There's nothing like warm apple pie...

Your pie contributor this month is none other than MOI. Since we had a nice rich chocolately pie last time I'm going with my old stand by (and most requested) pie. The American Pie. Yummy, simple...delightful. APPLE PIE.

I make my own crust. Feel free to buy your own, they work just as well and especially in a pinch. I know that most of you probably have your own apple pie recipes, but just once, try it my way...and if you have something better pass it along. I'm always looking to improve.

Simple Apple Pie

Ingredients

for the pie:
6-8 medium apples (I would suggest GALA or ROME, in a pinch McIntosh or Jonagold)
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 cup flour
3 tbsp lemon juice (optional)
EITHER: 2 tsp of apple pie spice OR 1 tsp nutmeg and 1 tsp cinnamon

for the pie crust:
makes 2 crusts

1 cup unsalted butter chilled
3 cup all purpose flour
3 tbsp white sugar
1/3 cup ICE water

combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter. With mixer on low speed pour in ice cold water. When dough begins to clump but before its a ball stop the mixer. Lightly knead into a ball. Separate into two sections and chill 3o minutes before rolling out.

Preheat oven to 400* Peel, core apples discarding both. Dice apples into SMALL pieces. (This is where my recipe will differ from many others, it won't take you too long to make the pieces small and it allows the sugar and spice to mix in with the apple flavor better in my opinion)



Put apples into a large bowl and sprinkle with the lemon juice mixing well. Sprinkle with flour, sugar and spices (whichever you choose to use) Mix well and REFRIGERATE for 30 mins to 1 hour covered.



I like to do this step because it will separate out a lot of the "watery" part of the pie filling that makes your dough gooey. The important part is to make sure you've mixed it well before putting in the fridge. When you remove it, your apples should be nicely coated with the mixture and a bit of "juice" will be in the bottom of the bowl, mostly separate from your apples.

Remove chilled dough from the fridge (or roll out your pre-made crust) and roll out and fit into your pie plate. Fill with apple mixture, taking care to leave the watery stuff in the bottom. Don't worry, there is enough moisture in your apples that it won't dry out, it will just not get your crust so moist.

Roll out second pie crust to place on top of the pie. I just vent with a fork in a star pattern but you can do a lattice top crust if you are so inclined. Bake for 15 mins at 400 and then reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 35-45 minutes. (You may want to put foil around the edges of your pie crust at the end of baking)

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture when I was at these stages, then I took it to church and it was gone before I got a chance to take any more pics.