It was a beautiful fall day. A crisp breeze sent yellow and orange leaves swirling through the air and the sun shone down making the apple tree in Granny’s front yard glisten like gold. Granny was looking out the window when her stomach growled! She was hungry, but what should she eat. Just then she noticed the apple tree in the front yard. It was full of apples and was just begging her to come and pick them. “Apple pie!” exclaimed Granny, “That is just what I need!”

Granny threw on her jacket and boots grabbed her basket and headed out the door to gather the apples.

Granny put four apples into her basket. “This should be plenty for a pie for me.” She said. But just then over the hill came Ben, Granny’s grandson.

“Hey Granny!” Ben called, “making a pie?” Granny nodded. “But dear me! If you want to join me we will need more apples!” Granny showed Ben the four apples she had picked for her pie. “If four apples are enough for a pie for me, how many more apples will we need if we bake a pie for both of us?” Granny asked. Ben scratched his head and though for a minute.

Ben scratched his head and though for a minute. “So 4 apples is enough for one but we need to double the amount of apples because there are two of us now. 4 times 2 equals 8. We need 8 apples!” exclaimed Ben. He ran over to the apple tree and plucked 4 big juicy apples of the branch. He carried them to Granny’s basket and counted as he placed them in. 

“There are 4 in the basket so I will start at 4 when I add in my apples. 5, 6, 7, 8! 4 apples plus another 4 apples equals 8 apples!” explained Ben. “Great job, Ben!” cheered Granny. “Now let’s go bake us a pie!”

As Granny pulled the ingredients for the apple pie out of the cupboard, the kitchen filled with the sweet smell of sugar and spices. Ben started to chop up the apples while Granny made the dough for the crust. “Oh dear me!” cried Granny “I only know the recipe to make enough pie dough for one person, but we need enough for two!”

Ben looked at the flour covered recipe card that lay on the counter. It said, Pie Dough: 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon salt, 2 cups of flour, 3 tablespoons of butter. “This won’t be hard.” Said Ben “Remember what we had to do to pick enough apples for two people?” Granny nodded and said, “Yes, all we had to do was double the amount of apples needed for one person.” “Right!” said Ben, “So all we have to do to make the pie dough is to double the amount of each ingredient.”