What What?  I don’t think pies are easy to make.  Where did that saying come from? Because it’s certainly not true!

Even though it’s much easier to whip out a batch of cookies than a made-from-scratch pie, it’s very possible to impress the masses with a simple apple pie.  Since we are in apple season and baseball playoff season, I thought I’d share with your a very “American” treat {from the old saying “as American as baseball and apple pie”}.

It seems like there are a million theories on pie crust. Use vodka instead of water. No, use 7-Up instead of vodka or water. Use your food processor…or maybe that’s not a good plan after all. Everyone has a different opinion on crust.

I have tried a lot of fancy pie crusts, and it seemed like they were not as good as mine, or were good, but took way more work and mess. And ain’t nobody got time for that.

So this pie crust isn’t going to win any awards from Martha Stewart, or put me in the pages of Better Homes & Gardens, but, as I’ve mentioned it always seems to be popular…and easy. Win-win.

In fact, this pie is so simple that my 9 year old made the entire thing, from start to finish.  If he can do it, you certainly can!

First, we need to talk about the crust.  This is a “press in” pie crust.

Preheat your oven to about 375.  You start by mixing the flour, sugar and salt directly into your 9″ or 9 1/2″ pie plate

Mix up your oil & COLD milk. You simply add your wet ingredients to the pie plate.  Gently fold into the middle of the plate, just until combined.  Over-mixing will lead to tough crust.

 
This is where your hands have to get messy.  Press your wet pie crust evenly into the pie plate.  It’s not pretty and you can’t really make a pretty edge, but that’s okay.  For some reason the only photo I got was blurry, but this will have to do!!!

When your pie crust has been evenly pressed-in, it will look like this:

“par bake” your pie crust for about 15 minutes.  It won’t be done, but it helps so that you don’t have a mushy pie crust later.

Now, on to the apple pie.  This little contraption helps our apple peeling and cutting.  It peels, cuts & cores all in one movement! If you like apples, this contraption is worth the storage space and money.

Cut & peel apples.  Mix with spices and sugar.  Set aside till crust is ready.  Make crumb topping.  You want your crumb topping to look like course sand.  You could do this in the food processor, but it’s pretty easy to do with your fingers.

Now, once your par-baked shell is ready, gently pour apple mix and then top with crumb topping.

Bake.  Watch Baseball.  Eat.  Enjoy.  Then eat for breakfast the next day!

Here’s the full recipe….let me know if you make this!!!

 
Simple Scratch-Made Apple Pie by Sarah and the Boys {or in this case, Sarah and a Boy :-)}

Press-In Pie Crust

Mix together in 9.5" pie plate
1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons of sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Then add:
1/2 cup oil (vegetable, canola, etc)
2 tablespoons of COLD water or milk

Gently fold together in pie plate until mixed.  
Press in.  Par-bake shell at 375 for 15 min.

 Apple Filling

8 healthy cups of peeled and thinly sliced tart baking apples
3/4 cup of sugar (can reduce to 2/3 if apples are sweeter)
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp (or less) of freshly grated nutmeg (can omit)
dash of salt

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.  
Pour apples and any juice into a par-baked crust.
Be careful to be gentle pouring in if pie crust is still warm.

 Crumb Topping

1 scant cup of all-purpose flour 
3/4 cup sugar
1 slightly softened stick of butter (1/2 cup)

Mix together until topping resembles course sand.  
Pour on top of unbaked apple pie.

**preheat oven to 425.  When pie goes in oven, reduce to 325 and
bake until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through.