The Apple of my Pie

Last night, for the first time in my life, I made an apple pie. A very tasty apple pie. However, I learned a few things in the process.

First of all, I now understand why housewives of old would bake pies, etc. in the morning. It just takes too long. But, I suppose on our part, starting at 8 pm was not so smart. We mixed up the pie crust recipe (we wanted to do everything from scratch), and got to work. Now, I have made pie crusts before, and this recipe was fairly easy. So, I did that part successfully...I even managed to roll it up on the rolling pin the right way!

This process, the crust, took my friend and I...ok, so I don't really know how long it took us. But I know it took us longer than it should have. However, it was my friends first time baking a pie, ever. So, no worries.

I learned something new when we moved to the filling. After slicing, coring, and peeling the apples, we set them in a bowl of salt water to prevent them from yellowing. I had never heard of that little trick before! I was impressed...:)

The apples took us a good bit of time as well. Like I said, old fashioned way. We used a slicer/corer (which, btw, it is possible to cut a finger with one of these...) and knives to peel them, no peelers for us!

Once we moved to the filling, it was faster. We melted butter, flour, sugar(brown and white) and some water together on the stove, poured over the apples, and into the oven they went!

By this time, the house smelled great, but our hubby's were tired. It was 11pm when they went in the oven. Like I said, I know why they used to bake in the mornings. But, we were excited, and an hour later when we pulled them out, they were beautiful...(pictures to follow) but too hot to eat, at midnight. So, they would have to wait til today.

Overall, it was a good experience...next time, it shouldn't take us 3 hours. I hope. Our next venture is going to be Lemon Meringue Pie...happy baking!