Apple Pi

For March 14th, otherwise known as Pi Day, my daughter and I made an apple pie with the Pi symbol cut out of the pastry dough. I think it's clever and it was delicious served a la Mode. Here's the recipe:
Ingredients for the pastry dough:
3 cups flour*
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup ice water
(*plus more for rolling out the dough)

Ingredients for the apple filling:
6 apples
2 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

In a large bowl, prepare your pastry dough by mixing the flour, salt and shortening with a pastry cutter. Slowly add in the ice water (without the ice of course) and mix some more. Eventually, mix with your hands until it reaches dough consistency. Sprinkle a small amount of flour on the counter and roll it out with a rolling pin, making it really thin. Place it in your pie pan by folding it in fourths and then unfolding it in the pan.

Peel and dice your apples into small pieces and place them in a separate bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar along with the diced apples. Stir well. Spoon apples over the bottom pie crust, flatten down evenly.

Roll out the rest of the pie dough. Using a toothpick, cut out a pi symbol. Roll onto the rolling pin and unroll on the top of the pie. Trim the edges and crimp with fingers, sealing the top and bottom crusts together.

Place in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 50 minutes to 1 hour.