Can she bake an apple pie, Billy boy, Billy Boy, can she bake an apple pie, charming Billy?  She can bake an apple pie, quick as a cat can wink his eye, but she’s a young girl and cannot leave her mother.

(You may have heard this song with Cherry pie, instead of Apple Pie—but since this blog is about Apple Pies—I am changing the words. 🙂 )

Yes—this blog is about Apple Pies.  My husband loves Apple Pies—and since I love my husband—I make him Apple Pies.

My Apple Pies start with a trip up to a local Amish store.  This year I bought Gala’s and Golden Crisp’s—I like crisp, sweet to semi-sweet apples for baking pies.

These are the pictures of the first three apple pies of the season.

As you can see–I am not a perfectionist — I just have fun when making pies. I say this to alleviate the fear factor to anyone who thinks they have to be perfect and do things perfectly–you don’t. See–I even put my imperfect pies –but still an act of love–on the internet. 🙂

I have a super easy homemade pie crust to share with you. This will make an top and bottom crust. (With excess dough.)

2 sticks (1 lb) of butter—(Freeze the butter for 15 minutes before using in the recipe—cut the butter before freezing it.)

2 ½ cups of flour

1 tsp. salt

6-8 tablespoons very, very cold water

Put butter, flour and salt in food processor, attach lid and start processor—add 1 tablespoon of water at a time—as soon as dough ball forms in processor—stop it.

Take dough out—divide it in two pieces—shape into flat, round pieces.  Put in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling out. When rolling out use a little flour on bottom and top of dough to keep rolling pin from sticking to dough. It will be pretty hard to roll out at first–use those muscles!! 🙂 Roll out dough big enough to fit over your pie pan. When you are done–you can roll the dough onto your rolling pin and use the rolling pin to transfer the dough to your pie pan. (Just a little trick to make positioning the dough easier.)

Filling

12 medium size apples—6 of the Gala’s and 6 of the Golden Crisp’s (Most pie recipes call for 8 apples–we like more apples in our pies) You can use the amount you want. You can also use more sugar if you like it sweeter–or less sugar–and you can vary the amounts of the spices according to your taste. If you like a thicker sauce–use a little more flour–or no flour–if you don’t like. It is ok to experiment. 🙂

Peel the apples, cut into small wedges.

Add:  1/3 cup flour

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ tsp allspice

¼ tsp cloves

I pour the filling into the rolled-out pie crust, dot with 2-3 tablespoons of butter and top with another pie crust.  I use a fork, or anything to press the outside edges together and a knife to cut the excess dough off.  I often use a cookie cutter to cut shapes in the top of the crust for air vents.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

And there you have it—An Apple Pie!!

Enjoy!!