~Fun Food Friday...Moma's Apple Pie~

Sorry this is a tad late...but I figured it was better late than never.
Like I mentioned we are really enjoying having my parents with us.  
So...Today...we have a Guest Blogger who will be sharing her apple pie recipe with us.  Our guest blogger is Martha Bryan…better known to our family as Moma / Gram. =)
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This is the recipe for the Best Apple Pie that I have ever eaten and consequently the recipe that I passed on to our daughters.  Their husbands think their wives make the best apple pie that ever could be made.  I smile inside, thinking, ‘I was a successful teacher, not just in home economics but also prepared our girls to be desirable helpmeets for, as we all know, “The way to a man’s heart (and staying there) is through his tummy!  =)  Perhaps I should qualify that “way” as “just one way.”

In the first year of our marriage Hubby and I visited the home of his sister, Virginia Dugan.  Her apple pie was wonderful and she shared with me her method.
~Here I am making 3 apple pies here in Bogota, Colombia...with the "help" of baby Mary. =)~

THE PASTRY MUST BE HOMEMADE FOR A SUCCESSFUL PIE!
Don’t fear making your own pastry – as I did!  I was not a success at first but as with anything,  practice makes perfect!  The secret kitchen tool for making your own dough is a pastry blender with the curved wires or blades going from one side of the handle to the other.

For the “new bride” or older one, that has feared pie making, I post the following.  The pastry recipe I have used since she joined our family is from our Daughter, Vonnie and it came to her from her Grandmother Ferguson.
~Here are the3 apple pies after they were baked.~

 Cut one cup of shortening and 1 teaspoon of salt into two and 1/4th cups of  PLAIN flour.  Stir in with a knife blade 1/3 cup (may need some drops more) of ice water until dough holds together. This amount should make enough dough for a 9” double crust pie and one single crust pie.

A TIP:  Save the papers from your cereal boxes and use them to roll your pastry for easy handling.  After your pastry is rolled to size, peel off top cereal paper and pick up pastry with bottom sheet supporting it and place bottom pasty in 9” pie plate – fill with filling.  Before adding the top pastry, baste the edge of the bottom pastry with your finger dipped in water to make a good seal for the top pastry.  Add the top pastry and trim off edge and crimp; push the sealed edge of both pastries together with the side of  the PINKY finger, firmly pressing the edge of that finger in between the thumb and index finger on the other hand all around the pie.

Baste the top pastry with a soft butter and spread a THICK layer of cinnamon and sugar.**
Then  poke holes for steam escape in the top pastry.
                                            
                                               APPLE PIE FILLING

Peel and slice one heaping quart of firm yellow delicious apples* in eighths (approx. 6 apples or so).   Mix one cup sugar and three tablespoons of corn starch dry, and then stir in 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice and mix with apple slices.

Bake at 425 for about 15-20 mins. then reduce heat to 350 and bake for another hour and 15 mins. or so until the apples are tender.  (If you plan on placing a pan under your pies to make sure they don't drip in your oven, bake them for at least a half an hour before placing the pan below the pie.)

*While yellow delicious is not thought of as the usual baking apple, this was the one that I was introduced to and in my opinion the flavor and texture is unsurpassed.

**Note that there is no spice mixed with the apples in the filling, allowing the fresh fruit flavor of the apple (enhanced by the lemon juice) to come through, with the taste of cinnamon that is a must in every apple pie in the crunch on top!   

--Martha Bryan (Heather's Moma)
~Editors note...Her apple pies were every bit as DELICIOUS as they look!  =)~

Thank you, Moma, for sharing your recipe with us! (If y'all have any questions, just leave a comment and Moma will try to answer them for you.)
And as Always…ENJOY!