As a little boy I grew up helping my mother make apple and fruit pies. She was from Cork in southern Ireland so I'm guessing the recipe is Irish and possibly the same one her mother taught her. Sadly my mum is no longer with us, but her legendary apple pi
INGREDIENTS (for 8 servings):
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 3 tablespoons shortening
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 1/8 teaspoon lemon juice
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- 5 large Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and sliced
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tablespoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon lemon juice
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- 1 egg, beaten
PREPARATION:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9 inch pie pan.
To Make Crust: In a large bowl, combine flours, salt and sugar. Cut in butter and shortening until coarse crumbs are formed. Mix in sour cream and lemon juice. Keep mixing until dough forms a ball; dough may be slightly lumpy, this is fine. Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and allow to chill for 1 hour.
Once chilled, take dough out of refrigerator and cut it in half; keep one half covered and in the refrigerator. Roll dough to 1/8 of an inch. To lift pie shell, roll dough around rolling pin and then unroll into pie pan. Trim overhanging edges of pie crust.
To Make Filling: Place apples into pie shell. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour and nutmeg; mix thoroughly. Sprinkle mixture over apples. Squirt lemon juice over apples. Place pie in refrigerator while top crust is rolled out.
Remove pie from refrigerator. Brush outer edge of bottom crust with beaten egg. Place second crust on top of pie; crimp pie shell edges together. Brush entire top crust with egg and cut 4 steam slots into it.
Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 45 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow pie to completely cool before serving. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Baking pie is a rather straightforward technique, but a few tips can only help to make your pies come out looking and tasting perfect!