Best Apple Pie

CRUST:

1 1/2 sticks butter, room temperature (3/4 c.)

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 t. salt

3-5 T. milk

Using a fork, mix butter with flour and salt until it resembles crumbs. Drizzle in the milk bit by bit, blending with a fork until it just sticks together. (You may not need all the milk.)

Divide the dough in two pieces, one a bit larger than the other, to be the lower crust. Pat the pieces into disc shapes and cover with plastic wrap. Chill at least 20 minutes.

FILLING:

4 c. chopped, peeled apples (about 6 small apples)

3/4 c. frozen apple juice concentrate, thawed (1/2 of a 12-oz. can)

2 T. flour

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. butter, cut into pieces

Preheat oven to 420° F. In a large bowl, combine the apples, juice, flour, and cinnamon. Roll out the larger crust and press into a 9" pie plate. Add the apple mixture. Dot with butter bits. Roll out the smaller crust for the top. Moisten the edges of the lower crust with a little water and add the top crust. Press down the edges with a fork or your fingers (or crimp as desired). Make several slits in the top crust. Bake at 420° for 30 minutes; check pie and cover rim with foil if already brown. Reduce oven heat to 335° F and continue baking for about 30 minutes, or until a little juice is coming out of the slits.

Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

NOTE: Depending on your apples, this pie might taste a bit sour.

Courtesy of Penzeys Spice catalog

CCMM Cookies

1/2 c. butter
1 c. butter substitute (I used this because it's cheaper than butter; if you want to use 3 sticks of butter, go right ahead.)

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar

3 T. vanilla (okay so I like a lot of vanilla--the original recipe calls for 2 T.)

3 eggs

5 1/2 c. flour (again, I increased this amount--the original calls for 4 c.)
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1 1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. miniature M&M's

Cream butter and butter substitute; cream in sugar, then brown sugar. Continue creaming and add eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder, and salt; fold in chocolate. Cover tightly and refrigerate for two days. (I'm serious: this is important!)

Heat oven to 375°F. Remove dough from refrigeration; allow to warm while oven is heating. When oven is hot and dough is workably warm, drop by teaspoonful 2 inches apart on paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8-12 minutes; watch carefully to ensure proper baking time. (My first batch was underdone and the next was overdone. And then there were some WAY overdone cookies; and finally the last batch I baked were perfect. But I froze some of my dough, so we'll see how they bake up.)

Yield: 5-8 dozen, depending upon size of cookies--and how much dough you eat while baking them!

Note: K and I made this original recipe together, once upon a time. It inspired this blog post.

Because of Jesus Christ,

H