Apple Pie

At times when I want to make something and it’s something that I’m doing for the very first time. I always trust my instinct. It’s not luck or anything else that almost always I make it work and no disaster comes from it. I’ve been cooking for years now and I’ve learned a lot from numerous mistakes, misses and hits to know when I can make it work or not. With instinct alone however, it won’t work that’s why it’s imperative that I follow procedure explicitly.
This apple pie recipe is a combination of a flaky pie dough recipe and an old fashioned filling.
The flaky pie dough recipe is from Aileen Anastacio of Goodies n’ Sweets (Manila, Philippines) from her Yummy magazine column May 2009. The filling is from Connie Veneracion of http://www.casaveneracion.com. Connie’s food blog is still my number one most trusted Filipino based blog. She makes almost everything and as much as she can makes international dishes using easier to find ingredients (if at all possible) in our local market.

Here’s my thanksgiving tribute to my friends in the United States.

Apple Pie

For the filling:
12-18 cooking apples, peeled and cores removed (I used Fuji apples)
juice of half a lemon
3/4 c. of sugar
1/2 tsp. of salt
1/2 c. of all-purpose flour
1 tsp. of ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. of ground nutmeg
1/3 c. of butter, cut into small pieces

Flaky Pie Dough (makes one 9”dough)
2 ½ cup all purpose-flour
1 tsp salt
6 ounces cold unsalted butter, cubed
2 ounces shortening ( I used Crisco), cubed
¼ to ½ cup ice water

1. Make the pie dough: In a large bowl, combine flour and salt, and stir to mix. Scatter butter and shortening pieces over the flour mixture. Using a fork or pastry blender, toss flour to coat, then cut in the butter and shortening until the mixture forms large, coarse crumbs. Drizzle ice water over the mixture and toss with the pastry blender until dough is evenly moist and begins to come together in a mass but does not form into a ball. Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for an hour overnight. Thaw the dough for an hour before baking. Once thawed roll out the dough into a circle (this recipe makes one 9 inch open faced pie but since I used a smaller baking tin I have extra to cover the pie) then place into a baking dish. ( I used a tin since I have no oven safe baking dish.)

2. Pre-heat oven to 177°C (or 350°F). (conversions guided by http://www.joyofbaking.com)
3. Make the filling. Cut the apples into cubes (if you can try to cut it into one inch cubes). Toss with the lemon juice. Toss. Add the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and toss to blend well. Feel free to use your hands as I did. I was trying to accidentally bruise (even if it is unnecessary) the apples.
4. Pour filling into the prepared bottom crust. Sprinkle the cubed cold butter all over the filling. Don’t worry about the filling if it overflows. It will shrink and soften as it cooks. Cover with the remaining crust, seal the edges. Prick the top crust with a knife for the steam to escape as you bake.
5. In a small bowl, beat an egg and about 1 tablespoon of milk. Brush this all over the top crust including the edges. (I skipped this part because I forgot so a fair warning to you, do this to achieve a glossy and golden top crust.)
6. Bake for an hour to one hour and a half or until top crust is golden. Cool then chill for several hours before serving. You may opt to serve it with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream or as it is.