All American Pie Food

ALL AMERICAN APPLE PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• To Make Crust: In a large bowl, mix together 1 1/2 cups flour, oil, milk, 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar and salt until evenly blended. Pat mixture into a 9 inch pie pan, spreading the dough evenly over the bottom and up sides. Crimp edges of the dough around the perimeter.
• To Make Filling: Mix together 3/4 cup sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Sprinkle over apples and toss to coat. Spread evenly in unbaked pie shell.
• To Make Topping: Using a pastry cutter, mix together 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup sugar and butter until evenly distributed and crumbly in texture. Sprinkle over apples.
• Put pie in the oven on a cookie sheet to catch the juices that may spill over. Bake 45 minutes.

ALL-AMERICAN PIE

Steps:

• Combine flour, sugar and salt in a food processor; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until crumbly. Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Gradually add ice water, tossing with a fork until dough holds together when pressed. Divide dough in two, making one portion slightly larger. Shape each into a rectangle; wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or overnight., For apple pie filling, in a large saucepan, combine apples, 2/3 cup apple juice, sugar, cinnamon and apple pie spice; bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir until apples soften, about 10 minutes. Combine cornstarch and remaining apple juice; add to saucepan. Return to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally., For cherry pie filling, in a large saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch; gradually stir in cherry juice until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the cherries, cinnamon, nutmeg and almond extract. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally., For blueberry pie filling, in a large saucepan, combine 1 cup blueberries, water and butter; simmer for 4 minutes. Combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt; add to saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and remaining blueberries. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally., Preheat oven to 425°. For crust, on a lightly floured surface roll out larger portion of dough to a 17x12-inch rectangle. Transfer to a 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of pan. Line crust with a double thickness of foil. Fill with pie weights, dried beans or uncooked rice. Bake on a lower oven rack until edges are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights; bake 6-8 minutes longer or until bottom is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack., Meanwhile, roll out remaining dough to a 15x10-inch rectangle. Using a pastry wheel and star cutouts of varying sizes, cut out stars and stripes for decorative topping of flag pie. Bake at 400° until golden brown, about 15 minutes for stripes and 8 minutes for stars. Cool on a wire rack., To assemble, place blueberry filling in 1/3 of crust; fill remaining portion of crust with "stripes" of cherry and apple fillings. Top pie with star and stripe cutouts.

OLD-FASHIONED ALL-AMERICAN APPLE PIE

Steps:

• 1. Prepare the pie dough, divide half and roll out each half no more than 1/4 inch thick. Line a 9-inch pie pan with one. Keep lined pan and top crust chilled.
• 2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Peel and core the apples and slice them about 1/4 inch thick. Toss with sugar and cinnamon to taste and with the flour. Fill the pie with the apple slices, mounding them somewhat in the center. Dot with butter. Cover loosely with the top crust, using a little water to seal the crusts together. Crimp the edges. Using a fork or the tip of a knife, make several vents in the top crust.
• 3. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown. The smell will tell you when it is ready. Serve while still warm.

AMERICAN APPLE PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Spray deep dish pie plate with cooking spray
• Combine white sugar, light brown sugar, flour, lemon, cinnamon, and mix well. Add apples and raisins to sugar mixture; stir until fruit is well coated.
• Spoon apple mixture into pie crust. Place second piecrust on top of filling, and trim edges. Lightly glaze top of pie with a beaten egg, then sprinkled with a little sugar.
• Bake till golden brown, about 35 to 40 minutes. Place on a wire rack, and cool 30 minutes.

ALL-AMERICAN APPLE PIE

Steps:

• For the Crust: Blend flour, sugar and salt in a food processor.
• Add butter and shortening and cut in, until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry (I never need more than 6 tablespoons).
• Gather into ball; divide into 2 pieces.
• Flatten each into a disk. Wrap each in plastic; chill at least 2 hours. Can be made a day ahead.
• For the filling: Position oven rack in lowest rack of oven and preheat to 400°F
• Mix all of the filling ingredients except apples in large bowl. It should be very dry and clumpy -- not really a 'sauce' at all.
• Add apples and coat.
• To assemble: Flour a sheet of parchment paper; roll out 1 dough onto paper until it is a 12-inch round.
• Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish by flipping the paper over, then gently pressing so that the dough is along the bottom of the pie dish. There should be an overhang all the way around.
• Add filling.
• Roll out second dough to 13-inch round. Cut into twelve 1-inch wide strips. Arrange 6 strips across pie, leaving gaps between the filling and the lattuce along the way (that will make weaving the others easier).
• Form lattice by arranging 6 strips across the first strips, taking care as you go. If one breaks, don't worry--just tuck the break underneath!
• Gently fold over the edges onto the lattice, pressing with a fork to seal.
• Brush lattice with milk, and sprinkle lightly with additional sugar.
• Cover edges with foil and bake pie 10 minutes.
• Without opening the oven (I know, its so hard to resist!), reduce oven temperature to 375°F
• Continue baking until juices are thickened and crust is golden, about 1 hour 10 minutes.
• Allow to cool for at least one hour before eating.

ALL-AMERICAN PIE CRUST

Steps:

• In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, combine the flour and salt, then add the vegetable shortening and butter. Process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.
• With the processor on pulse, add enough of the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough holds together without being sticky or crumbly. Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until firm and the moisture has distributed evenly, about 30 minutes.
• Flour a clean work surface and a rolling pin. (If making a double crust pie or 2 pie shells, work with one disk at a time, keeping the second disk chilled.) Place a dough disk in the center of the floured surface. Starting in the center of the dough, roll to, but not over, the upper edge of the dough. Return to the center, and roll down to, but not over, the lower edge. Lift the dough, give it a quarter turn, and lay it on the work surface. Continue rolling, repeating the quarter turns, until you have a disk about 1/8 inch thick.
• Ease the pastry into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim 1 inch larger than the diameter of the pie plate; fold the overhanging pastry under itself along the rim of the plate. For a simple decorative edge, press the tines of a fork around the folded pastry. To make a fluted edge, using both your finger and thumb, pinch and crimp the folded dough. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
• To blind bake, see directions on page 64.