Nana's Apple Pie - Perfection!!!!!!

I was thrilled for Thanksgiving for a number of reasons, but one of them was certainly for the opportunity to make my grandmother’s apple pie. THIS IS HANDS-DOWN THE MOST PERFECT AND DELICIOUS APPLE PIE YOU WILL EVER TASTE! Now, I am the only one in the family who can duplicate the taste of my nana’s creation. My mom burns the crust. My Aunt Patti never gets the spices quite right. My Aunt Maureen’s crust is much too dry. My cousin Kerri produces a pie with far too mushy apples. For whatever reason, I have the special touch. My only downfall, typically, is not quite mastering the art of rolling out the crust. Mine never quite fits, and I end up having to patch, resulting in a less aesthetically pleasing pie. This year, though, I found my solution. I one and a halved the recipe for the dough, allowing me some wiggle room in terms of filling out the pie plate. I was a tad worried that the crust might be slightly thicker, and in turn, not cook properly, but turns out, it was just fine! The recipe below is not increased, but rather the original, sacred ingredients and measurements. Depending on your level of expertise with crust rolling, you may want to increase the amounts.

Preheat oven at 350 degrees and very, very lightly grease a pie plate. (The recipe does not call for greasing the pie plate, but I always do, just to be safe).

9-10 apples, cored, sliced, and peeled (you may need more, eyeball it)
1 ½ cups flour
½ tsp. salt
2/3 cup shortening
¼ cup water
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cinnamon
With 2 knives (or a pastry blender/”chopper”), crisscross chop the flour, salt, and shortening.
With a fork, mix and add the water.
Then, with hands form into a ball.
Break in half and form two balls.
Place saran wrap on counter, toss with flour, and roll out.
Place bottom in pie plate and sprinkle with a little flour.
Add the apples.
Mix in bowl – sugar, nutmeg, salt, & cinnamon.
Pour mixture over the top of the apples and shake a little more nutmeg & cinnamon on top.
Put dobs of butter on top of the apple mixture.
Roll out top crust and place on top.
Dab crust with milk.
Put slits in top of crust.
Bake for 40-45 minutes until crust is a pale, flaky consistency.

I’ve used both McIntosh and Cortland apples, and although I prefer McIntosh, it comes out fine with both. Sometimes I even use a combo of the two. I like to serve with vanilla ice cream, but whip cream makes a nice topping as well. And, of course, it is best served warm