Apple Pie

Last Thursday, on one of the many rainy days of the holidays, I asked my little brother what he would like to bake. He told me, somewhat enthusiastically, that he would like to make apple pie. It turned out that we had all the ingredients, so we went to the kitchen, and baked up a storm. Now, when my little brother says he'll bake with me, or that he wants to bake, what that means is that he will hang 'round in the kitchen for a while, making mischief, then will leave and play Lego somewhere. But anyway, I enjoyed baking the pie, and I had never tried making that type of desert before, and so I was pleased with myself for expanding my baking repertoire.
That pie turned out great, my family all loved it, and I've made it once again since then, especially for my Grandad, who came up for lunch yesterday. So, if you hadn't guessed this already, I have decided to teach you all how to make a very nice apple pie. I got the original address from www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/recipe/apple_pie_recipe.htm but have changed the recipe after what I learnt when I was making it.

So, to make the pastry you need:
2 1/2 cups white flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup cold butter, broken into small pieces or 1/2 cup margarine (it doesn't really matter)
1/2 cup ice water

Mix the flour, sugar and salt together. Be generous with the flour, because it's better to have more pastry than you need when covering the pie.
If you're using chilled butter pieces, 'cut them in' by placing them all in the bowl and crushing it with the flat side of a butter knife. If you're using margarine, rub it in using your fingers until the mixture becomes crumb-like. You might find you will need to rub in the butter as well as cutting it in, to make sure it is well combined. Stop as soon as it is completed; be sure not to overmix. Add the ice water gradually, you will find you might need more or less. Add it a few tablespoons at a time, until the batter turns to a soft dough that isn't sticky but holds together.
Lightly flour a surface and knead the dough (press it down with your knuckles) then divide it in half. Then flatten each portion into it rough disk, no thicker than an inch or so. Cover each disk in glad wrap and pop it into the freezer for half an hour. While the pastry is chilling I find it's the perfect time to prepare the filling.

To make the filling you'll need:
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
6-8 medium sized red or green apples, (depending on how big you dish is and how much apple you want in your pie)

Pre-heat the oven to about 170'C (depending on your type of oven, but remember we want the pie to cook slowly, from the inside out, and by having the oven temperature too high, you will end up burning the crust and having under-cooked filling).
Mix together the flour, sugar, cinnamon (you can put a whole teaspoon in if you really like the taste of the spice) in a large mixing bowl.
Peel the apples, and cut around the core, then cut each quarter piece into thirds (I find this is a good size to have in the pie). Try and make all the pieces even. Mix the apples and the dry-mix together, and mix with your hands if need be to cover all the apples.
Now it's time to grease and line the pastry dish (you can use a low cake dish, or even muffin dishes if you want to make mini apple pies).

Grease the dish with marge or butter or cooking oil (the base ans the sides), then you can even line it with baking paper or sprinkle it with a little flour. Get the pastry out of the freezer, sprinkle flour or cornflour onto a fairly large, flat surface (I prefer cornflour because it isn't absorbed by the dough and makes it very flexible). Roll each disk out until it's large enough to generously cover the bottom of your dish. Hold it over you dish and press it to the bottom of the dish from the centre out to the edge. Leave a slight overlap of pastry at the edge. Using a fork, add a few air-holes (for lack of a better term) in the bottom of the dish. Rub a tiny bit of butter/marge to the pastry. Pour in the filling. Cover the apple filling with the other rolled-out disk of pastry and leave an overlap matching the one of the base. Put plenty of air-holes in the top of the pie so steam can escape during cooking. Press the two overlaps together with a fork and fold back onto the pie so no pastry is over the actual pastry dish.
Place in the hot oven. It will need to cook for 40-50 minutes, but check on it regularly, making sure the pastry isn't getting to brown or one side isn't cooking faster than the other.
When juice starts bubbling through the slits or air-holes, the pie is ready.
Leave to cool for about ten minutes, then cut and serve. This pie is particularly delectable with milk or vanilla ice cream.

Now you know how to make a very nice apple pie- enjoy!