Guest Blog Post: Caroline's Apple Pie

Hello all!  Step right up to my second guest blog post, but make sure to keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle and unbutton your pants for your gluttonous pleasure!  The honor of this guest blog post goes to my younger sister, Caroline.  She hasn't had a chance to really cook and bake yet, but I have high hopes for my young culinary padawan learner.

She too encountered the same dilemma as I, you know, with the power outage and all.  But lucky her, she hadn't started cooking yet!  Instead she opted to make the pie the following Saturday and we ate it with Grandparents that same night.  Even though we told our Grandpa the treats he'd be getting in a card, he was still surprised.  He was even more delighted to take home the rest of the pie at the end of the night... with us refusing to keep any for ourselves.  And editors note, I must say, this apple pie was amazing.  It was the perfect balance of sweetness in the filling and savory in the all-butter crust.  And I've had many apple pies in my 22 years, and sometimes I'm disappointed to find that the apples are too watery and the bottom crust ends up mushy - none of this happened in her apple pie!  Now, I'm sorry for deterring you from the recipe for so long.  Now, without much further ado, Caroline's Guest Blog Post:

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Guest Blogger Caroline in Rome Last Summer

This pie was supposed to be for my grandpa for Father’s Day, but like my sister I was stalled by the power outage and was not able to make it until the next weekend.  I didn’t set any records for length of time to bake an apple pie; the power went out a few minutes before I planned to start the crust.

I know my sister already posted an apple pie recipe of her own but I have been using this apple pie recipe since I was ten, and I still love it.  At first I used store bought crust, but I have since realized how much better homemade crust is.

Delicious Apple Pie

Adapted from Family Fun’s Cookbook

Pie Crust

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 ½ (or three sticks) cups cold, unsweetened butter
•  4 tablespoons ice (cold) water

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl
2. Cut butter in to chunks
3. Scatter butter into flour mixture and blend together with a pastry blender (or two forks)
4. Add water and mix together, you might want to use your hands
5. Separate into two balls and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a half an hour or over night

Pie

• 5 cups apple slices (make sure you peel the apples)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• juice of half a lemon or 1 tablespoons real lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 400°
2. Roll out half of the crust dough and line the pie tin make sure it covers the entire rim
3. Mix the apple slices, sugar, flour, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and lemon juice in a large bowl, make sure that the slices are well covered
4. Spoon apple slices into crust lined pie tin
5. Cut butter into small pieces and scatter over the apple slices
6. Roll out the rest of the crust dough and carefully place it over the pie
7. Use a fork and push to crimp the crust around the edges and remove excess crust that is over hanging the pie tin crust
8. Bake pie for 40 minutes