The Best Apple Pie EVER. Period.

I shared with you the moving story of my obsessive compulsive apple pie experimentation during a low point in my life (The Apple Pie Defense), but I didn’t include the recipe. Shame on me.

So here it is, your Christmas gift for being lovely and supportive readers of my blathering. I’m posting it one day early so you can make it for your own Christmas dinners and knock the socks off your guests, who will never touch another apple pie after they try this one, so in a way you’re ruining them for life. That can be your revenge for them letting their kids throw mashed potatoes in your hair.

Perfect Apple Pie Crust (compliments of my Nanny Newton)

2 cups of flour
Tsp salt
2/3 of a cup, plus 2 tbs of Crisco
4-6 tbs of ICE WATER

Mix all together and then add the water until the consistency is good (not dry and crumbly, not wet and sticky.) MUST BE ICE WATER. Don’t mess with that.

Perfect Apple Pie Filling (compliments of my Grandmom Vansant)

8 ½ cups of sliced and peeled apples (best using half Gala and half Granny Smith Green Apples.) SLICE THEM REALLY THIN
1 cup sugar
1/3 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 dash nutmeg
1 dash salt
1 cup of whiskey!!! <— SECRET INGREDIENT, DON’T LEAVE OUT
Stick of Butter (comes later)

Mix everything EXCEPT the apples & butter, and then pour onto the apples and mix up. Any whiskey will do, I find cheap old Canadian Club works best.

Split the ball o’crust pastry in half, roll out half of it and line a greased pie plate with it. Pinch the edges between your thumb and index finger to make that cool little ribbon crust edge. Bake it for a little bit – maybe 5-10 minutes just to give it a head start – meanwhile, rollout the top crust.

Take the apple pie crust out of the oven. Use oven mitts or you’ll burn the hell out of your hands, unless you have big calloused man-hands like my grandmother did. Put the apple pie filling in, cut up a stick of butter into pats and sit them all over the top, put the top crust on, do the pinchy thing again to seal the edges. I like to put a little egg wash or just smear a little butter on the top and sprinkle a little sugar on the crust top, too.

Bake 40 minutes at 425 degrees.

APPLE PIE HEAVEN.