Little Italian Lady: Apple Pie with Homemade Pie Crust

The next APPLE recipe I made was apple pie. I just had to make apple pie with all those apples we picked. It's my husband, Ryan's, favorite type of pie, and he grew up loving his grandmother/mother's family recipe. I actually never made apple pie, so I asked for their family recipe since it is delicious and I know my hubby loves it - he can relive his childhood a bit and I could use those apples, a win-win. I tweaked the recipe just a bit by adding vanilla extract and making my own pie crust from scratch. It's well worth enjoying the fruits of your labor, but of course this can be done with store bought pie dough.

Ingredients for pie crust:

2 1/2 cups All-purpose Flour
2 Sticks of Cold, Unsalted Butter - cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Sugar
6 tbs Ice Cold Water

Ingredients for filling:

5-7 Tart Apples, Peeled and Sliced Thin
3/4 cup Sugar
2 tbs All-purpose Flour
Dash salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 tbs Butter or Margarine, melted

Start by making the pie crust:

Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add in the cubed cold butter and pulse until mixture is crumbly.

Add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time and pulse until dough begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and pulse again. Too much water will make the crust tough though, so go easy.

Remove dough from the food processor, and place it on a clean surface. Smash the dough with the palm of your hand a few times for an extra flaky crust. Do not over-knead.

Gently shape the dough into a disk. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the disk. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour (and up to 2 days).

Now make the pie filling:
Peel and slice apples thin, set aside.

Mix together sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add in the melted butter and vanilla and mix utill well blended.

Add in the apples and mix until all apples are well coated with the filling mixture. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove the pie crust dough from the refrigerator and cut into two even pieces. Shape each half into two round disks, this way when you roll it out, it will be easier to make a perfect circle.

Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to an approximately 12-inch circle, about 1/8 of an inch thick. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking.

Carefully place onto your greased 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough 1/2 inch off the edge of the pie dish if needed. Add filling to the pie.