Fall fresh off-the-tree tart apples, apple cider and the perfect amount of spices bake into a warm slice All American Classic Apple Pie!
Author: Portlandia Pie Lady
Equipment
Pressure cooker or water bath canner if preserving apple pie filling (directions below).
Ingredients
Apple Pie Filling
5cupssliced peeled, cored tart apples, 2 to 3 varieties(Gala, Northern Spy, Granny Smith, Orondo Rose)
3/4cupsugar
1/4 cup(Clear Jel®)** food starch or Tapioca starch
1 teaspooncinnamon
1/4 teaspoonnutmeg
3/4cupapple cider (for better flavor use a cider that has different apples)
2tablespoonslemon juice
dashofsalt
1 tablespoonbutter
Grandma's Pie Crust (makes a double crust 9-inch pie)
2cupsflour
1teaspoonsalt
2tablespoonssugar
1/8 teaspoonbaking powder
1cupvegetable shortening
1/2cup cold water
Instructions
Filling:
Peel, core & slice apples, place in large bowl of water with 2 tablespoons of salt (stops oxidation while preparing filling).
In a sauce pan combine sugar, food starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, apple cider, lemon juice, and salt; cook and stir constantly over medium to high heat, until mixture begins to bubble and loses the opaque color and starts to turn translucent (it will look like melted caramel).
Drain apples and fold into hot filling.
Pie Crust:
In a large bowl using a pastry cutter or large serving fork, cut in all dry ingredients until crumbly. Add cold water all at once and give a few stirs, just until forms a ball (do not kneed or over mix).
Pie Assembly
Divide dough in half (this will be rather soft). Roll out half of the dough about 1-1/2 inches larger than circumference of pie plate. Roll dough up onto rolling pin and unroll into pie plate.
Pour filling into prepared pie crust and dot with butter
Brush the edges of the pie crust with egg wash or water, and roll out the other half of the dough and place on the top crust.
Trim and crimp the edges and cut vents into pie to allow steam to escape.
Bake 55 to 60 minutes @ 350 F.
Canning/Preserving Apple Pie Filling
Follow recipe above (1 apple pie filling recipe makes about 1 quart pie filling). Fill jars with hot filling and process as below:
Pressure cooker: 15 pounds pressure for 0 minutes, 10 pounds pressure for 15 minutes OR Water Bath Canner: 25 minutes
Notes
**Clear Jel is a type of food starch, a type of cornstarch that does not break down in high heat. Highly recommended if canning the filling. Tapioca starch also works well. Flour can be substituted as well for the filling when making a pie.