Apple Pie

Pie crust:

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
• 4-8 tablespoons cold water

1. Mix flour, salt and sugar in a medium-size bowl. Cut 2 ½ sticks chilled unsalted butter into pieces. With a pastry blender or fork, work butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal.
2. Add 4 tablespoons ice water; work with hands until dough comes together. If dough is still crumbly, add up to 4 more tablespoons of ice water (adding only one tablespoon at a time). Make sure to not overwork the dough.
3. Divide dough in half, and flatten halves into disks. Wrap disks separately in plastic; refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Filling:

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs apples (any variety of apples you have will do)
• Juice of ½ lemon (roughly 3 tablespoons)
• 1 cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Core and slice apples (no need to peel). Toss in a bowl with lemon juice.
3. In a separate bowl, combine sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg (if desired), and flour.
4. Stir sugar and flour mixture into lemony apples until evenly coated. Set aside.
5. Pull dough out of refrigerator and roll top and bottom crust slightly larger to fit 10-inch pie pan. Fit bottom crust in pie pan.
6. Turn in apple mixture and dot with 2 tbsp butter.
7. Put crust on top and crimp edges of crust together. Puncture the top crust with a fork or make decorative holes with a knife to allow steam and air to escape. (You can also cut the top crust into 1-1.5” strips and weave them to make a lattice-top.)
8. Wet hands with water and dampen top of pie and sprinkle with additional sugar.
9. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 50-60 minutes. Leave pie to cool at least 20 minutes before cutting. Serve warm.

*We recommend placing a piece of aluminum foil slightly larger than the pie under the pie plate to catch overflows.

For additional variations on using up extra holiday apples, see Lorraine Battle's Apple Cake, from Edible East Bay, Fall Harvest 2017 Issue, and Apple Galette, from Edible East Bay, Fall Harvest 2015 Issue.