This classic apple pie is sure to please your family and friends

Kansas City-based minister Carla Aday feels the dinner table is a way to connect and build relationships, we spoke with her back in 2019 about food, cooking and her mother-in-law’s recipe for apple pie.

Q: Is food and cooking important to you?

Sharing food around the table allows people to connect. Gathering at the table is a lost art and it is something sacred, especially when you linger at the table after eating and just talk. The Communion Table is important in our church, and for me the dinner table is an extension of the Communion Table.

I love to cook, and yet, we are busy, with many evening meetings. Dave and I often prepare extra on weekends so we can have easy dinners during the busy week ahead.

We celebrate “Wonderful Wednesdays” every week, and that is a night we set aside to share dinner with our grandchildren. We also have family dinners quite often.

I have auctioned dinners for various church fund raising events. For example, I once auctioned six homemade soups, and another time I offered a homemade French dinner for auction.

Q: How did you learn to cook and what tips can you offer for someone learning to cook?

My mom was a great cook and I loved watching her. Then, about the time I was in junior high, she was busy with work and attended graduate school in the evenings, so I prepared many of our dinners. Looking back, it was great that I had that opportunity to cook and I learned a lot.

When learning to cook, I recommend that you start simple, maybe using recipes with just three ingredients. Then, enjoy the process.

Q; What can you tell us about the apple pie recipe you are sharing?

Mom’s Apple Pie was from my mother-in-law, Helen. She was famous for her delicious pies and everyone loved them. No one knew how to bake a pie quite like she did.

She did not use a written recipe. She added ingredients by the handful, eyeing the amount and not measuring anything. I wanted to learn how she did it, so I started following behind her as she baked this pie. Each time she added an ingredient, I would take it out of the bowl and measure it. I carefully wrote it down, so I ended up with the recipe.

I love to make this pie and now, especially since Helen passed away five years ago, it is a cherished family recipe. While I make and serve it throughout the year, it is always a part of our Thanksgiving dinner.

She could roll the crust so thin that she made two pies from this one crust recipe. I can only get one crust, so there is some extra pie crust. She always prepared two pies at once, baking one to serve that day, and refrigerating one to bake the next day. Helen recommended to not take the pie out of the oven until it boiled over.

Roxanne Wyss and Kathy Moore are cookbook authors and food consultants that make up The Electrified Cooks. This story was originally published by the Kansas City Star.

This story was originally published December 16, 2021 at 10:20 AM with the headline "This classic apple pie is sure to please your family and friends."