Our "dessert first on the first" family tradition is in full bloom! On the menu for dinner tonight: Apple pie a la mode... the pie and the a la mode will be made from scratch, and documented after a quick note from our sponsors.
Just kidding, it's from me. I just wanted to make it sound cool.
Normally I would link back to my post about Family Traditions right now, but my site is undergoing some changes and the link would send you somewhere far off... which brings me to my next point: I (begrudgingly) changed the name of my blog. I would normally link to the post about that now, but.... yeah. Annoying. Just look for it below this one, it was my most recent post.Alrighty, let's get down to business. Yesterday I told you about how horrible I am at recipe writing and following.
So, to check those posts out, you can look for "Angie, are you mad?" and "It's an old family tradition" over there in my blog archives to the right... or you can search for them. Hopefully those links work. If not, I'm sorry -- I'm working on it.
There is a caveat to that, I absolutely positively neeeeed a recipe when baking. I am kind of terrible at baking, even with a recipe -- I'm working on it. I got this recipe from my MIL (Mother in law), who I am convinced is the world's best baker and a ridiculously wonderful lady. I'm lucky, I've heard MIL horror stories...
Pictures following recipes.
Apple Pie Filling:
6-8 Med apples (I use organic green baking apples, or a mixture of whatever is in my crisper)
1 C Granulated sugar
4 T Flour
1 t Cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Peel, core, and cut apples into wedges, not exceeding about 1/4 inch thick. Add remaining ingredients. Mix together until apples are well coated. Set aside. Important: Do not eat all of the sugary delicious apples, or you won't have a pie.
Crust:
2 C Flour
1 t Salt (Sea salt if you have it)
3/4 C Shortening
5 T Cold Water
Sift together flour and salt. Drop in shortening. Use a pastry blender (or, like me, two knives) and cut in the shortening until the mixture is a pile of little balls. Pour 5T of cold water over the ball mixture. Press together to form a ball. Knead briefly in your hands. Break into two equal sized balls, these will eventually be two crusts -- top and bottom!
Lay wax paper on your working surface, dust with flour. Dust rolling pin. Roll out each crust, making sure to lift crust and dust underneath with flour as you go and re-dust your rolling pin after every few 'rolls.' Cut into a circle about one inch large than the top of your pie plate. Place crust in bottom of the pan, fill with apples.
Roll out second crust. Cut into circle shape (also one inch larger as before) and place on top of the apples. Tuck top crust around bottom crust. Pinch edges all around the pan. Cut steam holes. Sprinkle sugar on top. See pictures below.
Ice Cream (Vanilla) for Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker:
1 C Whole Milk, well chilled. (2% or half and half would be ok too)
3/4 C Granulated sugar
2 C Heavy Whipping Cream (Do not sub this, you'll be sorry if you do)
1 -2 t Pure vanilla extract (to taste)
In medium mixing bowl combine milk and sugar. Use hand mixer (or enthusiastically whisk) until the sugar is dissolved, about 1-2 mins with mixer on low speed. Stir in heavy cream and vanilla to taste. Assemble and turn on machine, pour in mixture. Let work for 25-30 minutes. Scrape into freezer safe bowl and let ripen in freezer for 2 hrs. (Or, eat it right away... it will be soft serve consistency)
Crappy Droid Pro Pics:
Got to workin and burnt my crust... try not to do that. I should have covered my pie with foil once it had a nice golden color, but instead I filled out paperwork and forgot about it. Whoopsie.
Hope you enjoyed my Apply Pie tutorial! See you tomorrow!
Love,
Your favorite hippie
