Apple Pie

Well - I guess I'm in the mood to share my favorite desserts tonight! I don't have many on my website, so I guess this is a good thing for my readers! It has to be the Christmas season...and the fact that I'm cooking right now in preparation for our family Christmas Eve dinner tomorrow!

My husband LOVES apple pie, so one day I decided to make one for Christmas dinner. And he LOVED it! It is now a Christmas tradition and he only gets it once a year!

I get to claim this recipe as my own, excluding the Double-Crust recipe. I found this recipe in a cookbook, but I completely re-vamped the filling; therefore, I get to call it mine :) This one is NOT gluten free (sorry guys).

This one takes some time to make. If you want to take short cuts and save time, you can buy a pie shell and a pie crust top and just make your filling. But if you make your own crust...it's so good!

Enjoy this one! We love to serve it with a scoop of french vanilla ice cream on top!

Recipe for Double Crust Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup shortening
• 10 tablespoons cold water

Directions:

• In a medium bowl, stir together flour and salt with a hand whisk.
• Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea sized.
• Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the water over part of the flour mixture. Gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to the side of the bowl. Repeat, using 1 tablespoon water at a time until all the flour mixture is moistened.
• Divide in half; form each half into a ball
• On a lightly floured surface, use your hands to slightly flatten 1 dough ball. Roll dough from center to edges into a circle 12 inches in diameter.
• To transfer pastry, wrap it around the rolling pin and then unroll it into a 9-inch pie plate (or I re-use my aluminum pie pans)
• Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it. Trim the pastry even with rim of pie plate. 
• Transfer apple pie filling (recipe below) to pastry-lined pie plate.
• Roll remaining dough ball into a circle, about 12 inches in diameter.
• Cut slits on top to allow steam to escape. Place the pastry on top of the filling, then trim 1/2 inch beyond edge of plate. 
• Crimp the edges as desired (there are so many cute ways to do this!!)

Recipe for Apple Pie Filling

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe for Double-Crust Pie (above) or use a store bought ready made pie shells and topping if you are short on time.
• 6 cups of thinly sliced peeled Granny Smith Apples (about 5-6 apples)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice from fresh lemon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon milk (for topping)
• 1 teaspoon sugar (for topping)

Directions:

• Prepare and roll out pastry for Double-Crust pie (see recipe above).
• Take your Granny Smith Apples and core them and cut into slices.

• Peel the apple slices and cut slices until they are thin. Place in a large bowl.
• Take 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and sprinkle over the apple slices. Combine the apple slices with a spoon to ensure that the juice is covering all apple slices.
• In a separate bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg until well combined.
• Pour mixture over apple slices and mix well until all apple slices are well coated.
• Transfer apple mixture filling to the pastry-lined pie plate. Trim the bottom pastry to edge of pie plate.
• Place on filling, cut slits in pastry and crimp edges as desired.

• Brush top pastry with milk and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of sugar. This gives your pie a nice brown topping.

Chef's Note: To prevent over browning, cover edge of pie with foil or a pie edge cover.

• Bake at 375 F for 40 minutes.
• Remove foil or pie edge cover and cook for an additional 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven an cool on a wire rack.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Here in the States, it's Labor Day...so Happy Labor Day everybody!!  And what do I do on holiday when I'm off from work?  Yes, I cook :) 

My little girl brought home a book from her school library about Amelia Bedelia.  As my mom was reading this book out loud to my 2 kiddos, she read about all the things Amelia Bedelia does wrong...but the one thing she does right is make a fabulous lemon meringue pie....and I thought, it's been forever since I made a homemade lemon meringue pie!!

So here it is!  I make mine with a graham cracker crust.  If you are Gluten Free, they sell graham cracker crust mix in a box so you can make a Gluten Free pie shell!  Kinnikinnick makes a great one!

For all you non-gluten free folks, if you want to make your own graham cracker pie crust...I have a good recipe for you below or you can buy a premade graham cracker crust pie shell.

This one takes a little bit of time and is in the medium range of difficulty.  See below for the recipe and I hope you enjoy it!!

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Crust (This one is not Gluten Free):

• 1 1/2 cups crushed graham crackers (about 8 whole crackers)
• 6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooked
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Lemon Filling:

• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons finely grated lemon zest

Meringue:

• 5 large egg white, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

Place oven rack in the center of the oven and heat to 375 F.

For the graham cracker crust:

1. Combine crushed graham crackers, melted butter, sugar and salt in a medium bowl and mix well.  Press mixture evenly into a 9-inch metal or ceramic pie plate and bake until lightly browned, about 10 minutes.  Let cool completely on a wire rack.

For the Lemon Filling:

1. Combine cornstarch, sugar, egg yolks, and lemon juice in a medium-size heavy saucepan.  Add water and whisk until blended; use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the pan to make sure mixture is well combined.

2. Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until mixture comes to a boil.  Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat, add butter and lemon zest and stir vigorously until butter is completely melted and ingredients are thoroughly combined.

3. Pour mixture into graham-cracker crust, cover with a round of waxed paper or parchment paper, and let cool to room temperature.

For the Meringue:

1. Combine egg whites and salt in a large, clean bowl and whip with a hand mixer on high speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually add sugar and continue beating until stiff, glossy peaks form.

2.Remove the paper from the pie, and spoon meringue over lemon filling.  Spread meringue with a spatula so that it covers the entire surface of the pie, sealing in the filling.  Be sure meringue meets the crust, otherwise it will shrink inward, exposing filling.

3.  Bake until meringue is golden brown, about 10 minutes.  Let cool to room temperature on wire rack, the refrigerate until filling is cold, at least 4 hours.  Slice and serve chilled.  Store in refrigerator.