My worst pie story happened years ago when some friends decided to “set me up” with a friend of theirs. My girlfriend and her husband had me over for dinner to meet this guest and insisted that I help make the meal by making dessert – specifically an apple pie. I had no doubt that they were trying to force that way to a man’s heart thingy. I asked her what kind of apples I was using and she said, “I dunno. They’re from the tree out back.” I peeled and sliced the apples and put them into my homemade crust and stuck it in the oven for an hour at 400º. I figured that would be plenty of time.

Shortly before the arrival of this guest whom I was supposed to be impressing, we pulled out the pie and discovered that the apples were barely cooked! Oh no. Either her oven was wrong or those apples were really firm! I was NOT serving that pie and so I ran to the store and got the makings for Bananas Foster! After dinner and after the Bananas Foster, the guest mentioned that he’d been told that he was having apple pie made by yours truly and that he thought he’d smelled one when he’d walked into the house. I was slowly sinking under the table.

Finally, my friend explained what had happened and the guest replied that they had told him I made a good pie and he wanted to try it anyway. I decided this person was purposely trying to annoy me and of course, I was looking for any way to escape. My friend took the pie out of the oven where she had placed it to stay warm at 200º. It had been in there for a couple of hours. She sliced it and put pieces on plates and served them. I couldn’t believe my eyes. The slices were just beautiful and the apples were perfect. I took a bite and savored the flavor. The guest said, “What’s wrong with this pie?? It is fantastic.” It had continued slowly cooking at 200º unknown to my friend and me! I was saved! And no, the guest didn’t steal my heart!!!

In searching the internet for the origin of apple pie, I discovered that fruit pies have been around since the Middle Ages. However, back then sugar was rarely used and the crust was hard as a rock. It was not meant to be eaten, but was more like the utensil holding the food! I suppose sugar was a luxury back then? And to beat everything, they called the pie crust a ‘coffin’ which I suppose was an apt name since it ‘embodied’ the edible middle. Eventually, sugar became a staple part of fruit pies and the crust became the delicate pastry that it is today. According to the following is a story regarding “pie a la mode” that I thought you would enjoy.

“Professor Charles Watson Townsend, dined regularly at the Cambridge Hotel during the mid 1890’s. He often ordered ice cream with his apple pie. Mrs. Berry Hall, a diner seated next to him, asked what it was called. He said it didn’t have a name, and she promptly dubbed it Pie a la Mode. Townsend liked the name so much he asked for it each day by that name. When Townsend visited the famous Delmonico Restaurant in New York City, he asked for Pie a la Mode. When the waiter proclaimed he never heard of it, Townsend chastised him and the manager, and was quoted as saying; “Do you mean to tell me that so famous an eating place as Delmonico’s has never heard of Pie a la Mode, when the Hotel Cambridge, up in the village of Cambridge, NY serves it every day? Call the manager at once, I demand as good a serve here as I get in Cambridge.” The following day it became a regular at Delmonico and a resulting story in the New York Sun (a reporter was listening to the whole conversation) made it a country favorite with the publicity that ensued.”

In the Oklahoma Pastry Cloth™ kitchen, apple pie is the favorite of all pies. Therefore, I have to plan on making quite a number through the year, especially during this season. It is also always a favorite of guests that can be whipped up at a moments notice if you have the pie filling already made as well as the pie crust mixed and ready to form a dough. And how do you do that? Just follow the instructions below and you’ll be one happy camper.


And if you need a testimonial, last Christmas for a dinner party that we attended, I brought an apple pie using this recipe and our pie crust mix recipe. Overheard was one of the young boys asking his father, “Have you tasted this??!! This is a KILLER pie.” I knew that I had finally arrived!



Canning Apple Pie Filling

6 lbs apples
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup corn starch
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tbsp. salt
10 cups water
3 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar per jar

First, be sure to sterilize your canning jars and leave them in hot water ready to use.

Peel, core and slice apples. I put them in a large bowl of water with fruit fresh to keep them crisp and to keep them from turning brown.

In a large pan, mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add salt and water and mix well. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly and no longer cloudy. Remove from heat and add lemon juice.

Pack the sliced apples into hot canning jars (that have been warming, covered in water in a larger pot), leaving a 3/4 – 1″ inch head space. Add 1/2 tsp vinegar to each jar.

Fill jars with hot syrup, again, leaving 3/4 – 1″ headspace, and gently remove air bubbles with a knife. Of course, as noted in the photo, keep a cell phone handy so you can call your best friend to brag that you are canning apple pie filling. Giggle



Wipe rims of jars with a warm, wet cloth to remove any drips or oils. Put on lids that have been warmed in very hot water. Screw on rings but not too tightly. Process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Finished Jars. The jar on the right is from last year and is still fine. Notice, though, that the syrup has solidified. It goes back to syrup when it is cooked. Also, here I had some leftover syrup, so I canned it too to use with fresh apples.






I use two quarts for one large pie, 1 1/2 quarts for a smaller pie pan. You can do either a regular crust or a crumb crust. For the crumb crust I put a regular crust on first and then mixed 1/2 cup of my pie crust mix with 1/2 cup sugar and a half tsp of cinnamon and then sprinkled it on top of the crust. Bake at 400º for 45 minutes to 1 hour.


And here is one of my pies with a regular crust. This pie filling always cuts such a pretty piece when it is cooled!