Baking an Apple Pie

Have you girls been over to Sugar Pie Farmhouse yet? You know?...Aunt Ruthie?  Let me tell you, she is amazing!  I always feel totally inept after visiting her blog. She does everything...and does it well...ya know what I mean?  I never feel like I can do the things she does...but last week she posted a recipe for apple pie that looked soooo good that I just had to try it.  It was called Butter Crunch Apple Pie and the photo made me almost drool! 

Now, I haven't had the best results with making homemade pies in the past...but I was sure that the reason for Aunt Ruthie's success with her awesome pie was in the special apple peeler...corer...slicer thingy that she had. It was shiny and red and looked...ahem...like a professional apple pie making tool.

So I immediately ordered it.  While I waited for it to arrive, I dreamed of all the lovely apple pies I would make...effortlessly, of course, with this new and wonderful tool.  I imagined my husband and son thinking I was amazing and telling all their friends about all of the heavenly delicious apple pies I made.

I purchased the apples and other supplies for the recipe...and anxiously watched my mailbox...

Well, Thursday...it arrived!  I was so excited! I opened it on the dining room table and put on the little handle and prongs that hold the apple, in place... and sighed. Now, I would make a pie like Aunt Ruthie...finally!

First, I made the pie shell...just like Aunt Ruthie said.  It wasn't too difficult I managed to sail right through it...a little flour found its way into my hair, on my forehead and the front of my apron...but that was ok. I still had my professional apple thingy tool to use and I was quite certain that the displaced flour was all part of my new professional baking skills.

Now...on to the apple peeling! The thing that had catapulted me into this new vision of me as a person who can snap her fingers and produce the prettiest, yummiest, most awesome pie you ever saw!

That is a terrible photo...sorry!  Even Aunt Ruthie's photos are better than mine.  Anyway...you can see how clever it is. You put the apple in and turn the handle and in no time at all you have a lovely bowl of peeled and sliced apple ready for your pie...right?

Well...it didn't work that way for me.  I don't know if I had the tension wrong or the prongs in the wrong place or what. I looked for directions in the box but couldn't find any...so I just tried to figure it out from the picture on the box. 

The result was a squished apple...juice all over the counter and peels on the floor...which the dog tried to eat but decided against very quickly.
I had already made the pie shell and was covered in flour from that and now I was sticky, too.   Sticky...but determined.

So, rather than be defeated by a lack of knowledge about my new kitchen tool...I made a note to email them for instructions and sat down with a bowl of apples in my lap and a paring knife...like my grandmother used to do. I was feeling very "vintagey" as I began peeling.

It took a bit longer...but when I was finished, I had a bowl of apples ready for a pie...and I was plum proud of myself!

I mixed the apples with the required ingredients, then topped them with the butter crunch topping...and then popped it into the oven and set about to clean my kitchen... whew...

When all was said and done...I had made a lovely apple pie that I was proud of and my husband and son absolutely loved it! My son has told me three times that it's the best apple pie he ever ate... (moms love that doncha know?)  

And then...my sweet husband heard the story about the tool problem and found the box...and pulled out a little booklet of directions. 

"Where did you find that?" I stammered

"It was right there in the box" he replied.

I felt like and idiot.  Somehow in my excitement to use my new kitchen tool...I overlooked the directions...totally.   This can only mean one thing.
I shall have to make another apple pie...using the directions this time!

Meanwhile...I encourage you to go visit Aunt Ruthie and get her awesome pie recipe. I would post it here....but I haven't asked her permission to do so. Anyway, you need to see her amazing blog!
www.sugarpiefarmhouse.com
'Til next time... love and happiness... Kate~