[Requiem]

Apple pie, anyone? Warm from the oven, with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream? It's going fast...

My mother-in-law's apple pie recipe consistently turns out perfect pies.

Apple Pie

6-7 apples peeled, cored and cut into chunks. Use tart, firm (cooking) apples such as Granny Smith
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (don't use the bottled stuff)
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons flour
A few pats of butter (or margarine)

Using a medium-sized mixing bowl, toss all the ingredients except butter together until the apples are well-coated. Pour into a prepared pie crust shell, add the pats of butter around the apples. Top with pastry shell and crimp the edges. Make a few decorative vents in the top.

Place on a cookie sheet (unless you like to clean up sticky, burned on spills from the bottom of your oven). Bake at 350 degrees F. for approximately 60-70 minutes. Baking time isn't rocket science. Bake until the house smells delicious and the hot pie filling is bubbling up from the crust.

Crust recipes are varied. I like to use a no-fail pie crust recipe that calls for oil instead of butter. (Am I a heretic?) But it lives up to its name - comes out flaky and tender every time.

Susan