Jay's Apple Pie

I hated making this apple pie but I sure loved eating it. The whole peeling and coring (without a corer) of eight apples felt like it took hours. There are apples available that are all prepped to pop into a pie, so next time I might just do that when there are a decent variety of these ready-to-go apples on the grocery store shelves. Or proceed as you may. As Jay suggests, I used pre-made dough too which I have also always found to be quite good and certainly less tedious. Adding a scoop of vanilla ice cream is quite a good idea, but you might want to try a slice of melted Grafton cheddar on top--or both!

Do enjoy and thanks to Jason 'Jay' Prince for his adaptation of the recipe with his comments--and a shout out to my dear TD for sending this along.

Jay’s Apple Pie
Variation of Joy of Cooking Apple Pie recipe
"I’m too lazy to make a crust by hand, so I just use the pre-made rolled-out crusts. It’s a better pie if you make a real lard crust, but turns out surprisingly well with a store-bought one."

• Position a rack in the lower third of the oven.
• Preheat oven to 425-degrees
• Peel, core and slice about 6-8 medium/large apples.

"I like using 2-3 Macintosh cut up into chunks approximately 1/2” by 1.” Macs turn pretty mush but have such a great flavor that I like them in the pie."

Slice 3-4 Cortlands or Braeburns into 1/4” thick, but long slices.

"These keep a good texture in the pie. Fujis and Galas work well, too. I also like a couple of Golden Delicious apples for a little variety in texture."

• Combine the apples in a big mixing bowl with
2/3 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of honey
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• Let everything stand for about 15 minutes to soften the apples so they fit into the crust better. Stir every couple of minutes to keep it all coated.
• Fill the crust and put on 6-8 pats of salted butter before covering with the top crust. Seal the edges and cut several steam vents, then mix together.
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon to sprinkle all over the top of the crust.

• Bake the pie for 30 minutes -- "I use a crust-saver ring for the first 30 minutes."

• Slip a baking sheet under the pie and reduce the temperature to 350-degrees for another 30 minutes.
• Cool the pie on a rack 3-4 hours for the filling to completely thicken properly.

"Enjoy with French Vanilla ice cream and to reheat, put the pie in a 350-degree oven for fifteen minutes"