My Best Decorative Apple Pie
If It's Apple Why Not Make It Look Apple
It's the season to enjoy the bounties of summer. The farmers markets are full of fresh off the tree apples and fruits of the vine. There's a beautiful array of colors and flavors for your family and guests to oooo and ahhhh over. This time of year brings out the best of pies. All sorts of Apples are in the markets to pick from and create your special Apple pie.
The variations you can use are many and you can refine a recipe to your liking. Make it yours and make it your special Apple Pie!
My Apple pie is simple but tasty and pretty. It makes a beautiful addition to the dessert sideboard. I'm going to share how I make it below.
Remember The Stories About Johnny Appleseed?
Well here is a bit of information about him; compliments of Wikipedia.
I personally find these details fascinating.
Johnny Appleseed (September 26, 1774 - March 18, 1845), was born John Chapman,he was an American pioneer and nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and I'm sure we can thank him today for that.
He became an American legend while still alive, largely because of his kind and generous ways, his great leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples.
The popular image of Johnny Appleseed had him spreading apple seeds randomly, everywhere he went. In fact, he planted nurseries rather than orchards, built fences around them to protect them from livestock, left the nurseries in the care of a neighbor who sold trees on shares, and returned every year or two to tend the nursery. Many of these nurseries were located in the Mohican area of north-central Ohio. This area included the towns of Mansfield, Lucas, Perrysville, and Loudonville.[6]
More interesting facts about Johnny Appleseed can be found here on Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Appleseed
The Most Wonderful Thing Happens When You Bake An Apple Pie
You Home Fills With The Scent Of Apple And Cinnamon! How Cozy Is That?
You'll find some varitions to this pastry in this lens.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of Flour
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2/3 cup chilled Shortening
- Cold water
- approx 6 Tablespoons
Instructions
- Sift flour, measure, add salt and sift again. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in half of the shortening until mixture resembles course corn meal. I've found that my food processor will also do this very nicely. Add the rest of the shortening and cut in again coarsely or until particles are the size of peas.
- Sprinkle water, 1 Tablespoon at a time over small portions of flour/shortening mixture pressing with a fork until they cling together, moving aside pieces and sprinkling water until all dry flour/shortening has clung together. Do NOT stir or mix just pressed together as you add the cold water. Keep pressing particles together as you add the water moving the parts that have clung together aside. Your mixture should not be wet or slippery. At this point you can press all together with your fingers or turn out on waxed paper and press to make a ball. Then chill the dough and prepare your apples.
- To prepare pastry use 1/2 of this recipe. It will make one 9 inch pie shell. Roll out on a lightly floured board. Roll into a circle approx. 1/8 th inch thick. It should be rolled 2 inches larger than the top of your pie pan, which you can turn upside down and lay on your crust to size. Once you have the proper size you can fold your pastry in half and then half again, place in your pie pan; unfold it and fit it loosely. Trim the edge leaving about 1 inch to hang over edge of pan. Put your apple filling inside your unbaked pastry crust, adding small pats, (a pat cut into 1/4's) of butter around top (about 4 pcs around top of apples) and proceed with the pastry that's left to make your top crust.
- This is where I decorate my Apple Pie.
- Place top crust over filled bottom crust and trim to 1 inch around. Crimp edges with fingers to make a scalloped decorated edge. Beat 1 egg with about 1/2 tablespoon of water until well beaten and somewhat frothy. Brush this egg mixture onto your pastry crust to cover, including scalloped edge. Roll remaining crust pieces flat and cut out and apple and leaves. Place apple, leaves and tiny stem pieces onto the center of your pie. Brush your pie crust decorations with egg mixture. I cut 4 half circle slits in the top of my crust around my decoration to vent the pie.
- Bake at 375 degrees on center rack in, preheated oven for approx 40 - 50 minutes. If scalloped edge starts to get to brown cover this area with pieces of tin foil to reflect the heat. Test your pie through the vent slits with a fork to see if apples are done. The fork should slide through them easily and find no resistance.
- Remove your pretty pie from oven and cool on a baking rack. It will have a beautiful lightly brown glossy appearance from the egg wash. Enjoy with ice cream or whipped cream.
- Some people like a slice of apple pie in a bowl covered with milk or cream.
A Variation To Your Pastry
You can add interest to your pastry by adding 2/3 cup of ground pecans, walnuts or black walnuts. This is great for your butterscotch or chocolate cream pies!
Want Another Idea
Decrease your shortening to 1/2 cup and add 1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese. Good with an Apple filling.
A Twist To Your Pastry And Spice It Up!
Sift 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp of ginger and 1/4 tsp of cloves with your pastries flour and salt. This spicy pastry is GOOD with a apple pie filling or how about that buttermilk pie.
The Apple Filling - No Pie Is A Pie Without A Filling
- Sugar 3/4 to 1 cup
- Flour 1 to 2 Tablespoons
- Cinnamon 1/2 to 1 tsp or to taste ( I like to use 1 tsp.)
- Nutmeg 1/4 tsp optional
- Salt 1/8 th tsp.
- Apples peeled and sliced thin 4 - 5 cups
- Lemon juice 1 Tablespoon optional
- Butter 1 Tablespoon cut into 1/4's for top of apples.
Instructions
- Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt. Spread 1/2 of this mixture over pasty lined pan. Add apples and sprinkle remainder of mixture over the apples. You can also just mix the mixture in with your prepared apples and pour into your prepared pie crust. Top with butter pats and cover with your top crust.
- Next add your prettiest apple pie crust decoration I've described above, at the bottom of the pastry recipe.
A Bit Of Back Ground About Apple Pie
Thank You Wiki
The English colonists had to wait for their apple pies since their seedlings had to be brought in barrels across the Atlantic and then also they waited for those seedlings to become fruit bearing trees.
While the colonists waited they made their pies from meats called pasties. Once available the main use for apples was for cider. But there are American apple pie recipes, both manuscript and printed, from the eighteenth century, and it has since become a very popular dessert.
F.Y.I
One of the readers on this page recommended a tiny bit of vinegar in your pie crust makes it very flaky.
I haven't tried this but you might like that idea.
Just A Crumb
Apple Pie Is A Big Part Of The American Culture With Recipes Dating Back To The 18th Century.
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