Project 2: Mammaw's Apple Pie

For my second project, cooking with someone, I decided to let my dad teach me how to make my grandmother’s (Mammaw’s) apple pie.  When my family visits my Mammaw and Papaw, Mammaw always makes the most wonderful desserts for us.  One of these is her apple pie.  This classic pie tastes delicious with her homemade crust with a sort of sugary glaze on top.  Cutting into the pie, one can see how full it is of apples and how well the pieces stay together to create the perfect slice.

Because Mammaw lives in West Virginia, I turned to my dad to try to teach me the secrets to my favorite kind of apple pie.  My dad began by giving me the crust recipe and showing me how to put together the dough.  We added half the butter into the flour to begin with, then added the other half a little later to make mixing the dough together easier.   

Mammaw, me, my dad, and my sister building a snowman over winter break.

 

After making the dough, we made the pie filling.  Mammaw doesn’t usually measure exactly the ingredients to go inside the pie, so my dad taught me how to look at the apple mixture and taste a slice of mixture-covered apple to determine if our balance of ingredients was correct.  Measuring what we added and calling Mammaw for some specific measurements, we were able to determine how much of each ingredient was to be added to the pie.   

Once we had assembled the filling, we put one piece of dough in the bottom of a glass pie pan and put the filling over it.  Although many people poke holes in the bottom of the pie, my dad shared with me that Mammaw didn’t.  Following the filling, we put the second piece of pie dough over the filling.  My dad taught me how to seal the pie put pushing the dough up slightly on the sides so the bottom and top crusts were joined but the dough didn’t crack.  We also cut off any extra dough that hung over the edge of the pie plate. 

Finally, we used a fork to make small holes in the top crust and brushed it with egg whites, making sure not to put too much in any one area.  We sprinkled sugar on the pie after about 20 minutes of baking, so the sugar would not burn.  In our first attempt, we added a bit too much lemon juice and sugar, but we were able to adjust the recipe slightly to better duplicate the flavor of Mammaw’s delicious pie.  Enjoy!

 

Mammaw’s Apple Pie

This sweet pie is a trademark of my grandmother’s during the holidays.

For crust:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 teaspoon salt

¾ cup shortening

5 teaspoons cold water
 

For filling:

6 cups apples, thinly sliced

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 egg white 

To make crust:

1. Sift flour and salt together.

2. Add half of shortening to flour mixture and combine using a fork.

3. Mix in remaining shortening, making sure not to overwork.

4. Add water and combine mixture with hands until it creates a firm, cohesive dough.

5. Form dough into a ball with hands and transfer to lightly floured surface.

6. Tear ball in half and form two balls.

7.  Use a rolling pin to shape dough into two circular shapes, about 1/16 inch thick each.

 

To make pie: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 ͦ F.

2. Place one piece of crust dough in the bottom of an ungreased glass pie plate.
 

 

3. In a medium bowl, combine apple slices, ½ cup sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice. Mix until all apple slices are coated.

4. Pour apple mixture into crust. 

5. Cover filling will second piece of pie crust.

6. Gently pinch upper and lower crust together to seal in filling, making sure not to tear any holes in the crust.

7. Carefully remove and pie crust hanging off the edge of the pie plate.

8. Using a knife, poke small holes into the top of the pie crust.
 

9.  Use a fork to gently scramble the egg white and use a pastry? brush to brush the top pie crust, so that there is a thin layer of egg white over the entire upper crust.

10.  Bake pie for 20 minutes then sprinkle top with remaining sugar.

11. Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes or until top is golden brown and liquid begins to bubble out of crust slightly. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

 

 

Yield: 1 pie (about 8 servings)

Using this recipe again, I had enough for two pies, so I tried making individual pies in a cupcake pan and found it worked out nicely.  To make these, follow the recipe for the regular-sized pie, but instead treat each cupcake tin like an individual pie.  One pie recipe makes about seven individual pies. Here's a picture of them after baking!