Aunt Margie and Uncle Carroll lived in their cabin in the mountains of Angeles National Forest. We, my sister Pattie Sue and I, would spend vacations and the welcome long weekends with them. They actually were doing child care as our parents were both employed outside of the home; we lived in the middle of the San Fernando Valley just a mile or two from the endless groves of orange trees.

Aunt Margie was an inveterate hostess, cook and baker. She seemed to enjoy making all kinds of good things for us to eat and she was always ready to give us a cooking lesson or two. An apple pie with mounds of cinnamon and nutmeg seasoned apples, a high hat pie, was a favorite of ours. I have such good memories when I am making one and even better memories when I eat a big, hot slice of freshly baked apple pie.

• 1 unbaked 2-crust 9-inch plain pastry
• 3 pounds tart apples
• 3/4 to 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch

• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg plus a dash for the crust
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 egg mixed with 2 tablespoons milk

1. Prepare crust and line 9-inch pie tin. Trim even with outside edge of the pie tin. See pastry crust page for more information.

   

2. Pare and core apples; cut or slice as desired (*See notes below). Between steps, keep apples in an iced water bath with added lemon juice or Fruit Fresh® to preserve color and prevent discoloration.

   

3. Add sugar mixed with cornstarch, salt and spices. Sugar and salt will pull liquid out of the apples and make a sauce. Mix well to coat apple pieces evenly. Do this just before filling the pie. The salt and sugar will be drawing off liquid from the apples and if you wait too long you will have soggy crusts.

   

4. Fill the pastry-lined pie tin. Dot with butter.

   

5. Add top crust and trim to 1/2-inch overhang. Fold top crust edge under bottom crust. Crimp edges with fingers and make flutes to seal crust edges. Slice top crust with knife, 3 or 4 2-inch slits, to make steam vents.

   

6. Use pastry brush to apply milk and egg mixture to top crust. Sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar and a little nutmeg.
7. Bake in pre-heated 450°F oven for 10 minutes and then in moderate oven, 350°F, about 40 minutes or until crust is nicely browned. If crust is getting too brown, cover with foil or use a pie ring.

   

8. Note: If apples are not tart, add 1 tablespoon lemon juice.

*In my childhood many years ago, Aunt Margie used to make the pie with chunks of apples. Many years later in Alaska, with bumper crops of apples to process, the wife And I got an apple peeler and slicer. It made pie making much easier but the thin little slices of apple were just not the same as the chunks in the pies Aunt Margiw would make. I used a knife making the pies in these photos because I couldn’t find my apple corer and slicer that I now usually use right after peeling the apples.