Recipe for my Never Fail Pie Crust and Apple Pie…

First a reminder that my “Lavender Loveliness,” for 13″ Dianna Effner, Little Darlings, ends this evening on Ebay. You can see it by clicking HERE, or click on the picture at the right side bar. —->>

I thought we might have a race between #1, #2 and #3, but in the end, the fabrics in the second lot won out for Kirsten… the blouse part was going to be the same for whichever fabrics were chosen, so I have a small head start on the dirndl… stay tuned!!!

I hope you’re in the mood for a good recipe…because I’ve got one for you! This comes from my 4-H cookbook and the recipe is courtesy of my 92 year old Aunt Evelyn… and let me tell you, she knows a thing or two about pies and cakes! But before you can have a really good pie, you have to have a really good crust recipe. This is the last recipe for a crust you’ll ever need. It’s truly a never-fail recipe. It can be rolled and re-rolled without getting tough… and it’s nice and flaky too…the best part…(It can also be kept in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks….without freezing.)

Okay let’s get started…
You’re going to need:

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4 cups flour
1 and 3/4 cups shortening (I use the already pre-measured packages of Crisco)
2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon vinegar

* In a large mixing bowl add the 4 cups flour, the 2 teaspoons of salt and the 1 Tablespoon of sugar.
* Cut your shortening into smaller pieces and add them to the bowl with your flour in it. Use a pastry cutter/blender if you have one to get it all crumbly.

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* Combine the egg, water and vinegar and pour this mixture into the bowl all at once. Blend with a spoon just until it’s all moistened.

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It’s very easy to form into two balls…one for the bottom and one for the top… If you decided to make a crumb topping instead of crust topping, you’d have enough to make another pie! :o)

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Take one ball and place it on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper and sort of flatten it out in a rounded flat mound. Place another sheet of parchment paper over the top and use a rolling pin to flatten out your crust.

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Keep rolling it out until it’s big enough to cover the bottom of your pie pan…then remove the top layer of parchment paper and carefully roll up the crust until it’s easy to transfer to the pie pan…

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Now trim off the sloppy edges of the crust and set it aside…I usually cover the crust with my parchment paper just to keep it from drying out.

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Now for the filling you’re going to need 6-8 Golden Delicious apples… Use the ones you hand pick yourself instead of buying a bag of them. They are much jucier and better for a pie if you pick the big slightly yellowish apples. The smaller ones in the bags tend to be slightly on the green side.

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Okay, for the apple filling you’ll need:

6-8 Golden Delicious apples
3/4 cups sugar (or slightly more if you go with the higher number of apples)
1/4 cup flour
dash of salt
2 Tablespoons of lemon juice
just a tiny sprinkle of cinnamon…(don’t use too much as it will overpower your apple flavor)

Slice your apples as thin as you can with a paring knife…

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Give the apple peelings to your chickens if you have some! :o)

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Mix the sugar, flour, salt, lemon juice and cinnamon with the apple slices…

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…until they are nicely coated…

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Scoop out the apples and place them in the bottom crust. (There will be juice in the bottom of the bowl, but just leave it. It will make your pie too juicy if you add it.) Then take a few little slivers of butter and cut into tiny pieces and add them to the apple heap.

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Now you can roll out your other ball of dough the same way you did the bottom crust….

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…and add it on top of your apples.

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Take a knife and trim off the excess dough…

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…and fold the edges under leaving a ridge around the rim of the pie plate.

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Flute the edges of the pie crust and you’re just about done! Using your paring knife, make some little slits in the top.

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Take an egg white and brush it on top of the crust and then liberally sprinkle sugar on top. Yum Yum!

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Now it’s time to bake it. You can bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour or 375 degrees for 45 minutes. I baked mine slower so it would get a light golden brown.

A pie is one of those things that you sort of have to keep an eye on when baking… If during the last 15 minutes or so, it seems to be getting too dark along the fluted edge, you can take 2 long strips of foil and make a cover to keep the heat from being too hot on the crust edge.

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Just keep checking your pie when it’s getting close to being done. You don’t want to have gone to all this work and have it over done.

Well, as Goldilocks said as she laid down on the third bed, “This one is JUST right!”

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Happy baking from my kitchen to yours!

See you tomorrow,
Blessings, Jeanne

21 thoughts on “Recipe for my Never Fail Pie Crust and Apple Pie…”

    1. HI Mary,
      Oh…ABSOLUTELY…a scoop of vanilla ice cream has to accompany this pie!
      Thanks so much,
      Blessings, Jeanne

  1. Thanks for the recipe, Jeanne! I love apple pie, with ice cream like MaryC suggested!

    1. HI Karen,
      You are so welcome… I hope you’ll give it a try…with ice cream, of course!
      Blessings, Jeanne

    1. HI Susette,
      Yes, it’s a 9″ deep dish glass pie pan…. the better to fill with mounds of apples!
      Have a great day!
      Blessings, Jeanne

  2. Jeanne, this sounds great, I have never been successful with pie crust, but I will try this one. As for the pie, do you refrigerate the top crust ball while make the pie filling? Also, I remember my great-aunt would sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top of the crust before baking the pie. Made a nice touch. Thanks for this recipe

    1. HI Sissy,
      Oh, I do hope this works for you… we’ve been using this recipe since 1973…
      I don’t refrigerate the dough while I’m doing the other things for the pie. It’s nice and soft that way…
      You’ll have to let me know if you have success with this recipe. I’ll be praying you do, or my name might be mud! :o)
      Thanks Sissy,
      Blessings, Jeanne

        1. OH MY GOODNESS, Sissy…
          You have been one busy lady! Congrats on that… Do you like making so many of the same thing? I’m not sure I would… kind of stifles my creativity… but hey, whatever brings in the money!
          Blessings, Jeanne

    1. HI Cindy,
      Can’t wait to see you in a few days!
      Oh dear, I only got 3 crusts from my dough… I may have rolled my out too thick or used too much on my fluting… I do like lots of crust on mine though. I sent my pie with George this morning to give to Pastor Bruce…
      Thanks and love you,
      your little sis…

    1. HI Joy,
      I think grandma’s just know how to make pies… it must be something they are born with! :o)
      Thanks so much,
      Blessings, Jeanne

    1. HI Marilyn,
      Yes, I see you…. :o)
      I can’t wait to get this comment/no comment thing figured out…
      Blessings, Jeanne

  3. Oy goodness, Jeanne! What a mouth-watering subject you have today! I tried to write earlier, but my computer just plain cut me off, and I was pressed for time, so didn’t get to write until now.

    I am kind of embarrassed to say that I have never been able to use a paring knife to peel any kind of fruit or vegtable! I remember watching my grandma peel apples to make pie, but for some strange reason, could never get the knife to feel comfortable , so I just use a regular peeler that you find in stores now. Peeling is not one of my favorite things to do!!!
    It’s funn, but when i was in high school, I made all the pies for Thanksgiving from scratch. I had pie crest making down to an art, but now? I buy the already made ones, and horror of horrors, I buy canned apple pie filling!! That’s what happens when you get old I guess—and lazy too! Actually, no one says that the pies aren’t good, and I never have any left over, but I really want to try your recipe just to see if it makes a difference. I usually make a lattice top on my pies, have never tired it the way you do, but one of these hot days when I am stuck inside, I’m going to try to make your pie! Looks like this weekend might fit the bill!

    1. HI Linda,
      I am just the opposite of you… I’m terrible with a peeler… I feel like I’m going to slice my fingers off every time I use one. The key is to use a tiny paring knife, not some big long bladed thing.
      My sister is the queen of pies, and she gets 4 crusts from the recipe… she can roll hers super thin without it falling apart. I’m about a 3 crust person… I like a lattice top too…it’s so pretty.
      Well, I hope you’ll give it a try. You might see your pickle recipe up here soon too!
      Have a good Saturday… and don’t worry about the typo’s. It didn’t bother me in the least.
      Blessings, Jeanne

  4. What is going on with all my misspelled words? It look like I have been drinking!LOL

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