it down, and I always wonder, is the hard work really appreciated?! (probably why I only make pies in the fall)....
...but then I had a piece! WoWsers! I think this might be the tastiest pie I've ever made. It just melted in my mouth. I'm not kidding how good this crust turned out! =)
Besides, I think Emily had fun...we shared some time doing something constructive, and she learned to make pie! =) She took the second baked pie to her boyfriend. And the other 4 pies we put in the freezer unbaked, so all I have to do is pull them out, thaw them, and bake them!