No Recipe Baking? Yes you can!

It's my one week anniversary and yes, I'm still feeling a little loved-up and in the bubble. I can't help it! Whenever I feel this happy and homey and surrounded with happy, I of course want to show that in the kitchen. What better way on the eve of October then to bake a pie? Autumn is apple season and the markets are loaded with beautiful apple varieties. Honey crisp is one of the first fall varieties of apples available in Iowa. If you've never had this type before, you need to find some. They are the perfect fresh eating apple. Juicy and sweet, the skin is a blushing red and yellow. They can be pretty big too. Also readily available right now are Granny Smith apples, the perfect pie apple.

Now we all know that generally speaking, baking is an exact science and it's not easy to "wing it." Finding the right balance of dry to liquid ingredients, the right leavening agent, the perfect balance of sugar and tart, these take a carefully followed recipe. However....... I am going to show you how to make a delicious, juicy and just right sweet apple pie from fresh apples- no gross sloppy canned pie filling here- and flaky crust. If you want, you can cheat and buy a pre-made pie crust- which honestly, I do quite a lot of times, or you can whip up a super fast crust if you're good at eyeballing ingredients. Spoon about 2 cups flour into a bowl and add a good pinch of salt. Grab a stick of cold butter and slice most of it, about 2/3 of the stick, into pats right into the flour. Cut it in with a fork until it looks like fine crumbs then toss with a couple tablespoons ice water just until the mixture holds together. Gather into a ball- DON'T KNEAD it, wrap in plastic and chill about an hour before cutting in two and rolling out for your pie.

Fruit pies are a favorite and are so much easier to make than you think! You don't need all the goo and saucy stuff common in prepared pie fillings, in fact that usually makes a soggy pie. Yuck. Fresh fruit needs only a few adjustments to be perfect in pies- a little sugar, a pinch of salt, a splash of lemon to make everything taste awesome, sometimes a little spice like cinnamon, ginger, gloves, and some kind of thickener. I prefer using flour or cornstarch in my fruit pies. I use flour for the less juicy fruits and cornstarch for berries and very ripe peaches. Once you have this basic recipe figured out, you can whip up a homemade fruit pie any time just off the top of your head!

For the filling you want 4 or 5 fresh apples. Granny Smith apples make the best apple pie, trust me on this. We are making an 8 inch pie so 4 to 5 apples is plenty. Grab a large bowl, peel, core and slice the apples into bite sized pieces. Add about a tablespoon of lemon juice, some sugar to taste (I keep a tablespoon in my sugar canister and I just spooned 4 or 5 heaping tablespoons into the bowl), a few dashes of cinnamon and any other spices you like- nutmeg and ginger go great with apple, and a bit of flour. Experience tells me a couple tablespoons is plenty for apples. Toss it all together to mix it thoroughly.

Roll out your pastry, and fit the bottom into an eight inch pie pan. Pile the fruit in the crust and dot with butter all over. Roll out and fix the top crust on top, seal the edges, crimp and flute. Decorate your pie however you like, and be sure to cut some vents in the top crust. You can do a traditional full top crust or something fancy like lattice or pastry cut outs. Brush the pastry with milk and sprinkle with additional sugar for a sparkly crisp crust, if you like. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and slide that pie into the hot oven. Bake for 50 minutes until the crust s golden brown and apples are tender. Let cool slightly before serving with whipped cream or ice cream.

Wasn't that simple? And just think, you did it without following a written recipe! Like I said, this basic fruit pie recipe works great with just about any fruit. Apples and pears need just a couple tablespoons of flour to thicken the juices, but some berries will need more, or use about the same amount of cornstarch, which is roughly twice the thickening power. Adjust your sugar as needed- if working with something really tart like rhubarb or gooseberries, you want to bump up that sugar a bit. Don't be afraid to experiment and have fun!