Homemade Apple Pie - Another one of Life's Pleasures :)

Ok, here are the promised apple pie pictures :)  I'm telling you, I am NOT an apple person - not one little bit of me is - but I LOVE this apple pie!  It takes forever to make, but it is totally worth it!!  Trust me, I know - I was willing to go to bed earlier than usual on a school night just to get back up at 11:00pm to eat it, since it takes so long to cool.  However, I decided to just eat it for breakfast the next morning instead :)

Remember - the recipe is on my baking page; here the photos are labeled by steps so you know what it should be looking like as you go along.

Step 1 - I usually don't have problems with pie dough, but for some reason this one took me forever to get right.  You have to be really careful not to rip it, otherwise you end up having to start over.  And trust me, that's not fun at all!!

Leading up to step 2 - Peel, core, and slice (really thin) about 7-8 apples.  If you really don't like doing this, or it takes you a while, I suggest doing this part then putting the apple slices in a large bowl with some lemon juice then putting in a covered bowl in the refrigerator while you take care of the pie crust.  After the pie crust part is completed, you can then move on to the next step. 

Still leading up to step 2 - After peeling the apples, they need to be cored and sliced really thin.  To do this, I used an apple slicer thing first - that took care of the coring and part of the slicing - then I sliced those larger slices into several small, thin ones.  It is a lot easier to do and doesn't wear out you patience as much :) 

Step 2 - Mix the apples with all your dry ingredients (well, and lemon juice).  If you put your apple slices in lemon juice in the refrigerator earlier, you just want to put a little bit more in, not much - do not exceed the 1 tbsp though, be careful! 

Still part of step 2 - (actually, I just realized that where I posted the recipe, this is step 3.  However since step 2 is preheating the oven, this is going to be step 2 on this post)  Put the apples in the pie crust.  I love this step because it means you are about to put the pie in the oven, then it will bake, then it will come out, then you will eat it  :)  Where is says to mound it a little in the middle, it means to just make the apples a little higher there, so it's not so flat.

I'm pretty sure this is also still part of step 2 - Cover pie with second piece of dough, then trim, fold, and crimp the edges.  You also need to cut some vent holes in the top.  I did a little design, but that's just me :)

Finally, the pie goes in the oven.  In a way, this is one of the worst parts for me, lol.  It means that not only do I have to wait for it to bake, but I also have to clean up my mess while it bakes.  Oh well, at least it passes the time :)

Rotate it like halfway through baking.  The two different colors is just a shadow on the back half, I promise it didn't cook weird or anything!!

Finally, it's done!!  Now it just has to cool for 4 hours...

The recipe says it's basically done when "the juices are bubbling through the top".  I think this counts!!  My mouth was watering sooo bad...

Since it had to cool for 4 hours, I ate it for breakfast the next morning.  IT WAS SO GOOD!!  

The center.  The reason the pie has to cool for so long is to let the filling coagulate.  Otherwise, it would be a huge gloppy mess when you cut it.

We took care of half that pie in less than a day.  It's that good.  Then again, it is another one of life's pleasures... :)