Apple Pie: Some For Now, Some For Later....

This may be surprising, but my love of sweets doesn't really extend to pie. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike pie, it's just not my first choice for a yummy sweet after a meal. However, we had a lot of apples this year. In addition to the 1/2 bushel we got at the orchard, we got another bushel or so from my in-laws. 

Since I was up to my ears in apples, I had to find things to do with them. I made 3 batches of applesauce, 2 batches of apple jelly, 2 batches of apple crisp, 2 batches of peanut butter apple muffins, 2 loaves of apple bread, 1 dehydrator full of dried apples, and still had enough apples that I decided to make some pies to put in the freezer.  (This is, of course, in addition to the apples that we've just eaten plain.)

So far, I have made 5: 1 to make sure I can make a decent apple pie, and 4 to freeze once we determined that I do make a good pie. (Between Mama, Nate, and two of my coworkers, I got plenty of compliments; apparently it's more than decent. Again, I'm not really a pie fan, so it's honestly hard for me to tell.) 

Since I am making so many, I had quite a bit of fun with the top crusts, too. Out of the five, I only did one 'normal' crust. (Which I don't have a picture of, because honestly, who cares about that one?)

 I've made 2 lattice-one we ate (pictured), and one for the freezer.

I got creative and had fun with cookie cutters, too! One star....

And one tree! At some point around Christmas I know we'll wind up getting a pie out of the freezer, and this one will be perfect!

Now, neither of the cookie-cutter pies pictured above is cooked. To freeze them, I prepared as directed below & froze prior to baking. Per my awesome big brother who has done this before, you just have to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes when you take it out of the freezer. 

Don't they look yummy? Everyone seems quite excited that we are going to have fresh apple pie into the winter/spring/summer (if they last that long). I'm just glad I have most of the apples used up.... only another dozen or so left. That should be enough for another apple pie, and maybe some apple bread too....

Before I get too overwhelmed with the amount of apple-something-making I need to do still, here's the apple pie recipe I used!

 Remember, comments are love! Do you make apple pie regularly? How do you decorate the crust?

 

Apple Pie

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour   
• ¾ teaspoon salt   
• ⅔ cup butter-flavored shortening   
• ¼ - 1 cup cold water  
• 6 cups thinly sliced, peeled apples
• ¼ to ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger (optional)

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl stir together 2 ¼ cups flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea size. Sprinkle small amounts of the water over part of the flour mixture; gently toss with a fork. Repeat moistening flour mixture, using small amounts of the water at a time, until all the flour mixture is moistened. (I always use more than they recommend, which is 1/4 cup. My crusts turn out great, so I just go into the mixture is moistened enough; never really measure.)  Form pastry into 2 balls.
2. On a lightly floured surface, slightly flatten each pastry. Roll from center to edges into a circle about 12” in diameter. Wrap pastry circle around the rolling pin. Unroll into a 9” pie plate, without stretching it. Trim pastry to ½” beyond edge of pie plate.
3. In a large bowl, stir together sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger (if desired). Add apple slices; toss to coat.
4. Transfer apple mixture to pie plate. Cut slits in remaining pastry shell and cover apples; crimp as desired. 
5. (Alternatively, can also prepare lattice shell or cookie-cutter designs. For lattice: cut the dough into even strips, approximately ½” wide. Place strips across the apples, with about ½” space between each. Fold back alternating strips, halfway across the pie. Place a strip perpendicular to the parallel strips. Unfold the folded strips over the perpendicular strip. Repeat with original strips that were not folded back originally. Keep repeating steps until half the pie is covered, then repeat with the other half. Crimp edges. (For a picture tutorial, go here. This is the site I used when I was trying to figure out an easy way.) For cutouts, use desired cookie cutter shapes to cut out enough pastry to cover the pie. Form extra dough into a ball and roll out again as needed to obtain enough shapes. Place around edge of pie, moving in circles to cover the pie in slightly overlapping layers. Leave some small sections of pie uncovered to let out steam. See pictures above.) I apologize for the cruddy directions... there's a reason I'm not a teacher.
6. Cover edges of pie with foil to prevent overbrowning.
7. Bake at 375° for 40 minutes. Remove foil, bake for an additional 20 minutes or until apples are tender and filling is bubbly.

Yield/Time

8 servings

1 ½ hours

Nutrition Facts

395 calories, 18 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 219 mg sodium, 57 g carb

Comments

For sweeter apples, use smaller amount of sugar. For the apples I used, I only used ¼ cup.

To freeze, prepare as directed then freeze prior to baking. When you want one, remove from freezer then bake as directed, adding an additional 10-15 minutes of baking time.

Source (for original): Better Homes & Gardens