bake 20: the perfect apple pie

just in time for fall, the perfect apple pie (& crust).  one of our neighbors happens to be an excellent chef/baker and was super-excited to teach me the secrets behind a picture-perfect apple pie.  my only regret?  that i didn't take any photos during the process.  total blogger failure.  oh well, the pie turned out fabulously- and really, that's all that matters.

recipes: apple pie filling & apple pie crust

adjustments: we made the double crust recipe for this pie (bottom and top crusts) and for the filling, we actually added everything into a bowl and didn't cook the ingredients on the stove prior to adding it to the pie.  by doing this, we were able to pile the filling high to give the pie that story-book effect.  i also omitted the nutmeg from the filling.  not that i have an aversion to it or anything, we just chose not to use it.  for the apples i used a combination of granny smith and cortland.  & since i love tart pies, so we also went easy on the sugar.

review: from the minute we pulled it out of the oven, the pie was gorgeous.  picture-perfect, golden, and smelled like heaven.  i brought it to game night and everyone loved it.  i would love to find a reliable crust recipe that doesn't require crisco for future pies...so i'll be on the hunt for that.  otherwise, the crust was flaky, had nice flavor and the tart apple filling would have perfectly complimented vanilla ice cream.

this was #7 of the bake 20 challenge.

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over the next five months i'm going to try my hand at 20 different baked goods.  there's no specific order and no plan.  just making things that look good and hopefully in the process, finding a new appreciation of baking.  feel free to join me in the Bake 20 Challenge.