First off, a fun little note. I have been baking the past month or so by hand…yes that means with a wisk and spoon not a mixer!! It’s been really tough but also very rewarding! I feel very accomplished when I bake without a mixer…the down side? You realize you have muscles in your arms and wrists that you never knew existed! Ouch!!
Well today that has ended…I found myself a Kitchen Aid hand held mixer at Goodwill for $2.99! What a steal! I mean it’s not exactly what I would want, but it works a lot better than just mixing by hand!
Ok now on to my Blue Ribbon story.
We moved from California to Tennessee about 3 months ago and I’ll just tell you, I haven’t been able to cook in my own home or kitchen for about 2 years so I’m sure you can see how I was itching to get right to it!
I saw a fair was coming to town, the biggest fair in Tennessee, the Wilson County Fair. I also saw they had a big baking contest, since this was all new to me I decided just to enter my grandma’s Apple Pie.
Here’s a brief story of where the recipe came from….
The filling was my great grandma Snyder’s, her mother’s, recipe. So cool that it’s been passed down 4 generations now! The crust was from a trucker who worked with my grandpa who actually worked in a truck stop cafe at the time! All I did was change crisco to butter(I’m a butter lover) and that’s the short story of how this has been in my family for a long time.
So I turn in my Apple Pie Thursday August 14th, 2014 around 5pm. They were judging them after 6pm that evening and we were supposed to be getting a call if we won. Well the next morning came around and I hadn’t heard anything…”oh well, maybe next time” were my thoughts. That Friday night was opening day and we HAD to take the kids! When we got there I told my husband I wanted to check out the winners and see their pies. We walked into the building and they had all the winners kept in a fridge, I was looking for Apple Pie and what I found was DARCI BOS next to a pie that said first place and had a blue ribbon! My jaw dropped! I was shocked, excited, confused, happy, etc…I started laughing and couldn’t believe it!
I HAD to call my grandma and tell her the good news! Her response “Well isn’t that a hoot!” Haha my silly grandma, I love her! Needless to say I had a smile on my face the rest of the night and had no idea this would begin my obsession for baking and even more entering contests!
- For The Crust:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspooon salt
- 2 sticks cold butter
- ½ cup cold water
- For The Filling:
- 6 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- dash of salt
- ½ stick cold butter, sliced
- Pre-heat oven to 425.
- For The Crust:
- Add flour and salt to large mixing bowl.
- Mix butter into flour with hands, crumbling as you go until you have about pea sized pieces.
- Slowly add in water until you have a nice dough formed.
- Sprinkle flour onto surface and roll out to desired thickness, make sure to have enough for your top crust.
- Place crust into pie dish and fork the bottom, set aside.
- For The Filling:
- Peel, core and thinly slice apples. I use an apple peeler and corer little device that makes life so much easier!
- Place apples into a large bowl.
- Add sugar, cinnamon, flour and salt and stir until combined.
- If you haven't done it already, slice your ½ stick of butter.
- Add filling into prepared pie dish.
- Lay slices of butter over top.
- Roll out top crust and lay over top, making sure to seal edges.
- Make slits on top crust.
- Optional: I like to sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over top!
- Place in pre-heated oven for 15 min.
- Lower the temperature to 350 and cook for another 30-45 min or until top crust is golden.
- Enjoy!
[…] take a look back at on older post where I talk about where the recipe originates from and how I won my first blue ribbon. You guys will see that there really isn’t anything different or unique about this recipe, I […]