Now let me tell you something about this pie. It was the EASIEST thing I have ever
baked, in my life. You think muffins are easy? No. This pie. It was. So I started out
with six granny smith apples. Peel them, core them, dice them. Some people like to
slice the apples, but I like the whole idea of "bite-size" due to the fact that I'm
always feeding children. So I diced my apples. Once all of your apples are diced,
stick them in a medium to large sized bowl, rinse under ice cold water. Okay, so you
don't have to actually put ice in the ice cold water, but just as cold as you can
possibly get. Drain the apples as best you can, then add however much cinnamon and
sugar...to taste. I've heard of brown sugar, vanilla sugar, etc., being used. That's
fine, too. Just, whatever your heart desires. Keep in mind, the juices will settle
and, chances are, so will the spices. But it really makes the apple pie so much better.


So, I lied when I said "homemade". It's not COMPLETELY homemade. It's semi-homemade.
I'm Sandra Lee. I used a store-bought pie crust. I kept it in the freezer until right
when I needed it. Pull that baby out and then pour all of your diced apples, juices,
and spices into it. I actually took the time to rearrange the diced apples so that
the area of the pie was mostly even. Think of it as a puzzle!


I set that almost-ready pie in the fridge while I prepared the crumb topping. This crumb
topping 'tis tricky (say that 5x fast). It's pretty much to preference/taste. It's just
flour and butter. Room temperature butter works best, but I've been known to be impatient.
So my crumbing took a lot longer. Don't use a mixer or anything. Just a good ole' rubber
spatula against the flour/butter in a plastic mixing bowl. I also added just a bit of
sugar. Then more flour, then more butter, then more of all of it again. Just to make sure
I had enough crumb. I think all in all, I ended up using like 4 cups of flour, a stick and
a half of unsalted butter, and 2 cups of sugar. I'm not sure. This was like, two years ago.
Then I took the other half of the stick of butter and thinly sliced butter over the crumbs
on the pie (that I had removed from the fridge and poured the crumbs onto, yeah).
Sprinkle some more sugar on top (!!!!).


Prepare a baking sheet with a generous layer of aluminum foil then place the pie in the
middle. Pop it in the oven that is at the heat of 350degrees. Time it for about 10 minutes,
then go from there. I'm telling you, apple pie-making is not an exact science. It's definitely
more experimental! When the pie crust and crumb start browning, I'd stick a fork through the
middle and see if the apples were cooked through or not (they'd be easily speared). If the
crust and crumbs are browning but the apples are not cooked-through, roll the aluminum foil
up around the pie, careful not to actually touch it. Then it's really touch-and-go.