Ingredients
- Pastry:
- 2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 10 tablespoons cold butter or margarine cut up
- 6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
- 6-7 tablespoons ice water
- Apple Filling:
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3-1/2 lbs. granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into 16 wedges
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut up
- 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Preparation
Step 1
Pastry:
In food processor with knife blade attached, blend flour and salt. Add butter and shortening and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until large moist crumbs just begin to form.
Shape dough into 2 balls, 1 slightly larger. Flatten each into a disk, wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes or overnight. If chilled overnight, let stand 30 minutes at room temperature before rolling.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place cookie sheet on rack in oven to bake pie on later.
Prepare apple filling. In large bowl, combine sugar with cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Add applies and lemon juice, and toss to coat evenly.
On lightly floured surface, with floured rolling pin, roll larger disk of dough into 12" round. Ease dough into 9" pie plate. Gently press dough against bottom and up side of plate without stretching. Trim dough edge, leaving 1" overhang, reserving trimmings. Spoon apple mixture into pie crust, dot with butter.
Roll remaining disk for top crust into 12" round. Center round over filling in bottom crust. Turn pastry edge, leaving 1" overhang, reserve trimmings. Fold overhand under, bring up over pie plate rim and pinch to form stand up edge.
Brush crust with egg white. Reroll trimmings. With knife or cookie cutter cut out apple or leaf shape, arrange on pie. Cut slashes in top of pie to allow steam to escape during baking. Brush cutouts with egg white, then sprinkle with sugar. Bake pie 1 hour 10 minutes or until apples are tender when pierced with knife through slits in crust. To prevent over browning, cover pie loosely with tent of foil after 40 minutes.