Two-Fer (Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Pie)

CRUST
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, cold
12 tablespoons butter, cold and cubed
1/4 cup to 1/2 cup ice water

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt and sugar. Add the shortening and break it up with your hands as you start to coat it all up with the flour. Add the cold butter cubes and work it into the flour with your hands or a pastry cutter. Work it quickly, so the butter doesn't get too soft, until the mixture is crumbly, like very coarse cornmeal. Add the ice water, a little at a time, until the mixture comes together forming a dough. Bring the dough together into a ball.

When it comes together stop working it otherwise the dough will get over-worked and tough. Divide the dough in half and flatten it slightly to form a disk shape. Wrap each disk in plastic and chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. On a floured surface roll each disk out into a 10 to 11-inch circle to make a 9-inch pie.

 Recipe from http://www.foodnetwork.com/ (Paula Deen).

PIE

7-10 apples, peeled, cored and sliced

 Place sliced apples in 9 inch unbaked pie shell. Mix and sprinkle over apples:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves

 Sprinkle 1 tablespoon water (or fresh lemon juice if you have it) over top.

CRUMB CRUST:

1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 stick butter

Mix together sugar and flour. Cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture using a fork, pastry blender or food processor.  Sprinkle over top of pie.

Bake at 400°F for 40-45 minutes. If the pie begins to brown too rapidly, cover lightly with foil.

Served every Fall in Pennsylvania Dutch country. A combination of green (such as Granny Smith) and red (such as Cortland or Mcintosh) works best. A few drops of vanilla can be mixed into sugar.

Recipe from http://www.cooks.com/ under Pennsylvania Dutch Apple Pie.

 
WHAT I CHANGED:

• For the crust, nothing. I had never done a pie crust from scratch before, so I followed the directions.  It was hard to follow directions, but I managed.
• I doubled the pie recipe.  Since the crust recipe made two crusts, I decided to make two pies.
• Instead of cinnamon, I used an apple pie spice blend I have.  I did add the cloves, though, as my spice blend doesn't include cloves.  I used 3 tsp of the apple pie spice and a couple of shakes of the cloves. 
• I tripled the crumb topping part of the recipe instead of just doubling it.  The crumb topping is my favorite part, so I wanted extra on the pies.  This was an excellent idea.

WHAT I LEARNED:

• Making two Dutch apple pies from scratch uses a TON of bowls, measuring cups and spoons, mixing implements, and so on.  My nearly empty dishwasher was completely full when I finished.
• Homemade pie crust is much better than refridgerated store-bought crust.  Mmmmm...
• Blending cold butter with a pastry blender is really tough work.  My arms may be sore tomorrow.

OVERALL OPINIONS:

As of this post, only Becca and I have had any of the pie, but it sure was awesome!  LOVE IT!

Update:  Anumber of people have now had the pie, and the unanimous verdict is that it is amazing.  I made two more the following Friday.  Mmmmm...