The Perfect Apple Pie!

In my family, pi day isn't just a day to celebrate a mathematical constant -- it's a day to celebrate PIE. Specifically, my mom's apple pie. I'm might be biased, but it's just SO good. Like, I'm pretty sure world peace could be achieved if everyone tasted this pie. They'd all be like "OMG this pie is so good! Why were we arguing again? I don't even remember... Goodness, this crust is so light and flaky!"

For the pie crust you'll need:

1-3/4 cup flour

1 tsp. salt

1/2 cup oil

3 tbsp. water

Mix the flour, salt and oil and then add the water and roll out. Sometimes my mom will use a frozen crust like Oronoque Orchards, and that's still fantastic, but this really is the best! Now, for the rest of the pie you'll need:

6-8 tart apples (my mom recommends Empire)

1 cup white sugar

2 tbsp. all purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

dash of ground nutmeg

2 tbsp. butter

Pare and core the apples, and then slice them VERY thin. Part of what makes this pie so mouth-wateringly delicious is the finely sliced apples. This way they cook all the way through and pretty much melt in your mouth! Combine the sugar, flour and spices and then mix with the apples. Line a 9" pie plate with one half of the crust, and fill with the apple mixture. Cut the butter into little pieces and sprinkle it on top of the filling. Add the top crust, and then cut slits for steam. I think today it would be fitting to arrange those slits in the shape of the pi symbol, yes? ;)

Sprinkle some sugar on top, and then bake at 400' for 50 minutes. I personally prefer the pie cold, so I put my share in the fridge overnight -- but only because my dad and brother know that I will tear them to shreds if they take so much as one bite. If you like hot pie, or if you can't trust your family members, let it cool for about 30 minutes after it's out of the oven and then dive in!

apple pie pops

The other day I found this post on Luxirare about pie pops. They're mini pies on the ends of lollipop sticks -- cuteness! The post is very picture oriented and doesn't really give much information about how to make the pops, so I just had to wing it. (Although, the pictures would definitely come in handy if you have trouble deciphering my verbal instructions below!)

I used my mom's recipe for apple pie filling (just apples, a drop of lemon juice, white sugar and cinnamon) instead of the suggested one that includes corn starch. I really don't like thick goopy pie filling, and my mom's is perfect! I cut the apples really tiny so they'd fit in my little pies.

I used:

1 apple - cored, peeled and minced
approx. 1 tbsp sugar
approx. 1 tsp cinnamon
approx. 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
2 ready made pie crusts

Thaw out the pie crust for about 20 minutes or so until it's pliable and you can roll it out. I used the lid from a spice container to cut out 2" circles from the dough (of course, if you have a real circular cookie cutter that would be stellar!) I placed the lollipop stick in the middle of the dough circle, about 1/4" from the top. I realized after my first two pops that the stick needs to be near the top in order for the lollipop to be sturdy enough to pick up.

Put a little tiny bit of apple mixture on the dough (about half a teaspoonful), layer with another cut-out circle, and then seal the edges using another lollipop stick. Keep doing this until you run out of dough. (I managed to get about 26 pops out of this. The trick is to keep re-rolling the leftover bits of dough.)

Brush each mini pie with some egg white, prick with a fork to release steam and then sprinkle with sugar. I baked mine for 12 minutes at 375' and they came out perfect, although my batch on the lower oven rack burnt a little, so next time I'd probably keep it down to 10 minutes, and then let them sit on the tray for a minute or so out of the oven.

These are by far one of the cutest recipes I've ever tried. And in the end, I'm actually glad that the original post didn't have instructions, because it makes these feel more like my own. And since I used my mom's apple pie filling recipe, they tasted like mini versions of the pie I've loved since I was a kid.