I also bake apple pie every Christmas. The cinnamon smell reminds me so much of my childhood days when mom used to bake apple pie. There was one Christmas in the early seventies when Apple imports ceased. Mom innovated her apple pie by using sayote. No one knew it was a fake apple pie until she announced it after we all gobbled it up. But these days, apples are sold in most fruit stands. I use the tart apples (green/red apples) from China as they have a sweet apple aroma unlike the plain Washington apples. The Chinese apples have a crunchy texture that makes it a pleasure to eat.

Anyway here is my recipe

For the Pie crust
This recipe makes enough dough for a double crust pie (one top crust & one bottom crust).

8 or 9-Inch Double Crust
3 level cups all-purpose flour
1 level teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margaine (I used star margarine)
1/2 cup butter or shortening
5 tablespoons cold water
1 tsp sugar (optional)

Procedure for the Crust

1. Combine flour, salt in bowl. Create well.

2. In the well, add margarine and butter.

2. Using a fork or pastry cutter, combine butter/margarine with the flour until well blended.

3. With a few tablespoons of water, add to the flour mixture and slowly form a ball. Add more water if desired.

4. Roll the dough from center outwards form a circle. Make sure the diameter is one inches more than the top of the pie plate.

If you didn’t get the crust procedure, view how pie crust is made together with photos, click here or here

Apple Pie Filling
1/4 cup brown sugar , packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tbsps butter
8 to 10 green tart apples, sliced (small taiwan apples are great)
3 pieces calamansi juice

1. Pare and slice apples thinly.

2. squeeze calamansi juice on sliced apples.

3. combine the first 7 ingredients above together to create a sugar-spice mixture. Blend well.

4. Coat apples gently with sugar and spice mixture.

5. Spoon into pie crust. Add butter on top.

6. Cover with crust. Flute the top of the pie crust. Slit in center.

7. Bake at 425 F for about 40-45 minutes until pie crust is golden brown or until the juices bubble through the slashes .

We usually eat our Apple pie slice topped with vanilla ice cream or what is usually known as Apple pie a la mode. The combination of hot and cold flavors is just yummy.

Read more tips on baking apple pie.

Technorati Tags: apple pie, pie crust