Apple Pie #2

Here is the recipe for the next Apple Pie, or in this case it shall be referred to as Apple Pie #2. This pie recipe comes from yet another of my favorite cookbooks, "The Fannie Farmer Baking Book" by Marion Cunningham. In the cookbook, it is entitled "Basic Master Recipe: American Apple Pie". It is written for someone who has never made a pie before, and takes up a little more than 9 pages in a cookbook. That is a lot of pages! It gives extremely detailed directions along with illustrations of everything involved. So if you have never made a pie before, and are in need of being walked through the process step by step, then this cookbook is for you. I am going to limit my recipe to the most important part -- the apple filling; and assume that you either already know how to make a pie crust, or know where to find ready made crusts in your local grocery store. And as a side note, I used to buy the ready made crusts. When my children were younger, that seemed to be the easiest way to get a pie baked in a hurry. And then one day, I was referring to how my mom makes the best pie crusts in the world. One of my daughters looked at me with a surprised look on her face and said, "you mean you can make pie crusts?" At that moment I decided I needed to stop buying the ready made pie crusts, and start making them from scratch. It doesn't take that much time, and they really are far more superior to the store bought. Besides the fact that I felt horrified that my kids didn't even know that someone could "make" them.

My kitchen is very tiny, so when I do make pie crusts, I take over the kitchen table since I don't have the cupboard space. Here is proof that I did indeed make a homemade crust for "Apple Pie #2":

And now on to the recipe.

Apple Pie #2

Unbaked pie crusts for a double crust pie

8 cups sliced and peeled apples

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

2 T. flour

1/8 tsp. salt

1 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 T. (1/4 stick) butter

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Stir together the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and salt. Combine with the apple slices. Sprinkle the lemon juice over this mixture and mix together. Pour the apple mixture into your unbaked pie crust. Slice the butter into small pieces onto the top of the apples. Place the top crust over all, press the edges of the crusts together and flute. Don't forget to cut a few slits into the top crust before baking. If you like, you can cover the edges of the pie crust with foil to keep them from browning too much.

Place the pie in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 deg. and continue baking for 20 to 30 minutes, or until done.

This is what mine looked like before I popped it into the freezer. We will be tasting Apple Pie #2 at a later time.