Apples Apples Everywhere

We went apple picking over the weekend and scored a half-bushel of many different kinds of apples from Shelburne Farm in Stow, MA. Our favorite is the Mutsu apple, which is slightly tart and slightly sweet with yellow skin and firm and crisp white flesh. Other apples we picked included Cortland, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Baldwin, Macoun, Jonagold, McIntosh, and Red Delicious.

Saturday was a busy day, not only did we go apple picking in the afternoon, but a friend and I ran a half marathon in the morning. The aptly named Applefest Half Marathon took place in Hollis, NH. We were fed apple crisp after the race and the age group winners received pies! We ended up leaving before all the pies were distributed, but it may have turned out that we both won pies for being third in our divisions, my friend for her normal age group and me for my age group in the Filly division. Yes, there are perks to being heavier than most, though the Filly limit for this race was only 140lbs, which is pretty low in my opinion.

Because of the events of Saturday, making apple pies (yes, plural - one for us and one for my friend who deserved a pie from the race) was in order on my day off.
Apple Pie a la Betty Crocker - the ratios differ depending on the size of your pie, but for an 8" pie
Apples - 5 cups peeled, cored, and rough diced
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Flour - 3 tablespoons
Cinnamon - 1/4 teaspoon
Nutmeg - 1/4 teaspoon
dash of Salt
the recipe calls for 1 tablespoon butter, but I always forget this and never miss it in terms of taste.

Crust - Never Fail Pie Crust recipe that I got from my aunt and godmother
1.25 cups of vegetable shortening
3 cups pastry flour
5 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 beaten egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
This crust recipe usually makes enough for 3 crusts (using my 10" pie pan).
The trick I learned from my mom for rolling out the pie crust is to use two pieces of waxed paper. Roll until the crust is about 1/8" thick, pull one piece of waxed paper off then use the other piece to position over the pan then pull off the other piece of waxed paper.
Fill the crust with apples, then pour the sugar mixture over the apples and add the cover crust (that's a technical term). Bake at 425degF for 40-50 min, or until the crust is golden. I usually need to guard the edges so they don't get burned. I have yet to purchase one of those nifty pie crust protectors, but aluminum foil seems to do the trick just fine.

I also made apple butter for the first time with this recipe, except I used 1/2 the sugar it calls for. I'm not sure if I'll be able to convince Ebon to use it, but I tried it and it's quite tasty!