1.) Prepare 1 mixing bowl’s worth of apples (Quarter, cut out the stems/seeds, then hand slice each quarter into thirds. Leave the skins on. You should have about six or seven cups.) Put the apple slices in lemon water while you complete step 2.
2.) Turn the oven on to 425F. In a saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Stir constantly with spatula this whole step. Add in 3 tablespoons of flour one at a time to form a paste. Add 1/4 cup water to liquify, then add 1 cup of sugars. The sugars are your choice; you can do half brown, half white, two-thirds brown, one-thirds white. If you are out of either, you can swap in maple syrup. Finally, add the spices of your choice (1/2tsp nutmeg, 1/2tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1tsp vanilla).
3.) Put the bottom crust in a pie pan, then pile the apples in the crust with a slight mound in the middle. Pour the pie filling mixture over the apples as evenly as possible.
4.) Roll the second refrigerated crust out and cut it into strips the width of your thumb with a dinner knife. Lay out a lattice crust by putting every other strip on the pie, then weave in the second half of strips. Seal up the edges and thumb crinkle the crust. Brush the crust with egg or milk, sprinkle white sugar on the top. Don’t skip the lattice crust because it’s time consuming. Without the lattice to vent steam, the filling will boil over and spill out getting all over your oven.
5.) Put the pie in the oven for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350F and bake for another 35-45 minutes. Let cool for a minimum of 45 minutes or it will all fall apart when you cut it.
6.) Eat with vanilla ice cream… don’t skip the ice cream! It’s so good with it! Enjoy.
