Apple Pie (Grandmother’s Mile-High Pie)
Source: Cook’s Magazine, Sept. 1988
Ingredients
- ¼ lb. Chilled Unsalted Butter
- 2 cups Flour
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Sugar
- 3 Vegetable Shortening, Chilled
- 5 Cold Water
- 5 large Pie Apples, About 2½ Lbs
- 1 Lemon
- 1½ cups Flour
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, (original Calls For 1 Tbsp!)
- ⅛ teaspoon Grated Nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla
- ⅛ teaspoon Salt
- 1½ Unsalted Butter, With Which To Dot!
Method
For the Pastry: Cut the chilled butter into ¼ inch pieces. To make dough by hand, put the flour, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut butter and shortening into dry ingredients with a pastry blender, or work quickly with fingertips until mixture resembles a coarse meal with some pea- sized pieces remaining. Add ¼ c. cold water, tossing with a fork. Add 1 more tbsp water, if necessary, so that the dough just holds together. Or, put flour, salt, sugar, butter and shortening into the workbowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add water and pulse until dough holds together. Divide the dough into two discs, one slightly larger than the other. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes. (can wrap and refrigerate overnight, or freeze up to 1 month).
For Filling: Peel, core, and slice the apples over a large bowl. Grate the zest from the lemon into the bowl and squeeze in 1 tbsp lemon juice. Sprinkle the apples with the flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and salt and toss to combine.
Cooking: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425. In a small bowl, beat the egg lightly. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the larger disc of dough to an 11-inch round and ease it into a 9- inch pie pan. Pile the apple filling into the pie shell and DOT WITH BUTTER. Roll out the remaining dough and put it over the apples. Seal, trim, and flute the crust. Cut decorative slashes in the top pastry and brush with the beaten egg.
Transfer pie to a foil-lined sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and continue baking until pie crust is golden and apples are tender, about 50 minutes. (Can cool, cover, and refrigerate pie up to 3 days. Reheat for 20 minutes in a 300 oven).