Good Old Fashioned Apple Pie

When I was a child, my mother would sometimes let us have a special treat for breakfast – Apple Pie!  No one could ever deny that she made the worlds’ best apple pie that stood 4 inches high in the center, with a pretty fluted edge and a floral design pricked into the top crust, then to top it off it was every bit as delicious as it was pretty. 

She’s a smart lady, for little did I realize she was letting me have a big serving of fruit in a pastry shell that wasn’t much different in ingredients than biscuits.  To me it was a fantastic treat!

When I started cooking at a rather precocious age, she taught me her recipe.  The most important part of this was, of course, to taste the apples you are cooking with so you know how much sugar to add to the pie. 

What I’m not sure she realized was that she was teaching me was to taste ingredients so that you can adjust your recipe accordingly.  This didn’t apply to just apple pie, but all other foods too.  You can’t make great meals unless you know what you are starting with, right?  Right!

This recipe is going to assume you can roll out a pie crust to 1/8” thick, twice.   (Bottom crust and top crust.)

5 lbs Johnathan Apples (or Gala if Johnathan’s aren’t available)

Sugar – amount varies, see note below

1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash of salt

¼ cup tapioca pearls OR ¼ cup flour

Dots of butter flavored Crisco, butter, or goat butter (no more than about a Tablespoon)

Double crust pie shell – (I openly admit to cheating and using the Betty Crocker pie crust mix. Just be sure to use ice cold water and don’t overwork the dough.  It makes all the difference!)

Utensils and paraphernalia: A big bowl, a black baking sheet (I really recommend a black t-fal jelly roll pan), small knife and cutting board, measuring spoons and ¼ cup measuring cup, plus one big wooden spoon.

Prepare the bottom crust and line your glass pie plate with it, leaving about ½” of overlap all around the lip of the pie plate, then set on the black baking sheet.  *The black baking sheet is key in making any double crust pie come out cooked and tender on the bottom, instead of classically mushy.  (Just try this with a pumpkin pie! You’ll never bake a double crust pie any other way again!)

So for the best Apple Pie in the world we start with a five pound bag of Johnathan Apples.  These are getting harder and harder to find, so Gala apples will work if Johnathan apples aren’t available.

Peel and core all of the apples, and slice into medium thin wedges. (That would be about ¼” thick or slightly above that.)  Too thin and they become mush when cooking.  Too thick, and they will not be tender enough at the end of cooking. 

IMPORTANT: TASTE AN APPLE SLICE OR THREE!

Place all in a very large bowl. 

Add sugar.  If the apples are on the sweet side, you can get away with 2/3 cup sugar. If they are slightly tart, use a full cup of sugar.  If they are very tart, use 1 ¼ cup of sugar. 

Add cinnamon, nutmeg, dash of salt and tapioca or flour, then mix well.  You really need to fold it up from the bottom to make sure all the apples get coated.   

Now, remember that pie crust?  Pour the entire contents of the bowl into the pie crust bottom, and dot with little bitty lumps of the butter or butter substitute.  *This just adds richness to the pie filling – if you are conserving your fats to just the crust, it IS OK to omit this step. 

Now that it is all in that lovely bottom crust, roll out the top crust to cover the entire thing and leave an overhanging bit of about ¾ of an inch.  Carefully roll the pie crust over your rolling pin, and unroll it on top of the pie.  After it’s centered on the pie, you’ll fold the top edge over the bottom overhanging “flap”, lightly pinching together around the pie. 

To flute the edge try this before touching the folded crust:  press your thumb gently between the flat pads of the index and middle fingers.  Now proceed to do this around the edge of the pie crust using light pressure, and with each successive pinch only move half that distance, that way your index finger ends up where your middle finger was, creating an overlap that allows you to make an even and pretty crust.  You will get a pretty fluted edge around all of your pies!  And if you don’t, people will still be impressed that you tried. 

Now, get your handy little paring knife back in your hand, and prick into the mounded top surface a design of your choice.  This allows the steam to escape.  Now all that’s left is the hour of baking and several hours of cooling!  Then… Oh then you have deliciousness!

425 for 15 minutes, then 325 for 45 minutes.