Rustic Apple Pie

Making apple pie turned out to be an all day event yesterday! We started our morning with Aubrey playing "chomped". I suggested while Liam napping that we whip up some pie dough.  

My basic pie dough is a recipe from my friend Bonnie.  

I mixed the lard with the flour and salt

I mixed egg, vinegar and milk and then added it into a well in the flour mixture.

With help I divided this into 6 dough balls.

Aubrey shaped these and then wrapped them in plastic wrap.

Pie dough is very simple to  make.  One recipe makes 6 crusts; it keeps great in the freezer and is so convenient to have on hand.

She flattened the balls and then put them in plastic bags to keep in the freezer. We kept two balls of dough in the fridge to use later.

After the dough was made we decided to  take a break and go for brunch as a family. 

When we got home we got to work peeling the apples my sister in-law gave us.

My father in-law dropped this peeler off; what a time saver! This handy took peels, cuts and cores the apples.

Aubrey had a blast!  She probably ate about 5 apples total!  She kept on referring to Jeff and me as "the judges". I think maybe we watch a little too much of the food network.

We put 10 cups of apples in the freezer and used about 4-5 cups for the pies.

We mixed the apples with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, 1tbsp white flour and 5 tbsp of brown sugar.

This was flavoured to taste; just depends on how sweet the apples are.

Jeff and Aubrey rolled out the dough into a rustic circle shape. They put the filling in the centre and folded the edges into the centre; leaving the centre filling showing. This is a simple way of making a tart without using a pie plate. 

Instead of an egg wash Jeff just sprinkled water and white sugar on top.

We baked this for 30 minutes at 350F convection and then 5 minutes at 375F convection.

Cleaning up while the pies were baking.

Since they actually turned out beautifully we wanted to give one to our sweet neighbours. We actually never know when our freestyle baking will turn out!!! This definitly looked and smelt good enough to share!

While it was still warm Aubrey wanted to personally take the pie over before bed.

Once Aubrey went to bed Jeff and I enjoyed  our pie in peace; only 12 hours after the process first began!

 As we were eating it we thought it would of been even better with shredded old sharp cheddar cheese in the crust. We will definitely try that next time!

It was really good! Our mission was to not eat it all and save a piece for Aubrey.  

This morning:

Breakfast of champions!