#15 Make an apple pie

So I had to be reminded that today was election day and I wasn't in SF to vote...major American fail. But I am about to write about apple pie (if I can tear myself away from watching Sister Wives- so ridiculously addicting for some reason) and apple pie is totally American so it evens out?? Well it's my blog so yes, I vote that it's an American wash...I'm not more American but I haven't lost any of my American cred.

Now to talk about pie. Delish apple pie. To be honest I don't really like pie and I especially don't like apple pie but I figured it was super American so I had to make it.

All of the ingredients...mmm ice cream

Rebecca came to my rescue and helped me out since she is an awesome baker- as evident by the amazing birthday cake she made. She even had a tool that peeled the apples AND cored them at the same time...major time saver. 

Rebecca in action...one looong apple peel

The result! Apple slinkys

We followed Rebecca's aunt's recipe for the pie and her mom's recipe for the crust both of which were super easy-perfect for a beginner pie maker like me :-) After a quick wardrobe change into my super cute apron (got to dress the part) we were ready to go!

Adding the Crisco (which is pretty disgusting) to the flour

Rolling out the dough on the pastry mat which had pre-measured circles to make things easier

Mixing the sugar and spices in with the apples. 

Adding butter- can never have too much butter when it comes to pie

Mixing up the topping which involves...more butter!! I felt like Paula Deen 

Can you see all the chunks of butter? That means its gonna be good :-)

While we waited for the pie to bake we got Extreme Pizza's Pandora's Box pizza...oh mah gad sooo good. Spinach, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, feta, garlic, fresh basil, oregano and mozzeralla....new favorite! We also got free twisty sticks because I had a coupon...yummmm. The pizza delivery guy thought the pie smelled really good and promised to come back with ice cream later :-)

Success!!

Posing with the finished product

After all that pizza eating, Rebecca and I were going to need help with the pie so Bonnie, Nikole and Rebekah were awesome and came over for some pie and wine- a good way to spend a Sunday night. And it turns out that the pie was ah-mazing (if I do say so myself) and I don't usually like pie! The apples were crisp and the top was so crunchy and good...very happy with the end result. 

Another item checked off my American list! And I learned a lot about pie making:
1. Apple pie tools like the combo peeler and corer are awesome
2. A mix of apples is ideal- we went with Granny Smith, Braeburn and Honeycrisp (Rebecca's mom's advice)
3. Get more apples than the recipe suggests (my Aunt Andrea's advice)
4. Always have Rebecca around when baking

Showing off the 'pretty' piece...I need to work on my food display skills

Now I have to figure out what to do next on my list...


Ps. Blood donating bruise has reached epic levels of grossness and can *fingers crossed* only get better from here. At this point it's still enough to make people recoil and look appalled (think giant dark brown/purple splotch)...since my mom is horrified that I'm posting disgusting pictures of my arm on facebook/the blog I'll leave the current state of my bruise to your imaginations. However, since I take after my dad, I'm still sending her daily bruise photos to keep her nice and grossed out :-) Gotta have fun somehow - at least it's cold out so I can wear long sleeves.