The Apple Of My Pie

A good apple pie needs good apples. I used Gala, Empire, Jazz, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Braeburn, and Granny Smith.

While preparing the filling, I tasted each apple chopped to ensure a sweet apple. I then added lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, salt, and some flour.

My favorite part of almost any pie is the crust. I added a bit of cinnamon to the crust, just to give it that extra something. Though, I think the 2 sticks of butter for each batch do quite well on their own too.

I didn't realize how time consuming this little baking project was going to be. I went from rolling the dough, chilling the dough, cutting the dough, molding 24 shells, filling the shells..

... making cute pie tops for each pie, brushing the tops with egg wash....

...baking, letting the pan cool, and doing it all over again 3 times!

I ended up submitting 4 dozen to the baking exhibit today. And the rest of the mini pies? Well, I passed a few out at work, and kept a small batch of the "reject" pile for a whole new baking project (more on this tomorrow)! The exhibit had the baked goods of over 60 people! I was worried that no one would even eat my mini pies with all of that other delicious food around. So, I went over and checked out the pies about an hour after they were put out and somehow, they were all gone! A friend told me that they heard a large group talking about them and soon after that there was a buzz about the lil' pies! At that moment, the 15 hours of work made it all worth it. Though, these little pies weren't the only treat keeping me busy in the kitchen. Kim gave me the prettiest little anchor necklace after I made her a blueberry pie, so to thank her, I made her an apple pie!

I've always wanted to make a lattice pie top, but never have. They usually break and get too complicated for my patience level, but I tried it out and it came out okay?

Well, there are a few mistakes in the lattice top, but I'm willing to overlook it. I think it looked pretty cute after it was all baked! I just hope Kim likes it!

Tomorrow, I will show off what else I worked on in my 15 hour bake-a-thon. It's a tasty way to handle the "reject" pile of your baked goods.