Archive: As American as Mom and Apple Pie

Original Post: Nov. 18, 2007

What would Thanksgiving be without apple pie? I have the traditional recipe from my mother here and also a pretty variation: Kyle's Apple Cranberry Pie. (I can't leave a recipe alone!)

Mom's Apple Pie

Enough pie crust for a double crust pie.

Apples: A combination of Macintosh, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith

½ cup to 2/3 cup sugar (I use ½ for an 8 inch crust and 2/3 for a 10 inch-again, our family likes things on the tart side)

2 Tablespoons of unbleached white flour (I have since changed to 1 T flour and 1T instant tapioca-it makes for a more translucent juice with a better consistency)

Cinnamon

Butter to dot the top, about 4 teaspoons

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Have the crust rolled out and ready: the bottom crust in the pie pan (I prefer glass unless you are freezing it first), and the top, ready to go, rolled out on the pastry cloth.

Wash the apples and start cutting one of each into quarters. Cut out the core and peel with a sharp paring knife. Cut each quarter into 3 to 4 sections. Arrange with the peeled side out around the bottom of the crust. Keep cutting up the apples and putting into the pie shell. While you don't have to make art work of this job, you don't want large pockets of air. I like to keep piling the apple pieces up until they mound up about 1 ½ inches above the pie pan edge level.

Mix up the sugar and flour (flour and tapioca) in a bowl. Add in cinnamon. This is to taste. Sprinkle some on and stir it in.

Spoon the sugary mixture over the apples in the pie pan. Try to get it down into the cracks and spaces between the apples if you can.

Cut up the butter into about 8 pieces and place evenly over the apples and sugar mixture.

Now put the top crust on. Pat the edges together and cut off excess crust leaving about ½ to 5/8 inch extra beyond the pie plate edge. Use a butter knife or small paring knife to cut through the crust, gently supporting from the underside the crust with your finger.

Fold under about ½ inch of the crust until the entire pie edge has been tucked under. Go around again and pat and form into a nice, even smooth edge. Crimp or decorate the edge.

Cut steam vents into the top. Use a knife and just cut slits about 1 ½ inch from the pie edge. Be sure to cut enough slits--it prevents soggy crust. You can also cut words or shapes into the top.

Place into the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake for another 45 minutes. Filling should be bubbling inside when done. If crust gets too brown, cut off strips of aluminum foil and loosely put over the pie edges.

Take out of the oven and set aside to cool.

For best results, serve on the same day you bake the pie.

If you wish to make them ahead, then freeze when you have the pie completed, but still unbaked. (Use aluminum pie pan, not glass.) When you want the pie, bake frozen. You will probably have to increase the 350 degree bake time.

Cranberry Variation:

Apples: Mixture of Macintosh, Golden Delicious, and Granny Smith - about 3 of each for a large pie

1 cup raw cranberries, washed

2/3 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon of white, unbleached flour

1 Tablespoon of instant tapioca

Cinnamon

Butter, about 4 teaspoons

Prepare as the Mom's Apple Pie above, but sprinkle the cranberries evenly through the apples in the pie shell.

The cranberries add a pretty color to the pie and give it a nice tart flavor. The tapioca keeps the juices from running too much and yet it is not too thick.

Macintosh apples break down in cooking and fill in the empty spaces. Golden Delicious keep their shape. Granny Smith give a nice, tart flavor.

Links: Practically Speaking, Betterbrookfield, RandyMelchert, Jay Weber, Vicki McKenna, The Right View Wisconsin, CNS News, Mark Levin, Breitbart BigGovernment, The Heritage Foundation