Making the Pie Dough and Cooking the Apples

Preparing the Homemade Pie Crusts and Apple Filling

Making homemade fried apple pies is a process that takes several days of careful preparation, teamwork, and dedication. After the apples have been peeled and prepared, volunteers gather again to make the homemade pie dough and cook the delicious apple filling that has become a cherished part of the Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church Harvest Festival.

Preparing the pie dough requires measuring ingredients, mixing batches of dough, and carefully preparing it for rolling and assembling hundreds of pies. Before long, flour-covered tables, rolling pins, measuring cups, and pie pans fill the fellowship hall as volunteers work side by side. Conversation, laughter, and shared memories are just as common as the sound of rolling pins moving across the tables.

In the kitchen, large pots filled with fresh apples, cinnamon, sugar, and other ingredients slowly become the homemade apple filling. The warm aroma of simmering apples and spices fills the room as volunteers stir the pots, share stories, and enjoy another day of serving together.

Each year, more than 30 volunteers work together through several pie-making workdays to prepare approximately 700 homemade fried apple pies. Every step reflects the spirit of fellowship, hospitality, and servant ministry that has been part of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church for generations.

The photographs below capture the work, friendships, and memories created while preparing the pie dough and cooking the homemade apple filling. They preserve another important chapter in the Harvest Festival Apple Pie Tradition.