Apple Pie

Apple picking again, this long weekend!  For those of you who don't know about my passion for apple picking are in for a treat with this new recipe!  We combined cortland and macintosh apples but you can use any good bakng apple that you usually use.  This is an older recipe that my mom has been using since I was born, and probably much before then as well.  It comes from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. It is probably the best cookbook hands down for traditional cooking.  Our copy is well worn, having it since 1980, it should be. 

Now this recipe, I will not ever change, try to sub the necessary fat, exchange whole wheat flour or anything else.  You can if you want to but this is the best, no substitutions.  So, if you do, don't say I didn't warn you!

For the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons Crisco
6 tablespoons butter
5-6 tablespoons or more of ice cold water

(It's important that all ingredients are cold for this to come together properly.  I suggest putting the Crisco in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes before starting it.)

In a medium bowl, measure out flour and salt.  With a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut Crisco and butter into the flour until the mixture looks crumbly.

Sprinkle in cold water, a tablespoon at a time, mixing gently with a fork until the dough just hold together.

Shape into a ball and divide into two equal portions.

Take one dough ball and roll out on a flour surface until large enough to cover the bottom of the greased pie plate. Trim off extra overhanging dough.  Fill with the pie filling.

Roll out other dough ball and repeat process for making the top pie crust.   Make sure to seal the crust by folding around the edges and pressing in with a floured fork. 

Slit holes in the top, Brush with milk or cream and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake according to directions of the pie recipe.

For Blueberry Apple Pie Filling:
2 pie crusts
2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
6-7 cups thinly sliced, peeled, and cored cooking apples
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup blueberries, fresh or well rinsed frozen
milk

Preheat oven to 425.

Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon peel and juice, apples, and blueberries in a large bowl.  Mix until well incorporated. 

Dish into pie crust. Cut up butter into small pieces and sprinkle over top of filling.  Top with second pie crust.  Slit top crust and brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, lower oven temperature to 375 and bake for another 40 minutes or until golden brown and syrup has a thick consistency.

Fluffy Blueberry Pancakes

It is fall and although I really cannot get enough fall flavors, I had to go for some old fashioned blueberry pancakes today.  After a brief search I found this recipe and did a tweak or two to it.  They were AMAZING.  I have never had a fluffier pancake. Ever. Period. So I decided to make these and it was my plan to take a few pictures and to finally get some photos of my food on here, but alas, no such luck.  They were gone before I had even finished cooking them.  So!  Here's the recipe:

2 eggs, separated

1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

3 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

1 tablespoons butter, melted

2 teaspoons canola oil

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed

In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; set aside.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Beat egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl and add milk and melted butter. Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients; mix until batter is smooth and stir in blueberries. Fold in beaten egg whites. Bake on hot greased griddle. Serve with warm maple syrup. 
For big crowds, I suggest a double batch!

It actually called for three tablespoons of butter, but I only had about one and wasn't going to the grocery store until later so I just added two teaspoons of oil and it was still delicious and probably not needing of the extra.  You could also make these any kind by substituting the blueberries for chocolate chips, apples, cinnamon chips etc. Anything works! 

Hope you all enjoy the rest of the long weekend!  Perfect pancakes to make on a day off!  Sometime soon, I'll also be posting recipes for a wonderful pie crust to go with an awesome blueberry apple pie.  It's actually in the oven right now :) See you soon!