Food Friday! : Perfect Apple Pie

Perfect Apple Pie

With fall well on its way, and apples in season, I decided to make an apple pie for us to enjoy while watching the Yellow Jackets play last weekend. It turned out great! I must be honest...this is a collaboration of Paula Dean's apple pie filling (from her Crunch Top Apple Pie recipe) and a Cooking Light apple pie crust. It worked well together and the pie was delicious! When I found out Paula's pie crust recipe used 12 additional tablespoons of butter for the same amount of dough, I just couldn't bring myself to make it! 


Dough Ingredients:
 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (of course, I used half all-purpose flour, and half whole wheat flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup ice water
Cooking spray

Filling Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Dash salt
3 1/2 cups peeled, chopped cooking apples(I use 3-4 medium sized peeled apples, depending on how stuffed you want the pie...)
1 (16-ounce) jar applesauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter, chopped into small pieces


Preparation

Lightly spoon 2 1/2 cups flour into dry measuring cups and level with a knife. Combine 2 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually add ice water; toss with a fork until flour mixture is moist. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions. Gently press each portion into a 4-inch circle on heavy-duty plastic wrap. Cover and chill 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

While dough is chilling, preheat oven to 425°. Prepare filling: Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Stir in apples, apple sauce, and lemon juice. Set aside.

Once the dough is chilled, unwrap and place 1 portion of chilled dough on floured wax paper. Roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Place dough in 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray. Spoon apple mixture into pie pan and dot with the 2 tablespoons chopped butter. Unwrap and place the second portion of chilled dough on floured waxed paper and roll dough into another 12-inch circle. Lay over the top of the pie and press edges of the pie together, also removing excess dough hanging out of/off of the dish. Cut several slits in the top of the dough to allow steam to escape. You can also decorate with any left over dough pieces.

Still unbaked, but having a little fun with some fall-inspired leaves!

Place pie plate on a foil-lined baking sheet; bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350° (do not remove pie from oven); bake an additional 40 minutes or until browned. Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy (best served with vanilla ice cream)!  :)