Pie Anyone?

Rick proudly proclaims that his Grandma Bert makes the best apple pie in the world. And, wasn't I suprised to learn that she takes them out of the freezer, bakes and enjoys them.

They aren't mass produced and boxed. They are homemade pies. She just freezes them to allow us to enjoy them year round.

It has become a tradition for us to spend a weekend or two making pies for the freezer to provide a few sweet things for the winter months. We started with these lovely apples. They are a hybrid variety of the traditional Golden Delicious apple and were available at a nice price at the farmers market.
Next we prepare the pie crust using Grandma Bert's not so secret recipe. This crust is heavy, flaky and sweet, perfect for fruit pies.

5 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups shortening
2 Tbps. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
Roughly mix the dry ingredients together and cut in shortening.
In a small bowl mix together 3/4 cup lukewarm water, 1 large egg, 1 Tbsp. vinegar.
Make a bowl in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in liquid. Fold together until a stiff dough forms.
This recipe makes enough for 5 individual crusts and can be stored in the refrigerator or frozen until needed.

Now we are ready for the fun stuff. Peeling and coring all in a twist. The kids really enjoy this part. We peeled at least 15 pounds of apples.

Then, we sliced them into smaller pieces, added some sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter for the perfect pie filling.
Then, we put the tops on. The girls got fancy with a couple of the pies using apple cookie cutters. Most of our pies are just plain, functional and tasty. This pie will reside on the bottom shelf of the freezer with its brothers in a nice plastic bag.