Brown sugar, apple sauce
Spices, flour
Put them in the oven
For half an hour
Bake, bubble, bubble, bake
Apple pie is fun to make!!
That’s my daughter’s recipe for apple pie. She learned it from TV. I have an audio clip of her singing the above song and I wanted to attach it to this post. I thought blogger had the feature of directly uploading an audio clip from your computer to a blog post. I don't see it. Am I missing it? I do see an Add Video icon. But no audio? I tried my luck using the Add Video button I see here, but apparently it didn't work for the kind of audio clip I have. Please don't tell me to upload to a hosting site and embed. :) That is just too much work for me right now. I don't even have an account with any audio hosting sites. I might do it later. :)
Of all the pies, apple pie is our family favorite. So, it's a regular in my workshop. :) I started baking apple pies using a food network recipe. Now that I'm baking it often, I am very comfortable and I bake it without referring to the recipe. I adjust the ingredients depending on how much apple I have. I also make it without crust sometimes. I would just sprinkle a crumb crust on top of the filling like I do for my Berry crumbles. Then it wouldn't have the look of an apple pie, but we love it no matter what. Apple slowly cooked in brown sugar and cinnamon is amazingly delicious.
It should be simple. If you choose to make the pie crust, you need to start ahead of time as the dough needs to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Start with 2 cups of flour in a mixing bowl. Add salt to taste. Add butter or Crisco (about 1/2 a cup), and mix it with your fingers until it looks like corn meal. Add ice water, 1 tbsp at a time, and keep mixing until it looks like a dough. Don't add too much water. You will need 4 to 5 tbsp. of water only. Cover it with a plastic wrap and throw it in the fridge.In the meantime, peel and cut the apples into thin and small pieces. I would use 4 to 6 green apples, the sour kind. Take it in a mixing bowl and sprinkle equal amounts of brown sugar and white sugar. 1/4 cup each is what I do. But it depends on how sweet you want it. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp. powdered cinnamon. Sprinkle about 1/4 cup of flour. Mix well so that the apple pieces are coated with the sugar-flour-cinnamon mix evenly. Some people add lemon juice too. Since the green apples are tart enough for us, I don't add lemon juice.
Divide the dough into two equal halves. Put one half back into the fridge. Roll the other half into a circle that fits inside your pie dish. Carefully transfer this to the pie dish without breaking. (Not so flexible like our chapathi dough! Use one of these tricks. I follow the first one. ) If it breaks, you can try your patch working skills here. :)
Add the filling on top of the crust and spread evenly. Add a tbsp of butter on top. Roll the other half of the dough the same way. Place this on top of the filling. Trim and seal the edges. Using a sharp knife make a couple of cuts in the middle. This is to let the steam out during cooking. (Or you may try a beautiful lattice top.)
Bake in a 350 degree F preheated oven for about 55 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Cover the edges with foil to prevent burning during the first 30 minutes of baking. Remove from the oven and let it rest for about 15-20 minutes.
Cut the pie into wedges and serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
