recipe: mom's apple pie

It's hard to believe that the holidays are sneaking up on us in just a few weeks! This summer flew by, and fall is passing just as quickly. Usually November and December are a great time to think back on the past year, on everything that's changed and everything you want to accomplish in the future. I've felt like life has been moving in fast forward lately, so one of my pre-New-Year's resolutions is to try to take stock, in a more focused way, of everything that's happened in 2010.

And while I'm taking stock, I plan to eat some pie.

What I've learned in the 3 (!) years of keeping this blog, is that it's better to hold off on posting holiday pictures for the next year -- better, in this case, to be eleven months late than just a few weeks late. So this is the pie that my family made for Thanksgiving last year, and it's been sitting in my To-Post folder since November 2009. That is some serious patience on my part, guys.

Because ZOMG, was this good. My mom is a big apple-pie/apple-crisp-er, but what really put this over the top were my sister's gorgeous decorated leaves. I only wish I could take credit for them -- she's been doing them every holiday for as long as I can remember, and she hasn't shared her technique with me yet. Aren't they lovely though? I'm sure some of you artistically-inclined bakers out there can recreate them.

Apple Pie

INGREDIENTS

4 pounds Braeburn or Gala apples, peeled and cored

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 teaspoon to sprinkle on top

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 premade pie crusts (or use my recipe here)

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Cut each apple into small slices and combine in a bowl with the lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Press one pie crust into a pie pan (gently), and let the edges extend over the sides of the pan slightly.

Fill the crust with the apple mixture. Top with the second pie crust and crimp the edges together with a fork -- trim any excess as desired (and use them to decorate the pie!). Brush the top crust with the egg wash, sprinkle with 1 teaspoon sugar, and cut 4 or 5 slits.

Place the pie on a sheet pan and bake for 1 hour, or until the crust is slightly browned.