Hey, y'all! Welcome!

So Missy and I got to thinking that since that whole Civil War thing went over SO WELL, (she calls it the War of Northern Aggression, isn't that just so cute????)....

 We'd open a coffee and pastry shop together. You know, so our friends could stock up on cyber food, recipes, coffee-talk, cookies, java, joe....Whatever. Now if that look is a bit prissy for you, how 'bout this?

And that Tippens woman makes a MEAN latte' for a preacher's wife. She does not SKIMP on the cream, that's all I'm sayin'.


So welcome aboard!  Feel free to stop by during our birthday bash month of October and see what lil' ol' things Missy and I might be cooking up!  Today I'm going to have a little apple pie fun for the lot o'youse!

We begin with this: 

A 4-quart bowl filled with sliced, peeled apples (I like Crispin and Cortlands best for baking)

4 tsp.Cinnamon

2 tsp. Nutmeg

2 1/4 cups Sugar

3/4 cup Flour

 Mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg together in that pretty glass bowl.

Now mix the dry ingredients with the apples.

Once mixed, several slices of apple-y-goodness should be TASTED...

For quality control purposes, of course.  ;)

I love these pie pans. 

They look expensive. Like I bought them at an East-side mall...

Or some shop with the word Pottery in its title...

Nope.

Wal-Mart.

$8 each.

SUHWEEET!!!!

Nice and deep, holds lots of apple-y-goodness! I love a deep pie, don't you?

So now you layer the apple-y-spicy-goodness into the pie shells.

If you're using a regular top crust, you would dot each pie with 2 Tbsp. of butter.

Then apply the top crust, add a few cute vents and bake at 425 until golden.

BUT:

We're doing Dutch Apple Pie in honor of the birth of my new grandson

Xavier Joseph

born yesterday, September 30, 2011.

(That was a gratuitous announcement, you get that, right??? 'Cause the kid DOES NOT eat any kind of pie as yet, Dutch or non-Dutch)

Now I love this picture.

Note the pastry blenders.

See the shiny silver one on the left? It's pretty, right?

And the old, worn, somewhat rusty one on the right?

Yeah, you guessed it. The one on the right is my FAVORITE.

It's got the perfect flexibility for blending butter, sugar and flour, which

(coincidentally)

Are what you need for the topping!

Clever, right????

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

1 teaspoon cinnamon

(The world will not end if you adjust any of these numbers. I'm just sayin'...)

Cut butter into flour, sugar, cinnamon mix with cool old pastry blender or two knives.

Both work well.

Mixture should look like 'meal' when mixed. Kind of lumpy. Almost scary.

Sprinkle this on top of apple filling

Really.

Do it.

It's okay.

There. Isn't that pretty?  Now I crimp foil strips around the pie edges because Lacey hates dark crust.

And I love Lacey, my daughter-in-law who just owns my heart.

 

So I want light edges for Lacey.

Bake at 425 for about 35-45 minutes, depending on thickness.

If topping browns too quickly, lay a square of tin foil (aluminum foil for you fancy folks) over it the last fifteen minutes or so.

I can't think of a better way to start off a new October enterprise than good, old-fashioned

Yankee Apple Pie!

Enjoy, y'all!!