Kay Nimitz Smith -- Writer, Mom, Goddess in Training: Granini's Traditional Apple Pie

Granini's Traditional Apple Pie

Actually, this picture is a total sham. This is actually a picture of my blueberry pie. But honestly, when the pie's lid is on the top, can you reallllllly tell?

My traditional apple used to be the star of the show. It has a light and crispy tender pie crust, two types of mouth watering apples, it tastes fantabulous served piping hot with vanilla ice cream, and is equally as delicious served stone cold with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese. Or vanilla ice cream.

And everyone loved it.

That is, until I made a Dutch Apple Pie for a friend.
With homemade caramel sauce.

And then my family looked at me with a deeply offended glare, wondering why I ever made them suffer through my traditional apple pie when this whole time I could have been making Dutch apple pie.

My favorite sister-in-law still loves and adores my traditional apple pie the best. And so, for her, I'll put my recipe up here. I got the recipe from the Oregonian a gajillion years ago. Evidently some guy named Nicholas Hooten made it and won all sorts of awards, and had his recipe posted in the newspaper. Back when there were such things as newspapers. That's how old this recipe is.

The awesome thing about this pie is that it caters to those folks who like sweet apples, those folks who like sour apples, those folks who like their apple pie apples crunchy, and those folks who like their apple pie apples mushy. Everyone is happy with this pie. It is mouthwatering delicious. Truly, a to-die-for pie. And up until the day I started making Dutch Apple pie with homemade caramel sauce, this pie was lauded as one of my all time best pies I ever made.

And for those of you who are seeking that one recipe to beat all recipes, here it is. Sir Nicholas, as I like to refer to him, did a mighty fine job of coming up with a delicious traditional apple pie recipe, and I'll share his recipe with you here.

Ingredients:

2 pie crusts, uncooked

6 sweet apples

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons flour

2 Tablespoons butter

6 sour apples (like Granny Smiths)

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons flour

Directions:

Make 2 pie crusts, but don't bake them just yet. Allow them to rest for at least 15 minutes before rolling. Line the bottom of a pie plate with one of the crusts.

Peel, core, and slice the sweet apples and place them in a large microwaveable bowl. Cover them in the cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar and flour. Stir to make sure all the apples are coated. Plop in the butter. Pop the whole thing in the microwave and microwave on high for 20 minutes. Yes, 20. Your whole house will smell like heaven after about 10 minutes. While the apples are cooking in the microwave, peel, core, and slice the sour apples.

When the sweet apples are finished in the microwave, allow them to cool a bit on the counter while you finish up with your sour apples.

Peel, core and slice the sour apples. Place them in a large bowl. Cover them in the lemon juice, cinnamon, salt, sugar, and flour. Stir to make sure all the apples are coated.

Once the sour apples are ready, take a pastry knife, or simply use a couple of regular knives, and cut and mash the cooked sweet apples until they resemble apple sauce.

Pour the sweet applesauce into the awaiting pie pan. Set the bowl aside so that you can lick it clean later. Yeah yeah, you'll wash it too. With soap and everything. Or even put it through the dishwasher. But you know what I mean. Then, carefully pour in the sour apples on the top. If you're on the great British baking show, you can place each apple slice by hand into the pie dish in a beautiful arrangement. But, since you're here in America, and since your pie is going to have a crust on the top, feel free to just pour that whole mess into your pie plate, making sure to mound them toward the middle.

Roll out your remaining pie dough into a large circle. Carefully lay your pie crust on top of your mound of apples. Trim the excess dough from around the edges. Pinch the lower crust and the upper crust together, and then make a decorative pattern around the edge. Pierce the top of the pie crust in several places to allow the steam to leave the pie. If you don't do this, the steam won't be able to escape, and your crust could end up soggy. And no one likes a soggy bottom.

At least according to Mary Berry.

Meanwhile, you can use any excess pie crust to make decorations for the top. Or you can make snickerdoodles. Either way, your mouth will thank you later.

At this point you can choose to sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar on top of your pie crust. Or you can cover it with an egg wash. Or you can cover it with both an egg wash and a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. Me? I prefer a naked crust. Because I inevitably smother my pie with French vanilla ice cream and homemade caramel sauce. But that's just me.

Pop that whole heavy mass of a pie into the oven and bake at 350º for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the bubbly goodness inside is thick and not watery.

Serve hot or cold. But either way, make sure you serve it with

French Vanilla Ice Cream.

And, if you want to be decadent, with homemade caramel sauce.

For those of you who like pictures, I have several, but not all...

Here's a sideways picture of me popping out some maple leaves out of leftover pie crust. I try not to roll out my dough more than once. So if I have a whole large strip left over, instead of mashing it into a ball and rolling it out again, I simply lay it out flat, and then cut out my pieces.

So first things first, peel, slice and core your apples.

You can use a fancy machine like this:

Your apples can come out looking like this, and you can slice them yourselves, or you can get the machine to slice them into relatively perfect, evenly sliced wedges. 'sup to you.

Once they're sliced, add in the cinnamon and sugar and so forth, pop the whole thing into the microwave, and then cook them for 20 minutes.