This recipe is from my Georgia born and bred great-grandmother. I made it for Thanksgiving when I went to meet the boyfriends parents. It was a huge success.

Ready

Pie crust:

• 4 cups unsifted all purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 ¾ cups solid Crisco stick
• 1 Tbsp cider vinegar
• 1 large egg

Pie filling:

• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp four
• ½ - 1 tsp cinnamon
• ⅛ tsp nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt
• 6-7 cups sliced peeled baking apples (if tart, put in more sugar)
• 2 Tbsp butter

Set

• Large bowl
• Small bowl
• Peeler
• Cookie sheet
• Plastic wrap or small ziplock bags
• Wax paper or silpat mat
• Rolling pin
• Pasty brush
• Aluminum foil

Go

Pie crust:

1. Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl and mix. Add shortening. Mix with a fork until crumbly.
2. In a small bowl, beat ½ cup water, vinegar and egg.
3. Combine two mixes in large bowl. Stir until it is all moistened.
4. Divide into 5 portions. Shape into flat round patty. Wrap each in plastic (I usually use small ziplock bags). Chill at least ½ hour (I usually leave over night in freezer.)

Pie filling:

1. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix with a fork. Add it to the sliced and peeled apples. Coat the apples well.
2. Finishing the pie: When dough is ready (and defrosted), lay down wax paper and sprinkle with flour. Use a cloth covered rolling pin. Lay out one round of dough. Starting at center, roll out until dough is round and flat. Pick it up and lay in pie pan (I usually use a glass one). Dump apple mix into dough lined pan. Cut little slices of butter and lay on top of apple mix. (Don’t spread it out.) Roll another dough ball out and lay across the top of the pie. With wet fingers pinch the two pie layers together to form fluted edges. Take a fork and stab the top in a pattern of your choice to vent while cooking.
3. In a small bowl, beat an egg and water together. With a pastry brush, brush the top and edges of the pie with the water/egg mix.
4. Cut out strips of aluminum foil and wrap the outside fluted edges of the pie to prevent them from burning.
5. Bake in a hot oven at 425°F for 50-60 minutes.
6. I usually let it set in the microwave or a closed bread box overnight before serving. Serve warm. And really good with vanilla ice cream!

What you should know

Some personally learned hints: Place pie on a cookie sheet while it bakes. Some of the filling juice always spills out on me and then the oven smells like something is burning instead of the lovely apple pie smell. I usually end up using one and a half of the dough mounds for each layer of the pie crust. One ball just never seems to be enough. But then again, I can’t ever seem to roll it out into a smooth round shape - it always ends up a funky misshapen layer.