Apple Pie - Bill's Favorite Thing

It's still hot at 91 today. I decided to use the oven anyway. We had a nice Sunday lunch of pork loin, fresh green beans, iced tea and Bill's favorite thing in the whole world; warm, homemade apple pie and vanilla ice cream. It takes about this many dirty dishes to make . . .







this pie - but it's worth it! See recipe below. Notice that this pie only has the one crust. I like it that way - more filling, less crust!

This recipe, like many of my favorites, also came from Grandma R. I was thinking of her when I was cooking the fresh green beans too. She always said to cook them slow with not much water. Which means you have to watch them and add water a couple of times. We always cook them with some chopped onion and small chunks of ham. Grandma & Grandpa always ate a bite of fresh green beans with a bite of buttered bread and a bite of raw onion. Yum!

DUTCH APPLE PIE

1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. water
butter
about 5 large apples (I use Golden Delicious)

Mix the sugars and cinnamon together. Put half in the bottom of the pie crust. Quarter apples and arrange on top. Sprinkle rest of sugar mixture over top and dot with butter. Dribble water over all. Bake at 425 for 15 min., then at 325 for 45 minutes.

I usually, but not always, make my own crust. Here's the crust recipe:

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. Crisco
1/2 t. salt
1/3 c. cold water

Cut Crisco into the flour mixed with the salt. Stir in just enough water to hold the dough together in a ball. Handle as little as possible. Roll out for a one crust pie.

** a couple of the key things are to have the water very cold. I put a couple of ice cubes in the measuring cup and fill with water. Let it sit while you're getting the other ingredients ready. The other tip is to stir and handle as little as possible. This helps it be a flaky crust instead of tough. Many people use Granny Smith apples for their pies, but I prefer Golden Delicious. They turn out softer instead of crunchy when baked and sweeter.

I think I've said on here before that Grandma was very patient with me on learning how to make pie crust. I couldn't get the hang of crimping the edge and wanted her to "just do it" but she would show me how, again, and say "no, you keep trying".

By the way, I just looked up the word "dribble". I thought maybe it should be "drizzle". But dribble means to let or cause to fall in drops little by little so that works!