Happy Heart Apple Pie

So as we all know, I bake a good bit. It seems to be my thing. I also tend to know a good bit about running a house, could be that my mom was a fantastic homemaker or I just read a lot of magazines. It never really realized to me how what I thought was simple knowledge is not necessarily so to others around me.

My friend Kristi and I took a trip up to the orchards last weekend to pick some apples. We walked around and picked apples. I am a chatter box as well I just keep talking and talking about random stuff I know. I went on and on about how you want Granny Smith or Golden Delicious to make an apple pie as opposed to Red Delicious which aren't firm enough to hold up in baking and so they need to be used for applesauce. Luckily Kristi is the best and had no problem at all listening to me ramble on and on about this.

As we were picking apples she asked if I would teach her how to make an apple pie and I jumped at the opportunity to say yes, because I just love when people want to learn to do something I love myself. We decided to meet on a Tuesday with our fresh picked apples and I would teach her the tricks and trades.

She came over and I had already made my pie crust which is soooo easy!

Basically

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 Sticks of butter
1/4 cup water

Mix the flour and the salt together in a bowl.
Then I use a pastry cutter and cut in the butter...or honestly you can use a fork and then your fingers to make sure that it is mixed in.
Lastly add in the water and mix it all together so that it forms a ball. Then cut it in half. (If you choose to use it at a later time just wrap it in Saran wrap and put it in the fridge till your ready to use it) Flour a surface and I like to flour my rolling pin. Then roll out the dough to be as flat as you can and so that it's round enough to fill in the pie pan. Using the pin transfer your dough from the counter to the pan and press it into all of the creases using your fingers to fill in everything. If you have extra dough coming over the sides you can cut it off and toss it or keep it around and see how I use it later.

It's a little blurry but here is Kristi pressing in her pie crust and then of course Milo who hung around in the kitchen with us the whole time.

Then comes to fun part, pie filling time!

I used the recipe for a Dutch Apple Pie from Happy Hour Projects.

4 Medium-Large Apples

½ c. sugar

¼ c. brown sugar

3 Tbsp. flour

¾ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

 

Topping:

 

¾ c. flour

⅓ c. softened butter (not melted)

¼ c. sugar

¼ c. brown sugar

½ tsp. cinnamon

 

Oven set to 357

Take some Golden Delicious or Granny Smith or any other firm apple (in my opinion Golden Delicious make the best pies). You do not want to use Red Delicious they will just turn to mush and not hold their apple slice shapes that you want.
You will want to peel, core, and slice the apples. I own a gadget that does all three of these and I was so excited showing and using it with Kristi that I forgot to take a picture. The gadget cuts a lot of time so if you do it by hand this will be the longest step.

After you have all your apples sliced up place them in a large bowl.

In a smaller bowl mix together all the rest of the ingredients for the pie filling.

 

After all those ingredients are mixed pour them over the apples and mix them all together so that the apples are well and covered all over.

After all your apples look nice and covered them, pour the entire bowl into your pie crust and make sure that they sit evenly.

Then you can use the same small bowl or a new one, up to you and mix together everything but the butter for the topping. Then cut in the butter and it will resemble wet sand.

Then take a handful and bunch it together in your hand then crumble it all over your pie so that everything is covered.

You can take your extra dough and cut out cute shapes or anything else you want and just lay it on top of the crumble. I decided to use a bunch of little circles and make a heart.

 

Place your pie on a cookie sheet covered in tin foil to catch any juice that might bubble over. Place the pie in the oven for about 45-55 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

 

Kristi made hers with a cute apple decal on the top of her pie, how cute!

You want to let it cool completely for a couple of hours so that it can set, if you cut in too early it will be very juicy and will fall apart. We didn't wait haha, but that's ok it was still good, presentation was not what we were going for. Top it off with some ice cream and you are all set.

All in all it was sooo delicious and so much fun to make with my friend. So glad she wanted to come over and learn.

Tonight I am making a football blanket that has been circulating Pinterest for my nephew for Christmas, hopefully I will be posting that tomorrow.

For now, go get some apples and make you a pie!

Jenny

Don't forget to check out my other posts on my Fall Baking List!