Grace has been begging to make an apple pie ever since we went apple picking last week so when we finally had some slow time yesterday, we baked an apple pie!! Sidenote, we’ve been reserving Sundays as “nothing days”, not making any plans whatsoever and it is truly magical. Especially now that it’s fall and winter, it’s so enjoyable to wake up and have nothing to do but whatever you want! I guess that’s what Sundays have always been for. But making it intentional has been so nice for our family.
I used a couple different cookbooks to come up with this apple pie recipe. So it’s inspired but definitely our own! I had only ever made pie crust with my mom who kind of steered the ship there so this was my first time doing it solo mission. But we succeeded! It’s VERY easy to make and we learned a couple of tricks along the way that I’ll share today!
Everything for the recipe we got from Walmart. We were shopping for Halloween decorations over the weekend and picked up our apple pie ingredients too! Walmart is so good for one stop shopping. You can get all the apple pie ingredients as well as the cookware. Our Walmart even had locally fresh apples for our pie! So no need to travel to the orchard!
We used a variety of apples because that’s what we had, and I don’t think it makes any difference once they’re covered in cinnamon and sugar!
Ingredients:
For the crust:
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 sticks of chilled salted butter
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon sugar
For the filling:
12 medium sized apples (we used only 8 to start, but I like it when the apples are high on the pie (higher than the height of the pie dish, looks prettier, and more apples to enjoy in each slice!) so I added more as we began filling the pie)
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/3 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of brown sugar
How to:
Add the flour, salt and sugar to a stand mixer, I have this one and LOVE it (best wedding shower gift ever).
Cut butter into tablespoon sized chunks and add to the flour. We used the knead tool on the stand mixer (comes with it and looks like a hook) on a low speed to get it going, and then ended up getting our hands in there and squeezing it all together.
Add 1/3 cup of cold water all at once and mix that in with the knead tool on low speed.
Put some flower onto your hands and get the dough into a ball, make sure the outsides are floured and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.
While your dough is being chilled, start working on your apples. Peel those puppies and cut them into 1-2 inch chunks. Add them to a mixing bowl and add your sugar and cinnamon.
Mix it all together and then place the apples in a strainer in the sink. You’ll have a good hour before you can get your dough and in that time, lots of the water from the apples will drain out so you’re not left with a watery pie in the end!
1 hour later…
Pre-heat oven to 350.
Pull your dough out from the fridge. Grab two big sheets of parchment paper and flour the piece that will sit on your counter. Unwrap your dough and place half of the chilled dough ball on the paper. Add a couple tablespoons of flour to the ball and place your other sheet of parchment paper on top.
Get ROLLING! Use a rolling pin like this to roll out your dough. You’ll need a large enough circle to lay inside your pie dish with a little left over for the sides so keep that in mind. It should be about 1/6 of an inch thick. Once you’ve got your shape lay that in the pie dish.
Make the same shape for the top.
Place your apples inside the pie dish and place the top sheet of dough on top.
You’ll have some excess on the side that you can peel off but remember you’ll want enough to seal the apples in with the dough around the rim of the dish. You can pinch the top and bottom layers of dough together to give it that classic pie rim look.
With your excess dough, use cookie cutters to make cute shapes that will go on your pie while it’s baking. Make these about 1/6 inch thick as well. Arrange them on the top of your pie.
Take a fork and poke some holes in the dough to let the air in.
Last step! Make an egg white wash (whisk an egg white) and use a brush to cover the top of the pie with a thin layer of wash. Sprinkle some sugar and cinnamon (pre-mix the two for color) on top and bake for 50 min!
Enjoy your apple pie with a big scoop of quality vanilla ice cream!
*thank you to Walmart for sponsoring this post
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