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It’s sad to say, but many are intimidated by the idea of making a pie from scratch, mostly because they believe that creating your own pastry crust is difficult. Of course, making a pie crust does take a bit of a knack, but after you’ve done it a few times, you’ll start to find it getting easier for you. The easiest pie crust to make is a shortening pie crust.

Flaky Apple Pie Recipe
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- Oven
- Pie Dish
- Medium-Sized Bowl
Ingredients
- FILLING
- 3 lbs. Favorite cooking apples
- .75 cup Sugar
- 2 tsp Cinnamon
- .25 tsp Salt
- 4 tbsp flour
- CRUST
- 2.25 cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- .75 cup vegetable shortening
- .75 cup ice water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
- FILLING: Peel and slice the apples, placing them in a large bowl. The bowl should be large enough to toss the apples without spilling them.
- Add the sugar, cinnamon, salt, and flour. Stir the apples to coat them with these ingredients. Set this bowl aside and move on to making the pie crust. As you work on the crust, pause every now and then to stir the apples a bit.
- CRUST: In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the flour and salt.
- Using a pastry blender, cut in the vegetable shortening until the mixture looks about like cornmeal, with small bits of shortening distributed throughout the mixture.
- Add a half cup of the water and stir gently. Work with a light touch. Do not beat or pound the pie crust mixture or it will become tough.
- If there are still areas of the pie crust mixture that are dry and crumbly, add a little more water, stirring and adding water just until the dough begins to stick together. Using your hands, press the dough together, turning to make sure that it’s all dampened. It should be similar to the texture of playdough.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently shape it into an oblong shape. Cut this in half, and set aside one half.
- Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the pie dough until it is about 11 to 12 inches in diameter. Gently place the dough in the bottom of a pie pan.
- Add the apples to the bottom crust of the pie pan, and return to roll out the remaining dough to about a 10-inch circle. Place this top crust atop the apples and crimp the edges to seal.
- Cut eight vents in the top of the pie crust.
- Place the pie in the oven, shielding the edges as described above. Bake the pie for about 35 minutes.
- Remove the pie from the oven and place it on a cookie sheet. This will keep it from boiling over and messing up the bottom of your stove. At this point, you can also remove the pie shields. Return the pie to the oven and bake it for 20 or 30 more minutes, until the top of the pie is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.
- Allow the pie to cool for about 30 minutes before serving.
- Store leftovers wrapped in aluminum foil in the refrigerator.
Notes
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Related: What Goes Well with Apple Pie | Apple Pie Recipes