I know that apple pie recipes come a dime a dozen but that doesn't make them all equal! I am claiming this as my own recipe because I have looked at and made MANY apple pies and in the end, this is the combination that I love. I do have some proof behind my claim of this being an awesome recipe because I sell these at my parents' over opening hunting weekend and have gotten great compliments on them (this year I sold about 30 apple pies!)
Preheat oven to 425°. Peel, core and slice apples. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg, then add to apples in a large bowl and stir well. Unroll, (yes, I use Pillsbury crust!) pie crust and line pie tin, fluting the edges. Fill crust with apple mixture. Combine ingredients for the topping in a food processor and process until there are only small pieces of butter. If you don't have a food processor you can do this step by hand with a pastry cutter. Sprinkle topping over apples. Place pie in preheated oven and loosely cover with foil. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes. So, a total of 45 minutes. If you don't have time to worry about taking the foil off half way, you can put it in the oven for the entire 45 minutes without foil but I find that the crust and top get a wee bit too brown. Let cool and hide until you plan to serve or you might risk the pie disappearing unexpectedly:)
***Here's the key to great apple pie: use more than one apple variety! I heard one woman at an orchard where we were picking apples once say to go picking apples, not being particular to the variety but grabbing many different types. If you are purchasing them at the store, buy at least two varieties. If you can, try to get one hard apple and one soft apple and/or one sweet and one tart. This year I have been mixing Cortlands (hard) and different gold varieties or Macintosh (soft.) The point of all this is that when you bake the pie, some apples will become very soft and some will remain a little more firm which gives a great texture and taste combination!
Apple Pie
Filling:
7-9 apples
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter- butter must be cold!
Preheat oven to 425°. Peel, core and slice apples. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg, then add to apples in a large bowl and stir well. Unroll, (yes, I use Pillsbury crust!) pie crust and line pie tin, fluting the edges. Fill crust with apple mixture. Combine ingredients for the topping in a food processor and process until there are only small pieces of butter. If you don't have a food processor you can do this step by hand with a pastry cutter. Sprinkle topping over apples. Place pie in preheated oven and loosely cover with foil. Bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes. So, a total of 45 minutes. If you don't have time to worry about taking the foil off half way, you can put it in the oven for the entire 45 minutes without foil but I find that the crust and top get a wee bit too brown. Let cool and hide until you plan to serve or you might risk the pie disappearing unexpectedly:)
***Here's the key to great apple pie: use more than one apple variety! I heard one woman at an orchard where we were picking apples once say to go picking apples, not being particular to the variety but grabbing many different types. If you are purchasing them at the store, buy at least two varieties. If you can, try to get one hard apple and one soft apple and/or one sweet and one tart. This year I have been mixing Cortlands (hard) and different gold varieties or Macintosh (soft.) The point of all this is that when you bake the pie, some apples will become very soft and some will remain a little more firm which gives a great texture and taste combination!
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