Thank You Apple Pie

I was fortunate enough to be able to spend my Memorial Day weekend at the Beach! While it was perfect beach weather, my sister and I were not there just to enjoy the rays, but to also get the beach house in working order for the summer, yard work and some serious cleaning! Needless to say the beach was calling to us and so we were very efficient in our house work.

The weather and beach were fabulous and though it is still not officially summer yet, it sure feels like it now, I don't want to go back to work! But before I get to the food, a word of warning...don't ever use sunblock from the previous summer! Just go out and but a new bottle! I am speaking from a painful experience here. I used a new bottle of the spray stuff on Saturday and came home with a nice tan, but Sunday was a disaster! I used a bottle from last year and slathered the stuff on thinking I would be good to go. Not the case! I ended up cooked anywhere that the sun had not previously been exposed to. So at this point I am sporting a 28 year old Coppertone baby tan line!

Now for the food.

We are fortunate enough to have some fabulous neighbors at the beach who have been mowing the lawn for us since we are not able to get down there regularly. So I was thinking what better way to say "thank you" than to bake something. I was trying to decide what to bake and went back and forth between chocolate chip cookies, muffins, or an apple pie. My decision was made when our Friday "snack" at school had a bunch of extra apples. I took those home with me and carted them "down the ocean" to bake.

This pie was not anything special, I took the short cut with the crust and just used a store bought one, but it was made with lots of thanks in mind. It turned out beautiful and our neighbor Mike said it was great.

Basic Apple Pie
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
8-10 apples (depending on the size you may need more or less, you want enough that the fruit is about 3-4 inches above the edge of the pie pan)
3/4 cup sugar
1-2 tbs. cinnamon
4 tbs. butter
2 store bought pie crust (I will include a recipe for a easy pat-in-pan pie crust soon)

Peel, core and slice all of the apples.

Place the bottom crust in the 8 or 9 inch pie pan. Let the edges of the crust hang over the edges, do not trim them off. Place sliced apples in the crust.

Sprinkle the sugar over the apples evenly.

Do the same with the cinnamon. Then slice the butter and place pats of butter over the cinnamon evenly around the pie.

Now place the second crust over the pie. Use your fingers to roll the bottom crust and top crust together toward the edge of the pie plate so that you are creating a seal between the top and bottom crust. You can then use your thumb and forefingers to create a pinched edge around the pie.

The last step is to cut vents into the top of the crust. Use a sharp knife to cut 4-5 lines in the top crust. This will let the steam out while the apples are cooking and allow the crust to settle with the apples as they cook.

Besides peeling all of the apples by hand, this is a pretty quick and easy way to make a fabulous pie. It is also good to add a few Crasins, raisins or even chopped dried apricots to the sliced apples to give the pie a unique flavor.

Thanks to my lil sis for taking the pics this time. Much easier to have a photographer than balance dirty hands and a camera!

Finished!