Do you see me and my friend in the reflection of that teapot back there? That’s us marveling at the smell, the beauty, and the simplicity of this apple pie. Don’t you want to take a bite of your screen??

I’m not on apple pie duty for my Thanksgiving, but luckily my baking buddy (and cooking connoisseur) signed up for the desserts for her Thanksgiving, and early Sunday morning I got a text asking if I would like to join her in an afternoon of pie baking.

I was there in a jiffy.

It turns out I’m really good at peeling apples, she’s really good at slicing them, and we’re both REALLY good at letting apple pie ooze drip into the bottom of the oven, burn, smoke, and set off the smoke detector. (Lesson learned. Please place a pan or some foil on the bottom rack to catch to oozings from your apple pie…)

So are you on apple pie duty for Thanksgiving? Do you want a crowd pleaser? One that they’ll ask for year after year? Please, then, use this recipe. It’s adapted from allrecipes.com, and was originally someone’s Grandmother’s famous apple pie.

Ta. Die. For.

Ingredients (Adapted from www.allrecipes.com)

1 recipe for 9 inch double crust pie (homemade or store bought is fine)

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp flour

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

6-7 Granny smith apples–peeled, cored and sliced

1 egg white

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar, brown sugar, a heaping tsp of cinnamon and a heaping tsp of vanilla to the butter paste. Bring to a boil. Then reduce the temperature and let simmer 2-3 minutes. Set aside 2-3 tbsp of the butter mixture and pour the rest over the apples. Toss apples to coat.

(I’m sorry, let me interrupt here. Make sure you eat some of these sliced apples before you bake them. I mean, really, how can you RESIST?)

3. Place the bottom of your pie crust in the pan. Brush half of the egg white on the bottom of the pie crust. Pour the apples into the pie crust.

4. Place the top crust over the apples. Add some slits or cut some holes to let steam escape. And don’t forget to crease the edges with a fork 😉 Brush the top with the rest of the egg white. Then brush the 2-3 tbsp of reserved sauce over the top of the pie.

5. Place a cookie sheet or line the bottom oven rack with foil to catch any drippings. Place the pie on the top rack and bake at 425 for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake 35-45 more minutes until the top and bottom crusts are a nice golden brown and the filling is bubbling.

6. Sit and enjoy the smell of apple pie baking in your home. Then drool over it until you’re allowed to eat it on Thursday (served with your favorite vanilla ice cream, of course).

P.S. We’ve decided we’re opening shop. Visitors welcome.

🙂