A classic! And after watching Pushing Daisies I LOVE the idea of pie with cheese together! I had cheddar and it's very traditional with apple. I used Alton Brown's pie crust and kinda winged the rest of it...hehe...


Sorry, slightly blurry, much better cam-handling inside. The pie kinda looks like evil Pac-Man in this picture...



Like most baking things, it starts with flour~ It's like the building block of life! Err...except in like pastries...okay, I'm going to borrow Alton Brown's simile and say it's like concrete!


If flour is the building blocks than fat is like the wood. Also neccessary but unlike concrete which is hard it is soft. And that what the fat does, make things more tender and soft. Now this recipe calls for butter AND shortening. Shortening is all fat so it makes the pie crust more tender in comparison to all butter but it's the extra 20% of butter that gives the nice flavor. Also, makes it more flaky!I put it on plastic wrap to put it in the freezer for uh...freezing...


I put it on plastic wrap to put it in the freezer for uh...freezing...


Ohhh the pains of not have a food processor!!!! I have to mix it by hand! That's squeezing frozen chunks of butter! I did that until everything is well incorporated...


Uh well...you try to make it more even looking using hands .V.! Anyways, than I did the same with the shortening, if I did have a food processor this is the time where I'll pulse it a few less times so there'll be bigger chunks of shortening unlike the small uniform pieces of butter.


Yea...as uneven as before the shortening...


Get some cold water. If you have a squeeze bottle, put it in said squeeze bottle...


Pour a little at a time (hence the squeeze bottle that I don't have), a major mistake for most beginning pie crusts makers is that it's too wet, it should just be enough moisture for everything to stick together, like a ball!


Ball...


Put it in a large ziplock bag (or...just plastic wrap like me) and roll it out until it's like half an inch in height. Than you put it in the REFRIGERATOR and let it chill for thirty minutes. I didn't read that carefully and put it in the freezer (._.')

In the meantime I prepared the filling. I only had three apples, which I diced.


Mix in the lemon juice, sugar, and cinnamon~


Gratuitous close-up! Ooh la la~


I THINK sugar draws out moisture...anyways, I drained the apple mixture and simmered it in the pot to reduce.


I rolled out the dough and then put it in the pan. After docking it (poking it with a fork) I covered it with a piece of wax paper and tore open a new bag of mung beans (new as in unused, those beans has been there since I could remember) and poured it on the paper. Cause it rises in the oven so you need something to weigh it down. That picture is after it's been in the oven obviously.


The cheese! I grated it until there's a thin layer of it on the bottom




EVIL PAC-MAN!!
Then I poured in the apples with the reduced juices (it was like a syrup after I was done!) and grated some more cheese on it. Also, the top part of the pie (the strips) were mixed with some more grated cheese.

*imaginary oven ding*


Tada!


Failed attempt at cutting the first slice =.=.


A better looking slice after like a few minutes of waiting (well...not so much as waiting as me nomming on the other failed slice...) and the juices gelatinize more.


EVIL PAC-MAN!!!

It could have been cheesier...but still really good =D! And I forgot to dot the top with butter so the top apples were a bit dry...=(