Pie day!

This is very unseasonal of me. The grocer's had a sale of two bags for one (doesn't that sound more enticing than 50% off? Implies somehow that we are getting one over on the man!), so I bought two bags of granny smith apples. Then I had to do something with them as the kids are perversely not eating apples this week. Normally I love making pies: today not so much, but forced myself to get up and bake and despite my seething I got into it after a bit and it all turned out quite nicely. The key to making pie dough is Don't Overwork It! It makes it all tough and nasty. Making a ring of pastry around the edge of the piepan helps keep it from burning (burning's a bit of a theme with my oven). If you use butter it's more likely to burn a bit. This was made on a big cookie tray as it goes further and is easier somehow to cut up for lunches. Still have too many apples!

Pie dough: makes enough for one huge sheet pie or a regular pie and little jam pies after.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2 1/2 cups flour
4 tablespoons sugar
1 cup butter
4 tablespoons very cold water


Mix flour and sugar. Cut butter into chunks and pinch in with your fingers. Stop as soon as the butter is fully incorporated. Add in a touch of water and blend. Add a touch more if needed. You want it to just stick, if it's too wet it's a nightmare to roll out, ditto if it's too dry. I roll it out on a sheet of clingfilm and then dust with flour, then put cling film on top. For this pie roll out a huge rectangle, for a regular pie roll out rounds, and place on cookie sheet.

Apple filling

Combine about 7 thinly sliced (sliced, not chunks) Granny Smith apples with about 1/2 cup white sugar or a combination of white, brown and honey in a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg and stir to combine. Put the apple mixture on the dough and roll out the top sheet of dough. Place that on top and trim. Poke a few holes with a fork (not sure if this is strictly necessary as apples might like a bit of steam, but puts you in the pie-making tradition). After about 30 minutes watch it carefully as some ovens (ahem) like to burn people's pies. Cool a few minutes before letting kids attack pie. We like ours with a thin piece of cheddar. If you make a regular sized pie use the leftover dough to make little round jam pies (they bake much more quickly and need longer to cool: boiling jam is not your tongue's friend!).