E's Apple Pie

Easy Crust (2 crust, 9inch pie)

2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

2/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon butter

2 tsp. vinegar

4 Tablespoons cold water

Put the flour in a bowl, add salt, and mix. Cut in butter w/ the side of a fork until the mixture resembles sm. peas. Add vinegar, then gradually add the cold water, a tablespoon at a time, and toss lightly w/ a fork until the dry ingredients have been absorbed. Cut in half.

For bottom crust, flour your board or pastry cloth and place half your dough on it. Turn over to flour other side. Tap lightly w/ a rolling pin to flatten, then turn over and roll from center to the edges to make a circle 1 inch larger than the pie plate. Fold in half and place gently on a pie plate, fitting it without stretching. Trim off excess crust at rim. Fill pie.

For the top crust, roll out second ball of dough. Fold in half. Moisten edge of bottom crust, and then lay top crust over pie. With scissors make 3 or 4 slits in center of top crust to let out steam. Then trim top crust w/ the scissors to within 1/2 inch of the rim of plate. fold excess top crust under edge of bottom crust and flute or seal edges together w/ a fork.

Apple Pie

6 to 8 fresh apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tablespoons butter

Place sliced apples in the pie shell so that they are slightly mounded. Pour sugar over apples, sprinkle w/ nutmeg and cinnamon, dot w/ butter, cover w/ top crust. Complete pie by following directions given in piecrust recipe.

Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated 450 oven. Reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 35 minutes. to make sure the pie is done, insert a fork into the slit in the top crust--apples should be soft and crust slightly browned.

If you have pie crust left over, roll out the excess, brush w/ butter, sprinkle w/ a cinnamon-sugar mixture, roll up jelly roll fashion, cut into 1 inch pieces and bake for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Or spread soft peanut butter over the crust, roll up, cut and bake as above.

P.S. Many people squeeze a SMALL amount of fresh lemon juice over apples so they will not discolor and also because it enhances the flavor. Adjust sugar according to the kind of apples you use.

Many of the newer ovens seem to require less baking time than some of the older ones did - as much as 5 to 10 minutes in some cases. Try testing your bread and cakes 5 to 10 minutes earlier than your recipe specifies. Remember, the longer an item bakes, the greater the amount of moisture that is baked out. So if you bake it longer than necessary, your baked goods will be dry.