“Good apple pies are a considerable part of our domestic happiness.” – Jane Austen.

In the 19th century, apple pie became the symbol of American prosperity and national pride. My love for apple pie started since the first time I tasted it when I just arrived at this beautiful country. The combination of juicy cooked apple and the sweetness of caramelized sugar with the buttery crust, it just hit the right taste spot in my tongue, and made it my most favorite baked fruit dessert.

I’ve been making it my own for as long as I have time and apples handy. My key recipe to bake apple pie is a good brand of butter, in this case I would always go with the grass fed butter. So for this recipe, I found it from foodnetwork.com and was adapted from Double Crust Apple Pie by Michael Lomonaco .

Total Time: 1 hour 25 min
Prep: 15 min
Inactive: 20 min
Cook: 50 min

Yield: 1 pie, 6 to 8 servings
Level: Intermediate

Ingredients

• Apple filling:
  6 tablespoons unsalted butter
  2 1/2 pounds firm, tart apples peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4 inch wedges
  1/2 cup sugar plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
  2 tablespoons cornstarch
• Egg wash:
  1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water
• Basic Pie Dough:
  2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  Fine sea salt
  1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for greasing
  1/3 cup ice-cold water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degree F.

Apple Filling:
• Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large, heavy-bottomed saute pan over medium heat. Add the apple wedges and saute until slightly softened but holding their shape for 3 to 4 minutes. Add the 1/2 cup of sugar and stir to combine. Add the cinnamon, cloves, then stir.
• In a bowl, combine the lemon juice and cornstarch. Stir the mixture into the apple mixture and remove the pan from the heat. Let cool completely.

Basic Pie Dough:
• Put the flour and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor and press the pulse button to combine. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse a few times until the mixture begins to become mealy and the butter forms plainly visible pea-size nuggets.
• Dissolve 1/2 teaspoon salt in the water. With the motor running, pour in the water and let them mix, just until the dough pulls together. Do not over-mix the dough. If it appears dry and is not holding together, add a few additional tablespoons of water.
• Form the dough into a ball, flatten, and wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use.

• Lightly flour a pastry board and a rolling pin and unwrap the dough. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and keep the second piece refrigerated. Tamp down the dough with the rolling pin and gently begin to roll it out into a circular pie. When the dough is rolled out to an even thickness of about 1/8 inch and is about 12 inches in diameter, it is ready to be transferred to a 10 inch pie dish.
• Lightly butter the dish, lift the dough with the rolling pin by partially rolling the dough up on the pin, center the dough in the dish, and unroll. Pierce the dough in several places with the tines of a fork.

• Fill an unbaked bottom crust with apple filling and dot the top with the remaining 3 tablespoons butter.

• Roll the second half of the dough into a circle slightly larger than the pie dish. Cover the filling with the top half of the dough. Using both hands, crimp the edges of the 2 crusts together to seal. Brush the top lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.

• Put the pie on a cookie sheet or other low-sided baking tray to catch any spillage. Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 20 minutes, checking occasionally to ensure that the top is browning evenly. Rotate the pie 180 degrees to move the front edge to the back of the oven, and bake until the top is uniformly golden brown for 15 to 20 minutes more. Remove the pie from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes before slicing and serving.