I don’t want to brag, but I’m famous for my apple pies.  Well,  famous within my family circle, anyway.  I have a secret that makes my apple pies better than any others I’ve ever tasted.  Not bragging - just stating a fact.  Here’s the recipe and the secret:

CAROL’S FAMOUS APPLE PIE

2 unbaked pie crusts

About 3-5 pounds of apples (get a variety of red and golden delicious, granny smith, gala - whatever is on sale.  Having a variety is important)

1 cup sugar (more or less depending on your taste)

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tablespoons plain flour

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Apple pie spice - the more, the merrier

a few dabs of butter or margarine

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Spray a deep dish pie pan with Pam and spread one of the pie crusts on the bottom.  Set aside.

Peel the apples and cut them into very thin slices and place in a large microwave safe bowl.  It will be a lot - but it will cook down.  Add the sugar, flour, cornstarch and spices to the apples and mix thoroughly.  Add about 1/2 cup water and stir again.

Place the bowl in the microwave and microwave on high for about 10-15 minutes, pausing occasionally to stir.  Pre-cooking the apples is my secret step.  It makes an enormous difference!

Pour the mixture into the prepared pie pan.  Dot with butter.  The apple mixture should reach the top of the pan. 

Place the second pie crust over the top, fold the top crust under the bottom one and crimp the edges with your fingers or with a fork to seal the two crusts together  Take a knife and cute a few X’s in the crust so that steam can escape.

I usually dot the top with butter and sprinkle a little sugar on top to make it look prettier, but that’s  optional

Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden brown.  You will probably want to put a cookie sheet or aluminum foil under the pie pan before baking since the pie tends to bubble over during baking.

Serve the pie warm with a little vanilla ice cream, and you’ll swear you’ve died and gone to heaven.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 21st, 2006 at 7:34 pm and is filed under Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.