Making an Apple Pie (Short Recipe)

Long, photo illustrated version of this recipe

Making the crust

You do not double a one-crust recipe to make a pie with a top crust, or you'll have too much crust. But you can double a one-crust recipe for two pie shells.

1 crust pie (pie shell)

1.5 cups flour
.5 teaspoon salt
.5 cups shortening (Crisco)
3 tablespoons ice coldwater

2 crust pie

2.25 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
.75 cups shortening (Crisco)
5 tablespoons ice cold water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mealy. Add ice water. Mix until it barely holds together. (Chill in refrigerator for one hour, if you have time.) Roll between two sheets of wax paper.

Make the filling

4 cups sliced apples

1 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla

.5 teaspoon cinnamon

1.5 tablespoons instant tapioca

pinch salt

4 tablespoons butter or margarine

Mix together all the filling ingredients in a large bowl. Put into unbaked pie shell.

Make a lattice topping

Roll out pie crust. Cut into strips. Lay over filling in a lattice pattern. Don't worry too much about the perfection of the lattice--it's going to look good no matter what you do.

Make a streusel topping

1 cup flour
.25 pounds butter (1 stick)
.5 cups sugar

Cut butter into cubes. Combine everything in a food processor, processing until crumbly.

Bake the pie

Bake the pie at 350F for about one hour, until bubbly and browned just right. Rotate once after 30 minutes, to ensure even cooking.