Apple Pie

My Nonny once said that no young lady could be considered a true Southern Belle without being able to cook a few kitchen staples. Of course, the simple yet delicious Apple Pie is one of those mandatory staples. So to begin what I hope will be a food blog worthy your time and kitchen, a tribute to all the fantastic Southern Grandmas whose legacy lives on through the all the lives they've touched and their yummy recipes...

 Oh, yum.

This recipe is a bit of a twist on a classic and can easily be tweaked to suit  your personal taste. So all you ladies (and gents) out there, its never too late to start learning your staples or changing up tried and true favorites! Enjoy!

1 Batch Double Pie Crust (Homemade or Store Bought)
1/2 c. Butter (Always unsalted, unless otherwise stated!)
3 T. Flour
1/4 c. Water
1/2 c. Sugar
1/2 c. Brown Sugar, Firmly Packed
1 1/2 t. Cinammon
1/2 t. Salt
1 T. Vanilla
6-8 Granny Smith Apples (Other varieties will work, but won't contribute a great bite)

Preheat that lovely oven of yours to 425.

If you have one of those rarely used but extremely handy apple peelers / corers, break that bad boy out. If your not that big of a kitchen gadget collector or just haven't picked that particular one up yet, pull out your handy dandy knife to peel, core, and slice all the apples.  The apple pieces can be any size / shape you like as long as they are relatively uniform and kinda bite sized.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Sprinkle in the flour to form a paste. Stir in the sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Bring that caramelly sauce to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for about 5 minutes, until thicker.  Once you take the sauce off the heat, stir in the vanilla.

Now, there is a decision to be made. You can either reserve a few tablespoons of your sauce to coat the top crust with or you can simply use a milk / sugar mixture to brown your crust. Either works, just do whichever floats your boat.

Pour the sauce over your apple chunks and coat completely.

Line the bottom of a pie pan (the deeper, the better) with one of your crusts. Pour in the sauced apples and cover with the top crust.

Feel adventurous? Go for a lattice work crust. Not so adventurous? Just make a few steam slits.

If you decided to reserve some sauce, pour it over the crust and let most of it seep through the holes in the crust. If this was not your decision, do not fear there is another note headed your way!

Put that lovely pie of yours in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Then turn down the temperature to 350 and continue to bake for 35-45 minutes, until your apples are soft.

Now if you were one of the milk/sugar subscribers, crack that oven open 10 minutes before the pie is done and pour 2 T milk over the top of the crust and sprinkle with a light dusting of sugar to make a nice golden crust.

Note: If you notice that your pie is starting to brown too quickly on the edges, cover with a crust saver ring (if you have one) or tuck some aluminum foil around the sides to cover the edges so that they don't burn.