On Baking 109 Apple Crumb Pies

Mr. D & I delivered his 92nd apple crumb pie today. 92 down, 17 to go. He’s raising money for his summer mission trip to Guatemala with our church youth group by selling apple crumb pies for 20 dollars apiece. His goal was to sell 40 pies and he succeeded in selling 109; more than enough money for his trip & a couple of other charities. That’s a lot of pie. So, for the last 3 weekends he’s been baking; sometimes alone and sometimes with my or his sister’s help. This weekend, he lucked out and friend Hans joined in the drudgery merriment of making and baking 36 pies. One more weekend to go.

Each pie ended up costing around 4 dollars to make. He really lucked out when fabulous Pam of the Triangle Fruit Market in north Everett sold him the boxes of large granny smith apples wholesale. The other ingredients we purchased at costco and the 9 inch pie tins and pastry boxes we got online through The Webstaurant Store. We broke the process down, by assembling 12 at a time, since larger batches would have been impossible without much larger bowls. Mr. D first peeled with a hand peeler until we found the old pampered chef apple peeler/corer contraption buried in a cupboard; he much preferred the apple peeler/ corer contraption.  As he peeled he would throw the cut apples in a large vat of cold water with cut lemons in it to try to stave off the browning of the apples; that worked pretty well. We were able to bake 10 pies at a time with our two ovens; the general electric oven fit 6 (but we had to rotate shelves half way through the cooking time) and the Lacanche fit 4. We’ve only had one fire, two burnt pies, and three cramped hands….so far.

12 Apple Crumb Pies

Ingredients:

• 40 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored & sliced
• 8 cups sugar plus as much cinnamon as you desire
• 1-1/2 cup flour
• *****topping ************
• 9 cups flour
• 9 cups sugar
• 9 cubes (8 T.) cold butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces
• ***pie crust (multiply x 3; each recipe makes 4 pies)*************
• 4 cups flour
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1-1/2 cup crisco
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1T. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup cold water

Cooking Directions:

1. Make 3 recipes worth of pie crust, for each one: Mix 4 cups flour with salt and baking powder. Cut in crisco with pastry blender and blend until mixture is crumbly. Mix together beaten egg with vinegar and water. Pour into flour and blend until just mixed. Wrap in plastic wrap & refrigerate until ready to use. Each batch should make (4)- 9 inch pies
2. For topping: With pastry blender, blend together flour sugar & butter until mixture is crumbly – We did 2 batches (4 cup flour, 4 cups sugar, 4 sticks butter & then 5 cups flour, 5 cups sugar & 5 sticks butter).
3. For apple filling: Mr. D threw the peeled and cut apples into a large vat of cold water with some cut up lemons as he was peeling to stave off the browning process. When they are all peeled and cut, drain them. Mix apples with 8 cups sugar and 1-1/2 cups flour & cinnamon.
4. Roll out pie crust and fit into (12) – 9 inch pie pans. Evenly distribute apple filling amongst the pans and press down evenly. Evenly distribute crumb topping on each of the pies, cover evenly.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes to one hour. Pie is done when juice is very thickly bubbly.