Apple Pie (ie FALL IS HERE)

Today has a high of 61 degrees. This is definitely a reason to celebrate, so I did what any good American would do. I baked an apple pie.

I haven't baked in a while (getting engaged and starting to plan a wedding definitely takes up any extra time one might have [I'm definitely not complaining though!]), so I thought a pie would be a perfect celebration of baking and of this upcoming Fall season.

I used the concepts explained HERE; I figured if the Pioneer Woman uses external tutorials, who am I to plead independence and try to do it on my own? So yes. Go there and read what she has to say; she's got great tips and pointers about pie-making, and several good concepts that can apply to every pie you will ever make again.

Some notes on my particular pie:
- I used granny smith apples since they give a nice tart flavor, and I don't like things too sweet.
- I mixed the cut apples with a fistful of sugar, a couple dashes of cinnamon, pinch of cloves, two dashes of nutmeg, 2 tablespoons of pure maple syrup, and two tablespoons of flour.
- I used all butter in my crust.
- At first, 1/4 cup of water in the dough recipe didn't seem like enough to me. I had to squish it all together and knead it with my hands for about a minute before it stuck together. THEN, when I rolled it out, the dough turned out really sticky for me; so I added a couple tablespoons of flour on the parchment paper then. Like she says in her post, I don't recommend using too much in the rolling out process; but mine so wet it was falling apart. So don't feel tempted to add more water in the beginning... it'll all come together eventually.
- I just realized that these pictures shows the ugliest part of my crust. Lame. I promise it's better looking on the other side...
- Don't forget to put a cookie sheet or tray under your pie when you bake it if you don't want to be cleaning the bottom of your oven the next day!