I AM WOMAN, Watch me cook!: Homemade Apple Pie

I am ashamed to admit...that this was the first ever apple pie I have made from scratch. I have always just purchased ready made pies from the store. Why you ask? I was scared of making pie crust. Totally intimidated, freaked out, and worried I would waste all that apple goodness to a crappy crust. So this year I decided to bite the bullet and make it...well I have to say I was super happy with the results!! I did a lot of research before I started...got a lot of tips from the pro's and just used a little common sense when picking out the ingredients (read: Butter is ALWAYS better!). Here are my step by step instructions to a beautiful flaky apple pie!

I used a food processor to make my dough. It is wayyy easier and cleaner than using your hands. In your food processor combine 2 Cups All Purpose Flour, 1 Tsp Salt and 1 Tbsp Granulated Sugar. Pulse a couple of times to combine.

Now this is important. Freeze your butter and only remove it from the freezer when you are ready to use it. Otherwise when you are working the dough the butter will start to melt and be really sticky...which would then involve more flour being used...which would result in a doughy crust instead of flaky. So just freeze your butter ok?
Add 1 Cup cubed butter to the food processor and pulse until the butter and flour mixture turns into little butter clumps.

Add another 1/2 cup of flour...pulse a few times and pour out the crumbly mixture into a bowl.

Add 1/4 cup of very cold water to the dough and start combining with your hands here. The dough should easily come together.

Form the dough into a ball and divide..leaving 1 ball slightly larger than the other (the larger ball being the bottom crust). Cover the other ball in a tea towel and put into the fridge while you make the bottom crust.

Now here is the best tip I read online ever. Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of lightly floured parchment paper. Making sure to lift the dough and turn it every couple of rolls. Lightly flour if needed. The reason why this was an excellent method was because the dough needed much less flour to keep from sticking. You didn't need to flour the rolling pin...and I only used the slightest sprinkle of flour a couple of times to keep it from sticking to the paper. It was also very easy to transfer to the pie dish...annnnnnd less flour equals flakier crust!

Roll the dough until it is large enough to fit over the pie dish.

Transfer to the pie dish and press in all the corners, leaving the crust ready for your filling.

For the filling I decided to use Golden Delicious Apples. They have a more subtle sweet flavour when baked, hold their shape well...plus they looked beautiful at the farmers market!

I used about 6 sliced apples for the filling...probably could have used 1 more. To the filling I added 1 Tsp Cinnamon, 1/8 Tsp Nutmeg, 1 Tsp Flour and 2 Tbsp Honey.

Pour the apple mixture into the prepared pie shell. I like to add a few dollops of butter on the apples as well for more flavour! Now, repeat the rolling out the pie crust with the other ball that has been sitting in your fridge.

Place the second pie crust over your filling and press down on the edges with a fork.

Slice a few air holes in the top of the pie to let steam escape.

And brush the pie with egg wash for extra crusty brown goodness and sprinkle a little granulated sugar over the crust. Here is another tip I read online about baking the pie. Pre-heat the oven to 425F and bake the pie for about 30 minutes or until it starts to brown. Then, lower the heat to 375F, cover the pie with tin foil, and continue baking until the filling is bubbling and cooked through (about 30 Minutes).