This sale is going on from today (November 5, 2015) to Monday (November 9, 2015).  This is only for selected ebooks in the Kobo store.  

One of mine, His Convenient Wife, happens to be one of them. 🙂

In honor of this sale, I will be doing a couple of blog posts dedicated to the Larson family!

Today’s post is based on a couple of people asking me what Mary Larson’s apple pie recipe is.  This pie recipe is from a Betty Crocker recipe I used to make while in college.  (I’m 41 now, so we’re talking 20 years since I last used it.)  I modified it a bit to make it sweeter because I LOVE sugar and cinnamon.

Okay.  Here goes.  Let’s see how well my memory works.  (The main recipe is from here, but I used to modify it to make it sweeter, and I share my modifications below.)

Homemade Apple Pie (according to Mary Larson)

ID 58919843 © Bhofack2 | Dreamstime.com 

Ingredients for the crust:

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 teaspoon of salt

2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons of shortening

6 tablespoons of water (sometimes one or two more if you are having trouble mixing the crust)

Ingredients for the Filling:

8 medium size apples (you can use green or red; I like red because they are sweet)

1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (I used 1 cup sugar because I love things sweet)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I used a tablespoon or two)

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg (on this one I did as it said)

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup of all purpose flour

2 tablespoons of butter

Directions

1.  Peel and cut all apples into slices and set aside in fridge to keep cool (otherwise, they brown quickly).
2. In medium bowl, mix 2 cups flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut in shortening, (pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of small peas. Sprinkle with cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with fork until all flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans side of bowl (1 to 2 teaspoons more water can be added if necessary).  (Note: I always used more water.)
3. Gather pastry into a ball. Divide in half; shape into 2 flattened rounds on lightly floured surface. (I added a lot of flour.  Lightly floured never seemed to work that well.)
4. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes or until dough is firm and cold, yet pliable. This allows the shortening to become slightly firm, which helps make the baked pastry more flaky. If refrigerated longer, let pastry soften slightly before rolling.  (Note: I never refrigerated the pastry.  This might be why my top crust always fell apart.)
5. Heat oven to 425°F. With floured rolling pin, roll one pastry round into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate. Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side.  (Note: This never unfolded nicely for me.  It fell apart and I had to connect and press it together so it was as smooth as possible.  This left lot of fingerprints.  But no one notices since you fill the pie up.)
6. In large bowl, mix sugar, flour, the cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in apples until well mixed. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over filling. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1/2 inch from rim of plate.
7. Roll other round of pastry into 10-inch round. Fold into fourths and cut slits so steam can escape. (Note: I could never get the top crust to fold.  I’d do my best to get the whole thing on top, but it would fall apart at some point.  I’d carefully make it all “fit” as well as possible.)  Unfold top pastry over filling; trim overhanging edge 1 inch from rim of plate. Fold and roll top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal; flute as desired. Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning.  (I never put foil on the edges, but I can see why it’d be nice to.)
8. I eventually added sugar to the top for fun.
9. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Serve warm if desired.  (Note: it is very important the juice is bubbling and the crust is a nice golden brown.  Sometimes you’ll have to leave it in longer.  I can’t remember how long, so keep an eye on it.)

There’s the recipe.  I think it took about 1.5 to 2 hours to prepare (because I used a knife to peel and cut the apples).  It was a long and strenuous process, which is why I don’t do it any more.  Maybe I should try it again sometime and see how it turns out.

I can’t guarantee this will have people fighting over a slice of your pie like they did for Mary’s, but hopefully, it’ll be a good treat if you try it!