My first apple pie
12-28-06 · Cakes, tarts, puddings & pies, Sweets & desserts Tags: Fruit pies
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Whenever I had a craving for apple pie in the past, I knew of only one place where I could have the real thing — Hizon’s in Manila. Of course, today, there are a lot of delis that sell apple pie but Hizon’s is still the pie place for me (not McDonald’s, for goodness’ sakes). After the move to the suburb, Hizon’s is now far, far away. About time I learned to bake my own apple pie. 
My first attempt turned out pretty well but, next time, I will fill the crust with more apple slices — enough to create a real mound.
Hmmm… perhaps, the title should be “our first apple pie” — my 12-year-old daughter Alex helped me bake this apple pie. She peeled the apples, brushed the crust with beaten egg, pricked it with a fork to create steam vents… she did enough to allow me to take all these photos. If she had not been in the kitchen, you’d probably just see a photo of the baked apple pie after it has come out of the oven.
Anyway… it was my first time to use a loose-bottom pan. I bought two yesterday, 8″ and 10″ respectively, and I was so excited to use them. I used the smaller one for this apple pie.
Where did I get the recipe… hmmm… nowhere. I was just feeling my way through the whole thing. I’ve seen enough cooking shows to know the basics of apple pie making and I just went ahead and did it. No guts, no apple pie.
The first thing I did was to prepare the crust. Someone posted a comment that combining butter with lard would make pie crust even flakier. I couldn’t find baking lard so I just decided to experiment with proportions. The way the crust turned out today, I’m sticking with this basic proportions for making pie crust: 1/4 cup of butter for every cup of flour.
Cut 1/2 cup of butter into very small pieces. Place the butter in a large mixing bowl and add 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Mix with your hands, rubbing the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Pour in iced water — and I mean water with pieces of ice in it — little by little, about a tablespoonful of so at a time, while stirring the dough lightly. When the dough starts to stick together, you’ve poured in enough water. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes in the fridge (an hour would make it even easier to roll out).
Divide the dough in half with one portion slightly larger than the other. Take the larger portion and place on a sheet of baking paper. Flatten slightly with your hand. Place another sheet of baking paper over it and roll from the center outward with light smooth strokes until the dough is about 1/8 of an inch thick. Note that the rolled dough should be larger than the pie pan.
Remove the top sheet of baking paper. Lift the dough by holding on to the remaining sheet of baking paper. Carefully invert onto the pie pan. Use your fingers to make sure that the dough fits snugly into the pan. Press the dough along the edges of the pan to remove the excess. If you’re not using a pan with fluted edges, use kitchen shears to cut off the excess. Place the pan with the prepared crust in the fridge while preparing the top crust and the apples.
Roll out the remaining half of the dough. Without removing both sheets of baking paper, place on a plate and put inside the fridge.
congratulations! i can see you’re really into baking now. I too resolve to get more into baking after this bakeshop tried to sell me a microscopic piece of brownie for 10 bucks! Gad! And really…the quality of baked goods just keeps deteriorating. Again, congratulations…the pie sure looks good
Yum, looks good! I’ve also been trying to figure out what to do with all the apples left over from noche buena.
I’ve tried apple pie with rum before (I think the apples were soaked in rum) — yummy too.
I just started to appreciate baking myself and only recently learned a few of the terms. The type of crust you made was a “pâte brisé” (literally: broken paste). After dieting & starving myself a couple of weeks, I’ll venture into creating the more richer, heavily buttered “pâte feuilletée” or puff-pastry. I started with apples, too. But reaching back to my filipino roots, I’ve been experimenting with fruits traditionally found in the Philippines. For example, mangos and jackfruit (truly amazing together!). If you can suggest other amazing fruits and combinations, don’t keep it to yourself! Post it on your blog! And, don’t forget the world of savory tarts!
hello connie,
happy new year to you and your family!!! i check your web site every single day. and not just once a day..during my breaks at work..i don’t get much needed break at home with 2 kids (5 and 3) anyways..im here in cleveland ohio..i also show your website to my officemates and being a proud filipino i always brag about our food and everything we filipinos do..anyways..my officemates (they’re all americans) are so curious what kind of camera you use..you took really good pictures of your dish..they said it’s like looking at a cookbook..
hope you don’t sharing it to us as much as you share your yummy recipes..
keep up the good work and God Bless Your family..
i miss home myself
darlene
ps you can directly e-mail me back through my email ad..thanks
some correction on my previous comment on the second paragraph…
i meant “hope you don’t mind sharing”
congrats connie for your first apple pie…. really looks yummy. i wish i could also bake, but am not really into baking. i love cooking and i’ve tried several of your recipes with a little add and minus on some of the ingredients but i should say it still turned out delicious. my partner loved the braised pork spare ribs that i made for lunch but turned out “pulutan” instead and left us very little for lunch. heheheh
so, we will be expecting more baking recipes here, eh?
btw, Happy New Year to you and your family
Thank you, all. And a Happy New Year! I’m still in 7th heaven over the apple pie which is almost gone as I type this.
Nadia, re “the quality of baked goods just keeps deteriorating”
Oh, you said it! How true, how true! “Bakeshops” passing off as cheesecake those gelatine-extended whatchamacallthem. And they charge so much.
Rowie, rum-soaked apples sounds wonderfully decadent! Type ko!
Rico, my daughters and I are making a mango pie tomorrow and a buko (coconut) pie after that. My husband also suggests fresh mangoes with canned peaches. But I also want to make brazo de mercedes and chocolate eclairs and chocolate mousse… and banana cake with pili nuts
We’re all so excited! And, yes, of course I will be posting everything.
Darlene, oh, I do remember what it was like when my kids were 5 and 3. I understand about not getting enough rest.
I use a Canon EOS 350D.
Wonderful little gadget.
Talking about “proud Filipino”, Pinoy Cook is in the New York Times, second time around if I remember correctly. I don’t really collect press mentions but I really feel good about this one. Almost as good as the Gourmet mag April 2004 article.
Hi Brenda. Yes, more baking. Not necessarily less cooking, of course. But I’m veering away from politics more and more every day.
Hi Connie!
I was the one who suggested the addition of lard into the pie crust mixture. For my savoury pies like pork pies and beef pies, I add bacon lard or pork lard (rendered with the pork skin that I baked for my homemade chicharon).
Another suggestion for the apple pie is the cooking of the apples before you bake them. I cook my apple pieces in a pat of butter then I add 1/4 cup of brown sugar, a tsp. of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp. of ground nutmeg. I cook the apples for about 20-25 minutes. This prevents shrinkage of the pie and makes for a more flavorful filling.
I gave away apple pies as our Christmas presents for my hubby’s co-workers/boss and our friends. I’m glad you discovered the joys of a homemade apple pie fresh from your oven.
Doddie
So, it was you, Doddie! LOL I was searching the entries since I couldn’t remember under which recipe it was posted.
When the apples are pre-cooked, they render juices, right? So when you pour the cooked apples into the pie shell, won’t they soak the dough before going into the oven?
OOps Connie, I forgot one important ingredient – FLOUR! You need to add about 3 to 4 tbsps of flour when the apples are nearly done (about 20 minutes into the cooking time). The flour will soak up the juices and make for a very tasty thick sauce. Sorry for being such a doofus. I am glad you posted that question.
Doddie
I use lard in the pie crust in combination with butter or margarine. I usually get the lard from “chocolate lovers” . Anyway, one way that I know the apple pie is done is when juices bubble through the slashes. Have you tried eating warm apple pie with a cone of vanilla ice cream on the top? Just love the cold and warm flavors combined .
Happy New Year!!!! Few minutes left for new year to come here in Australia. 2 1/2 hours left in Pinas. Can’t wait! Still remember our traditions in Pinas..
That sounds really interesting.
I tried cooking apples in brown sugar first as what Doddie did so it would be mushy to put in pie. I would love to try yours and Rowie’s rum apple pie.
I’m looking forward for your more baking especially brazo de mercedes…want to learn that for my hubby n his family as they are big fan of sweets! I wasn’t allowed to prepare any dessert or meal when we were in NSW coz its only a wk, which just last wk.
Anyways more power! And more recipes for this coming new year! Happy Happy New Year to you and to your family!
Cheers!
apple pie a la mode, noemi? yeah, at bag of beans in tagaytay. love it!
Hi Hush! Well, it’s New Year here now as well. Warm, really, after the running to and fro to catch the fireworks. LOL Happy new year!
I tried your pecipe for “our First Apple Pie”and WOW it turned out great. Thank you so much
i just tried making my first apple pie today and posted it in my blog as “my first apple pie”. and then when i searched for that in google, i found out that you had this same post, diff recipe though. strike 2 now for similar blog titles. pls dont think im copying ur titles. maybe next time i should check if u had posted something similar first.