The Apple of my Pie

          As wonderful and extravagant as pies can be, there must be a base. Something that other pies can always look to for guidance. A pomey rock for all pastries to lean on. I am of course talking of the apple pie. The next stop on my pie baking journey would be here, where I would bake the best apple pie this earth has ever witnessed. I still took guidance from the amazing book "A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies".

          I started by gathering the materials required for birthing perfection.

• "Pie Crust (I just bought a pre-baked crust from the store because I didn't feel like going through the trouble of baking one again)
• 2 tbs lemon juice
• 3 lbs baking apples (Golden Delicious)
• 2/3 cups sugar
• 1/3 tsp ground cinnnamon
• 1 egg" (English 25)

          I started by peeling and slicing each apple into eights, and tossing them in a bowl with sugar and lemon juice. 

Apples in a bowl with sugar

           I then put that mixture in a pan and cooked them until the sugar had dissolved, and the juices from the apples had come out (English 25). 

Me cooking and stirring the apples.

          Afterwards, strained the juices from the apples, and caramelized the juices. Then, I put the juice back in the bowl with the apples and added cinnamon. afterwards, I pressed the dough into a pie pan, poured the apple mix into the pan on top of the dough, and covered the mixture with another layer of dough, and sealed it. I then made vent slits in the dough, and added my own personal touch.

Pie before it was baked, signed by yours truly.

     I then refrigerated the pie for about 15 mins before putting it in the oven for 50 mins.

         Finally, it was done. Perfection incarnate birthed into our world by a lowly pie baking trainee.

Finished pie

         Perfection incarnate of course was not a description of this pie, but a name given to it by a very confusing pie trainee. The pie was not without its flaws, but it still tasted good. My only complaint was the apple chunks were a bit thick. Is there a way that I can make the apple slices thinner without cutting them? 

         The second stop on my quest to be the best pie maker the world has ever seen is in the past. Maybe next time I will birth the greatest, most delicious pie ever, but we will not know until then.

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.