Apple pie!!

Today marks the start of a wonderful blogging adventure!. Several of my blogging friends and I will each be cooking up the same delicious dish and posting about it each thursday! This gives you a great chance to read about three different experiences making some sometimes challenging dishes.

So first off here are my fellow bloggers and their awesome blogs:

Cassie's Little Blog on the Internet and Annelih's Comfort in Cooking

Now the first dish! For our first post we went with apple pie. We wanted to do something July 4th themed and whats more American than apple pie??

I've made apple pie several times, most of the time buying frozen pastry for the crust. This time I decided to make my own. I usually don't follow a recipe for the filling either, I just mix apples, sugar, cinnamon, and flour add some butter and bam! This time I payed a little more attention so I could write it for you guys.

The crust recipe I used was a little weird. The high fat content made it kind of difficult to work with but the results we yummy and buttery. As long as you make sure your surface in well floured as well as you rolling pin you should be fine.

Apple Pie


Crust:
(adapted from smitten kitchen)
2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
7 tbsp vegetable shortening
12 tbsp unsalted butter
8 tbsp cold water


1. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the shortening in small chunks and mix with the flour mixture with hands until it looks like bread crumbs. Next add the butter in small chunks and mix with hands until the largest lumps are no bigger than a small pea.


2. Using a spoon, add the water a little but at a time. Stop when the mixture comes together in a rough ball. You may not use all the water, you may use more, don't let the mix become to wet. Divide the ball into two and flatten into disks. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for minim a hour.


Filling
6 apples peeled, cored, and sliced
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter divided into 5 chunks


1. In a big bowl mix together the apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Make sure all the apples are throughly coated. Added the flour and mix again. Leave to one side.


2. Take out the crust from the fridge. Take one disk, unwrap, and place it on a throughly floured surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top and roll out the dough until it will fit your pan. Carefully lift the dough over your rolling pin and place it over your pie pan. Using only small adjustments make sure the dough lines your pan with a little overhang. It is important to remember the more you mess with your dough the tougher your crust will be so avoid messing with it as much as possible.


3. Take the filling mixture and pour it into your prepared crust. Spread the apples out evenly. Place the butter on top of the apples. Next roll out the second disk, just like the first and place it on top of the apples. Cut off the extra around the edges and pinch together the bottom and top crust. Cut slits in the top crust to help vent the filling ( I cut a star for the 4th theme so get creative if you want!)


4. Bake on a tray at 425 for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and continue baking for another half hour. Check the pie and remove when the filling is bubbling and the top is golden brown. Place on a cooling rack and allow a generous amount of time for the pie to cool.


5. Slice and enjoy!