Best Homemade Apple Pie Recipe

Apple pie is one of America's favorite dessert dishes. If you're looking for an all-time classic version of apple pie, this one fits the bill. There's no secret ingredients, no time consuming work on the crust, it's just a dependable recipe that we might be able to dub the best homemade apple pie recipe because of its simplicity and reliability (it's hard to get this one wrong!).

* 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoons salt
* 2/3 cup butter
* 10 Tablespoons cold water

* 6 cups thinly sliced Granny Smith apples (cored and peeled)
* 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1 cup sugar
* 2 Tablespoons all purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

How to Make the Apple Pie Crust
1. For the crust, stir together the flour, salt, and pour the butter into the mix. Take a fork and mash the butter into the mixture until it gets firmer. Add the water bit by bit, until it is wet enough to form a crust. Cut the dough in half, and form two pastry balls.

2. On a floured surface, roll out one ball of dough. Set that into the pie crust plate. Butter the bottom of the pie crust prior to placing the crust into the plate (or use a small amount of shortening). Flatten the pie crest to remove air bubbles, and pull it over the sides of the plate.

3. Cover the other ball of pastry crust so it doesn't dry out, with plastic wrap. Set aside. (Continue on to directions below).

If you're thinking apple pie is hard to make, it's not. It does take a little bit of time, but the steps are pretty simple. Once you've made one pie, you're next one will go a lot smoother. Here are the step by step directions on how to make this apple pie recipe, along with some photos of the process:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Peel and core the apples.
The flour and sugar mix, being mashed together with a potato masher. And that cup you see in the background on the left is the I Am Not a Paper Cup reusable cup (for morning coffee).

2. Stir together the cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and sugar until well moistened in a large bowl. Add the apple mixture into the pie plate that has the crust on the bottom.

3. Take the other half of the pastry dough and roll out into a round, flat sheet. Gently place on top of the apples. Push together the two crusts together at the seams, and take a fork around the edge to give the pie a ridged look around the crust.

Use a fork to make lines in the crust as desired, or use your fingers to indent the crust making patterns, weaves, etc. (or just leave it as is, depending on how fancy you want your pie).

4. Brush the top of the pie with milk, then dust lightly with granulated sugar (about 1 teaspoon). This will help the sugar stick to the crust. Bake for 1 hour, or until the filling is tender and the top is lightly browned. Remove, and let cool slightly. Serve immediately with ice cream or whipped cream.

Some Tips for a Better Apple Pie:

* Make the pastry crust fresh. Using a pre-done crust saves some time, but tastes a lot different (not in a good way).
* Experiment with your pie. Add some different similar spices, like allspice, ginger, or cloves, in small amounts. See what people do and don't like.
* Place aluminum foil on top of your pie for the first half of the cooking cycle if your oven runs hotter than normal. The only way to tell this is by trial and error!
* Make sure you always have ice cream and/or whipped cream on hand for this apple pie recipe. It never tastes as good without it!
* Don't skimp on the ice cream. Cheaper ice cream tastes like... cheap ice cream. And if you're making homemade apple pie, why bother serving it with low quality ice cream?

If you're ever looking to save yourself the time and buy an incredible gourmet apple pie, gourmetstation.com has some excellent ones that can be shipped to your door (and they also have some decadent looking cheesecakes, too).