World's Best Apple Pie Recipe

Seriously though, The. Best.

Every fall a very special event happens in my life -- my grandmother calls me to tell me that her Pippin apples are ready. Ready for what, you may ask?  Ready to be made into the best, gosh-darned apple pie you'll ever eat.  That's what.

I have extremely fond memories of making apple pies with my grandmother.  I remember how she would peel the entire apple in one fell swoop with her old-as-dirt paring knife.  I remember how she would core the apples with her equally-as-old apple corer. And, I remember how she would cut each apple slice exactly the same -- about 6mm thick or so.  

Just the smell of a peeled Pippin apple brings back so many fond memories.  And so I impart this recipe unto you and your family. May your memories be just as vivid.

 

Ingredients 

• Recipe for a 9 inch double pie crust (or, as I do, 2 Marie Callender's deep dish pie crusts found in the freezer section)
  
• 8 Pippin Apples -- peeled, cored, and cut into slices about 6-8mm thick
  
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  
• 3 tablespoons flour
  
• 1/2 cup white sugar
  
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 1/4 cup water
  
• Ground cinnamon 
  
• Ground nutmeg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degree Fahrenheit.  
2. Peel, core, and slice your Pippin apples.  Set aside in a large bowl.
3. In a saucepan, melt butter.  Add the flour to form a paste. Add the white sugar, brown sugar and water (as a side note, I always put a couple extra tablespoons of both white sugar and brown sugar to make it extra yummy).  Add a bold amount of cinnamon and nutmeg -- I give a good 10 shakes of each.  Believe you me, you cannot overdue the cinnamon or the nutmeg.  Bring sauce to a boil, and then quickly reduce to a simmer for 2-3 minutes.
4. Pour 95% of sauce into bowl containing sliced apples.  Use a spatula to fold the apples in the bowl, making sure every slice is covered in sauce.  Set aside the remaining 5% of sauce.
5. Carefully pour coated apples into bottom pie crust, making sure to create a dome with all the apples. 
6. Carefully, cover the dome of apples with the top pie crust. Cut 6 slits on the top for venting.  Take the remaining 5% of sauce and gently pour over the top crust.  Spread evenly with a pastry brush.
7. Place the pie on a large cookie sheet to prevent boiling sauce from dripping to bottom of oven (this can create some major smoke and a funky smell).
8. Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.  Reduce the temperature to 350 for the remaining 35-40 minutes, or until sauce is bubbling out of pie and the top crust is a beautiful golden brown.
9. Let set for 20 minutes to allow for pie to cool and sauce to thicken.  
10. Enjoy!

**As a side note, something extra special that my grandmother always did for me as a thank you for "helping" her make her pies was to use some left over pie dough (only available if making your own dough -- frozen pie crusts don't have "extras") to make a soft pie pita chip of sorts.  She would cover the dough in cinnamon and sugar, stick it on a cookie sheet in the oven and bake it until crispy.   It was so yummy, I'll always remember it.