Grandma’s Apple Pie
“Three pies? Three pies? Are you sure that’s enough?” My family always asks my Grandma, as she prepares all three pies. She timidly responds with a “yes.” When my cousin, aunt and uncle come into town from Texas they always expect Grandma’s amazing apple pie. They anticipate approximately one pie per person. However, with only three pies and nine people the pie can quickly disappear. All my family is extremely important to me but, when these three individuals (aunt, uncle and cousin) come to Ohio it is something different, something truly special. All of us seem to connect on so many levels which allows us to easily get along. Even though they are the farthest away and seen the least they are most like my own family. Laughing and joking around always comes into play, and all is fair game. The first question my family asks when they come into town, is if Grandma has made any of her special apple pie.
As soon as the pie comes out of the oven I can smell of my Grandma’s fresh homemade pie, with a mixture of cinnamon, sugar and apples. She has perfected every element of the pie making experience. The pie overflows to the top that creates the juicy apples to spill out as soon as it is cut into personal pieces. The apples are a little bit melted with a soft texture. While the crust is crisp with a crunch when your teeth grind together. There is a precise amount of sweetness and bitterness that the taste buds leap for joy. The mouth doesn't know what to expect with every bite because of the mixture of crunchy and soft texture.
The only way to eat the apple pie is to warm it up and have ice cream on the side. This way the ice cream melts on the apple pie making it soft. Most the time the pie is eaten in the summer on the outside porch, however every once a while the pie is made in the winter. Usually the pie is eaten by everyone at the same time, after a delicious dinner. To make sure everyone has plenty of room in their stomach for apple pie the waiting time between dinner and dessert is expanded. This allows in increased amount of pie consumption and full enjoyment.
Most the time the apple pie is only made for these particular people in my family which makes their visit that much better. Eating the pie with the family makes everything enjoyable because the smiles are wiped across everyone's faces. The joy, happiness, and togetherness comes from my Grandma because of her amazing sweet pie. Everyone is able to bond over conversation and laughter because of my Grandma using her time and energy to make an apple pie for everyone to eat.
The Ingredients for 9 inch Apple Pie
Inside Crust
¾ cup sugar 2 cups all purpose flour
¼ cup all purpose flour ½ cup vegetable oil
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon 4-5 tablespoons of cold water
6 cups of medium apples
2 tablespoons of melted margarine
The Process
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
2. Mix together the sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt into a medium size bowl (inside ingredients)
3. Cut thin slices of 6 medium sized apples
4. Mix apples and dry ingredients together
5. Mix flour, vegetable oil, salt, and cold water to make dough
6. Split the dough into two pieces (One for top, one for bottom)
7. Roll out the dough onto wax paper with small amount of flour on the wax paper to decrease sticking
8. Put the rolled out dough on the bottom of the pie pan
9. Spread out the apple mixing into the pie pan
10. Pour the margarine on top of the apple mixing
11. Roll out other piece of dough and place on top of pie
12. Pinch the two dough pieces together
13. Make about 4 slices on top of the middle of the pie, in order to release heat
14. Cover the crust edge with aluminum foil so it doesn’t get too brown
15. Bake for 30-40 minutes
16. Take off aluminum foil
17. Bake from another 10-20 minutes