The Perfect Apple Pie

Crust (You will need to make the crust recipe two times (one for the bottom crust and one for the top crust) as the recipe makes one crust. I do not recommend doubling the recipe in the food processor. Make it two separate times for the best results.

By hand:

Mix flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl. Cut the chilled shortening into smaller cubes and add to the flour and salt. With a pastry cutter, cut until it forms a dough. Make a well in the middle of the dough and add the ice water. With a knife, mix water in gently moving the knife from the outside edges of the dough in to the middle until the water is incorporated. Do not over work the dough. Form the dough into a smooth fat disk with light a light touch. Place the disk of dough on a well floured surface and sift a generous amount of d=flour on top of the dough. Roll out the dough from the center out on a well floured surface. Flipping and adding more flour often until it is the size desired. Place the first rolled out round of dough in the pie dish. For the second rolled out dough round, use your large cookie cutters to cut out the leafs. You can roll out the dough two times only to cutout additional leaves. If you roll it out three or more times, the crust will be tough. The less you handle the dough, the better the crust.

In a food processor:

Mix flour and salt in a food processor. Cut the chilled shortening into small cubes and add to the flour and salt mixture. Mix until well incorporated. Add the ice water and mix until the dough forms a ball.

After placing the dough in the  pie dish, trim the crust 1 inch longer than the pie dish. Take the excess and fold it under. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, take the pie shell out of the refrigerator and with the tines of a fork, poke holes on the bottom and sides of the pie shell. Bake the crust for 10 minutes in a 4oo F oven (this will help the crust to not be soggy after adding the filling). Let the pie shell cool before adding the filling.

For tips to make the perfect crust, go to Tools and Tips.

Filling:

Mix all the ingredients together and pour into the pie shell. Top pie filling with 5 squares of butter. Top with overlapping the leaf cutouts. Brush the top crust with an egg wash (1 egg mixed with 2 Tbsp. water, milk or cream). Sprinkle with cinnamon/ sugar mixture. Place the pie on a rimmed jelly roll pan(cover with foil for easy clean up) to prevent juices that may leak to drip on the oven floor. Tent foil over the pie to prevent to the pie from over browning while baking. After 1 hour and 45 minutes, carefully remove the foil tent and cover the outer crust with wide foil strips to prevent the crust from over browning. Bake at 375 degrees for 2 hours- 2 hours and 20 minutes on a foil lined jelly roll pan. Juices should be bubbling from the middle of the pie when the pie is done. Cover lightly with foil again near the end if needed to prevent over browning. Enjoy!!