Simple Apple Pie Recipe

At times I have craved for certain food or desserts. Most of the time, I crave for desserts. This crave will motivate me to try making/baking whatever I crave for. Last month I wanted so much to eat Cheese Cake and I pamper myself with one non bake peach cake (recipe can be found on “RECIPE Cake”). Today, I’m missing apple pie. Haha…

Here’s one that I bake that is for 8 servings.

Pie Plate – 9”

CRUST (for one double crust):
Ingredient (A)
2 1/2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
Ingredient (B)
1/2 cup chilled cold butter
5 tbsp. chilled cold vegetable shortening
Ingredient (C)
8 tbsp. ice water

FILLING
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
6 - 8 medium sized apples (Peel, core and slice in even size)
2 tablespoons margarine

(Mix flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, sugar, salt well and add apple. Stir well and dot with margarine.)

(Note : My picture of the pie is using 5 apples as my kids requested to have a flat pie. I prefer one that is with 8 apples.)

STEPS :
Place Ingredient (A) into a big mixing bowl and stir together till combine.

Cut chilled butter and shortening (B) into the bowl using pastry cutter or knife. I find it easier using forks. Do not over mix and try to squeeze the butter/shortening with your hand.

Add ice water (C) into the bowl and mix until a dough is formed and holds together. You may add a bit more water if the dough is too dry (like cracking).

Turn the dough onto a clean and lightly floured surface. Knead it till the dough is smooth. Divide it into two parts. One for base crust and the other for top crust. Flatten both half into a disk (like a CD disk) and wrap up with saran wrap or clean plastic bag if saran wrap is not available. Chill for half an hour.

Roll out one disk on lightly floured surface to form a 12 inches diameter round base. Grease the pie plate with butter (or olive oil / sunflower seed oil). Place the flatten dough into the pie plate. Trim away excess dough from the edge with a knife. Poke holes on this base crust using forks. Place it back to the refrigerator while getting ready the fillings and top crust.


Get ready the fillings and roll out the second disk for top crust. Bring out the base crust from the refrigerator, add filling and cover it with top crust. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together. Cut a few slits or use forks to poke holes on top crust.

Preheat oven at 270 degree for 4 minutes. Place the pie into the oven and bake for another 40 – 50 minutes until crust turn brown. You will see juice begins to bubble through the holes you poke. Use skewer or satay stick to insert into the pie crust to test if the pie is ready. If it comes out clean, the pie is ready.



TIPS :
1) If your oven is of strong heat, you may cover the pie using aluminum foil to prevent it turning too brown.
2) When apple is too juicy, it will exudes a lot of juice. Thus, it is advisable to leave the apple after mixing for a while before picking them up and placing them onto the base crust.
3) You may include other fruits like berries, peach, resins to add extra flavor.
4) I choose Crisco shortening as it is 0% trans fat. It has markings on the wrappers indicating 1T, 2T etc (1T = 1Tbsp) for easy measuring. I don’t even need a measuring cup to measure how much to use.
5) Use remaining dough if any as decoration on the top crust.