It's as easy as pie

Don't ask me why... but for some reason I don't consider making a pie, baking. Pies are an easy and inexpensive way to bring something to a gathering that has the appearance that you have really done something special. But really, it's as easy as pie. Get it?

My friend MJ's mom will just on the spur of the moment bust out her food processor and start baking a pie. It always amazed me because I thought pie was like all other baking. 1. A big mess 2. Time consuming 3. Like canning somehow where it took the better part of the day. Not true! She made it look so easy and doable that right then and there (whenever that was) I incorporated pies into my cooking club. Therefore, they are not baking. That is what I tell myself anyway.

I have since adapted both her berry pie and apple pie over the years and today I bring you the apple. Come Thanksgiving...I will bake the berry.

Seems to me that the key to a good apple pie is apples which aren't cut too big or too small. To big and it's just uncooked hunks of apple in crust. Too small and you have an applesauce pie. Both gross. I cut my peeled and cored granny smith apples into quarters and then each quarter in 1/2. Then each of those into 4 pieces. For me, that seems to be a good size for as long as I bake my pies. I prefer using granny smith apples because of the tartness and they hold up really well during baking without mushing out. Blah.

I also like to macerate my apples in a sugar, cinnamon and corn starch mixture for about 20-30 minutes. The apples lose some juice and it makes a yummy sauce that bakes up and thickens with the pie. Nobody wants a dry pie.

Pie crust is scary isn't it? It's a whole dough thing for me. I am just afraid of dough because I don't have "the touch" that bakers say you need to feel the humidity of dough. That is why the pre-prepared dough industry is booming. People, pie dough is soooooooo easy. If I tell you it's easy, it is. Stop buying refrigerated pie dough for pete's sakes!!!

Dust off your food processor. Find all the pieces and listen up! If you have a food processor that you don't use and were thinking of donating it - Don't!! I use mine for pie crust and hummus and now it earns it's keep. Food processors are like air conditioning in houses located in Washington state.....when you need it, you need it. Am I right? The great thing about the food processor is that it will incorporate the fat into your flour quickly and therefore, you get a flakier pie crust. It's the chunks of fat in the crust that make it yummy.

Thank you Mrs. Johnson.

Apple Pie

Filling
1 cup sugar
cinnamon to taste
2 tbl cornstarch
5-6 granny smith apples cut in chunks (peeled and cored)

Crust
2 cups all purpose flour
dash of sugar
dash of salt
2/3 cup shortening
7 tablespoons ice water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine filling mixture and set aside stiring occasionally. As the apples release juice, a sauce will form. In a food processor combine all but water and pulse until it looks like oatmeal. Add water and run until a ball forms. Divide dough in two parts. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for about 15 minutes. Roll out and assemble pie. Cut slits in top of pie for steam to escape. Brush top of pie with milk or egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for 40-50 minutes longer or until crust is golden brown and you hear the juice inside bubbling. Cool on a wire rack.