Do you struggle to find the perfect gift for the men in your life?

Well, everybody knows, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.

My husband’s grandmother, Eva died several years back at the age of 92.  Up until that time, she was the official pie maker in the family.  Her apple pie was a favorite of both my husband and his dad.

Luckily for them, my husband visited her before Thanksgiving, the year before she died and helped her make and bake her pies.  And as he did, he wrote down everything.  I say luckily, because her apple pie did not have a recipe, other than in Eva’s head.

The first year I took over making Eva’s pies, I was tempted to try to find a fancier apple pie recipe.  Because much to my surprise, she used store bought canned apple filling and apple sauce in her pie.

But there is something special about her recipe… and the way her pie tastes, that really is the way to their hearts.

So this week, when I needed a gift for my parent-in-laws… Eva’s Apple Pie was top of my list.

Despite coming from a can, this pie is absolutely delicious.  It turns out perfectly every time.  (Something I can’t say other apple pie recipes I’ve tried.)  It’s applesaucy… which is very old fashioned… and the crust is divine.  And it’s easy.

Here’s her recipe:

Eva’s Apple Pie

For the crust (makes three crusts):

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 pound of lard
  
• 1 cup of ice water (I learned the hard way, you don’t use even closed to all of it.  Usually I use about 1/2 cup of the ice water.)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut up the lard into pieces and place in the freezer while you measure the dry ingredients.  Sift together the dry ingredients.  Add the lard into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter and incorporate thoroughly.

Add about 1/3 cup of  ice water and stir with a fork.  Then add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough pulls together.

Cut the dough into three equal parts.  Lightly form into disks.

Turn disk onto a floured surface and roll out into a round to fit into a 9″ pie plate.  Roll out second crust for the top.

For the filling:

• 1 can of Wilderness Apple Pie filling (More Fruit preferred)
• 1 cup of applesauce (she used chunky style)
• sugar
• cinnamon
• nutmeg
• evaporated milk and sugar (for the top of the crust)
  

Mix together the pie filling and applesauce.  Pour into pie crust.  Sprinkle top with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Top with second crust, making sure to vent the top with slits.  Flute the edges.

Using a pastry brush, paint the top crust with evaporated milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Place in a 375 degree oven until golden brown.  In my oven that’s about 45 minutes.

For a perfect pie tutorial click here.  I used Eva’s recipe for crust for this pie, but I used the same techniques shown in the tutorial.

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