Mein Schatz: Styled Shoot // Pie Party

Last month we were asked to put together a little Pie Party for Elizabethbanks.com. We baked up a few favorites, styled them with some purty florals and Yeah! Rentals furniture, and ate ''til we exploded.

A few treats from Cake Monkey made the perfect favors for our guests.. that is, if they could resist from eating them up!

Here's my Grandmother's Apple Pie recipe. It's the same one we used for the mini pies in jars for my wedding:

Crust (make two)

· 1 1/3 cups flour

· ½ tsp salt

· ½ cup cold butter, cut into cubes

· 3 TBL ice, cold water

In a large bowl, sift flour and salt together. Using a pastry cutter, blend in butter until it resembles little peas. Add water slowly, using only enough so dough holds together. Gather dough into a flat disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for an hour.

Dust your countertop and rolling pin with flour. Starting in the center of the dough disc, roll out until you’ve reached your desired size.

Apple Pie

· 3-4 large, tart apples, like Granny Smith

· 3-4 large, sweet apples, like Gala

· 1 cup of sugar

· 2 TBL flour

· 1 ½ TBL cinnamon

· 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

· Juice from one lemon

Pre-heat oven to 400°
Peel, core and slice apples into 1/8ths. Toss with lemon juice to prevent browning. Sprinkle with sugar, flour, and spices - toss to combine.

Roll out one of your piecrusts, and place in 9” pie pan. Trim the edge so you have no more than a ½” hang-over. Sprinkle the bottom with 1 TBL sugar. Add apples.

Roll out second piecrust and gently place over the top of your pie. Trim the edges and sal the two crusts together. Cut slits in the top so steam can escape. I like to cut hearts, a chevron pattern, or the initial of my pup (which happens to be the same as my love - he'll never know who I was thinking of while baking). Brush the top crust with an egg wash (mix one egg with 2 TBL water) and sprinkle with sugar.

Place pie on a baking sheet to catch any juices that may drip, and bake for 50 minutes. When you see the juices bubbling up towards the escape slits, your pie is done. If after 50 minutes, you don’t see any

bubbling, turn the oven down to 350° and continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes. If your crust is getting too brown, cover it with tinfoil.

Try to let your pie cool before serving – at least for 30 minutes – but if you can’t, I won’t tell. Just serve her up with some vanilla ice cream, and you are sure to have some very happy guests.