We have been making a lot of apple pies and here's the recipe I've been using. I tend to prefer a spice-rich pie.
APPLE SPICY PIE
Crust (this makes a full top and bottom crust):
* 2.5 cups flour.
* 1 teaspoon salt.
* 2-3 tablespoons sugar.
* 1/4 teaspoon mace.
* 2 sticks butter.
* Ice water (some) [*or 1/4 c ice water, 1/4 c VODKA]
Cut the butter into the flour mix (quickly), add just enough water to stick it all together, ball into two blobs and wrap them as flattened discs (quick! quick!) and get them into the refrigerator for an hour. Once I was lax on the speed and only refrigerated them for maybe 4 or 5 minutes. I was not in a pie waiting mood. The pie was good but the crust was a little tougher than usual.
[* Another recipe I have used for crust calls for vodka to be used in place of some of the water. You add water first, then vodka (preferably directly out of the freezer) and you end up with a dough that is extraordinarily easy to press together with a wooden spoon. Ball, divide, flatten, and refrigerate the dough as usual. Supposedly, the vodka cooks off faster when baking and you end up with a crust that was easier to put together (easier to glob together, easier to roll out, etc.) yet that cooks into a very light flaky crust as if you used very little water. I'm not a crust expert but I am fan of vodka so I suppose for that reason alone, I heartily recommend trying it sometime.]
Filling:
* Lot of apples. Enough for a pie.
* 1/2 cup sugar--half white, half brown (the recipe I looked at originally said one full cup, which seemed excessive and I made the first pie with maybe 3/4 cup total. It was too sweet and even 1/2 cup is maybe excessive depending upon how tart your apples are).
* 1/4 cup flour
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon each: allspice, cloves, and mace
* 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
* 3 tablespoons lemon juice
Mix it all together until apples are coated. Some prefer to precook the apples first in order to avoid the gap under the top pie shell and to make the pectin do something to the apple which helps it hold its shape when baking (I read something somewhere once... yawn...). Whatev. Doesn't matter if you do or don't. Note: If you DO precook the apples, do not add the flour to the mix just yet. Cook the apples on the stovetop on med. heat until the apples are tender and letting off liquid but not soft or breaking up. When finished, then add the flour.
Has it been an hour yet? Get one of the pie crusts out of the fridge! Roll it out and plop it into the bottom of the pie pan, load with the apples and stick back in the fridge. Now roll out the top part of the crust and stick it over the pie. Crimp edges decoratively, cut holes in the top, decorate as usual, brush with milk or egg whites, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, etc. Do what you gotta do.
Bake in the oven at 400 for 1/2 hour, then turn it down to 350 for an additional 40 minutes. My oven is tweaky--as a matter of fact, I've NEVER had an oven that worked properly--and so I have to do a lot of checking toward the end. When the crust is golden (but not burned fer crying out loud) and the filling is bubbling, it is ready!
[Perhaps a little overdone; crust starting to burn on edges--whoops! I did not precook the filling in this one and had a gap under the crust. I stuffed the gap with whipped cream before I ate it though and so you know, it worked for me.]
[More pie! This one possibly a tad underdone but no less tasty.]
