Apple Pie: A Tried-and-Tested Favorite

In cooking/baking, I always believe that I don't find the perfect recipe... it finds me. I'm always finnicky about apple pie and I've never grown to like it until my second-year high school Home Economics teacher shared with us her recipe that I've grown to love as well when I baked it in class, at home for evaluation, as annual Christmas gifts, ad wala-lang moments when I feel like it.

Apple pie for me is indeed comfort food. The warm filling, the flaky crust, that tangy taste intermixed with cinnamon and sugar. It can be a pain to do but the outcome is just incredible.

I'll be sharing my apple pie recipe (now on its tenth year in my hands) here in this blog but first, let me give you a sneak peek and some tips:

Bet ya didn't know I could peel an apple in one curly strip?

The trick I found out is that to use margarine to get that nice golden hue on the crust and to make the water to mix into the pastry really cold. I even put the dough in the refrigerator for 30 mins or so to stiffen it up. The best apples to use are Granny Smith Apples - those tangy green ones. Washington apples tend to crumble easily for this. So go for Granny Smith. And slice thinly! If you don't have Granny Smith, Korean apples or Fuji Apples are a good alterntive.

How can apple pie be served? Serve it warm. It's best freshly baked or you can heat up a slice in the microwave for a few seconds

And then for extra ooh lala...

Top it off with ice cream

and add some chocolate syrup! Yumm!!!!!

The crust is so flaky and the apples so yummy! The contrast of warm-cold, sweet-tangy is absolutely divine!

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APPLE PIE

Crust
2 cups sifted flour
1 tsp iodized salt
2/3 cup lard or shortening (margarine was used here. go for Baker's Best, darling!)
5-7 tsp very very cold water with lots of ice

Filling
4 granny smith apples, peeled and sliced
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
sprinkle of nutmeg and salt
half of a small stick of butter, sliced

Topping:
1 egg yolk
half of a small stick of butter

Procedure:
Preheat oven to 375 F

To prepare the crust: sift flour and salt 3x. Cut in lard or shortening using 2 knives or pastry cutter till mixture resembles cornmeal. Add water gradually till mixture forms a dough. Do not overmix or handle or the crust might become tough and breadlike instead of flaky. Divide dough into 2 and roll each into 2 flat circles about ¼ inch thick. Fit one of the circles in a 9-inch pie pan and prick with tines of a fork.

To prepare the filling: combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Mix well. Spinkle a spoonful of this mixture at a bottom of the crust-lined pan. Cover with some of the apples arranged well, and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture again. Continue layering till all of the apples and cinnamon-sugar filling are used. Arrange butter slices on top. Cover with other half of pastry circle and flute crust edges together (this makes a double-crust pie)

To prepare topping: Prick top crust with tines of a fork. Combine egg yolk and remaining butter and brush over top crust.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until pie crust is flaky.

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Don't worry about the calories, sweeties! You can always substitute the ice cream and syrup for the nonfat variants. Or try strawberry ice cream instead of vanilla and top with some strawberry slices.