Some days just call for pie, don’t you think?

This is the kind of pie that your (or my) grandmother used to make. It is unfussy, just a bunch of apples and cinnamon lounging in a flaky all-butter crust, waiting for just the right scoop of vanilla ice cream or slice of sharp cheddar cheese.

Makes 1 pie

Ingredients:

• Pie Crust
  • 1 1/2 cups AP flour
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter (cold)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • Cold water
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp egg white
• Filling
  • 7-8 apples (peeled, cored and sliced into 1/4 inch/1/2 cm thick slices)
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp AP flour

Directions:

1. Prepare the dough
   • In the bowl of a stand mixer combine flour (1 1/2 cups) and salt (1/2 tsp)
   • Cut butter (3/4 cup) into cubes about 1/2 inch (1 cm)
   • Use mixer paddle to work butter into flour mixture until it breaks into small pieces, the mixture should look like cornmeal
   • Switch to dough hook
   • With dough hook running add 1 tablespoon cold water at a time, just until a dough starts to form
   • Use your hands to shape the dough into 2 equally sized disks, wrap them tightly and put them in the fridge for at least half an hour (this is a good time to make the filling)
2. Prepare the filling
   • Place apple pieces, brown sugar (1/4 cup), cinnamon (1 tsp) and flour (2 tbsp) in a bowl, stir together
3. Assemble and bake
   • Preheat oven to 375 degrees f
   • Roll out one of the disks and spread it out in the pie dish (if you didn’t manage to perfectly equally divide the dough in half, that was just good planning, use the bigger half)
   • Roll to about 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick
   • Spread filling evenly into pie dish
   • Roll out second half and place over top of filling
   • Make the edges as fancy as you like!
   • Cut a hole (any shape) into the middle, this just lets steam out
   • Brush with egg white and sprinkle with cinnamon (1/2 tsp) and sugar (1 tsp)
   • Bake 40-50 minutes
   • Let cool before cutting

Notes:

• Worried about the dreaded soggy bottom? Fear not. Make sure that you preheat the oven and bake this pie on the bottom rack and everything will be fine.
• I made this using gala apples, but use whatever you have. Gala apples are pretty sweet, if you choose something tarter like a Granny Smith you may need to bump up the sugar a bit.