Farmhouse Apple Pie, a First By Many Accounts

First baked dessert I’ve made at The 1966Farmhouse; first apple pie I’ve made in two decades; first baked dessert I’ve made in a good 5 years; first dessert I’ve ever made with my own apples.  You get it.  Novice time.

I like to think of myself as a purist when it comes to cooking, but (gasp) I am using Marie Callender’s pre-made frozen pie crust.  Important note:  They do not tell you until you open the package that the crust has to be somewhat thawed out before you put the pie filling in it.  Thank goodness I thought of that.

Now for the boring part:  peeling and coring apples without the peeler/corer.  Hello family?  Guess what you should add to my Christmas list.

Mood music of choice:  a custom mix of Carly Simon’s Christmas is Here, James Taylor’s James Taylor at Christmas and Christmas With Willie Nelson.

The recipe --

• Remove two frozen pie crusts in the aluminum pie pans from freezer and follow instructions for separating and thawing.  (My recipe called for 20+ minutes of thawing).
• 5 cups of  cored, peeled, and thinly sliced apples (This can take from 6 to 7 apples, I used red ones off of my tree that are similar to a Fuji.  Also after I cored and peeled and halved the apples, I sliced them thinly by running them through the food processor with a slicing blade on.  Per my usual, all of the fruit peelings and cores went into the compost bin under the sink).
• Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees
• Stir into apples, and coat them well with,:
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. of grated lemon rind
• Spoon apple mixture into bottom pie shell and mound a bit in the center
• Before you put the top pie crust layer on, dab onto apple mixture in little pieces a total of 1 1/2 tbsp of butter (I used regular butter with salt)
• Put second pie crust on top following manufacturer’s instructions
• Cut slits for air to escape
• Brush top crust with a little milk (optional, for causing sugar and cinnamon sprinkles to adhere only)
• Sprinkle a little sugar and cinnamon on the top crust
• Place in oven on cookie sheet or with a sheet of aluminum foil underneath to catch drips and/or broken off crust
• Bake at 450 for 10 minutes
• Bake then at 350 for 30 to 50 minutes (I had to turn it down lower because my old gas oven was cooking the crust too rapidly).

Voila!  Breathe a sigh of relief that you just made the American classic! Eat pie with or without vanilla ice cream.  We ate it without.