All American Apple Pie

SERVES 6 - START TO FINISH: 20 minutes prep, 40 minutes baking time

Recipe Directions

2 refrigerated pie crusts*
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon apple pie spice*
dash salt
3 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Vanilla ice cream, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large zipper top bag place, sugar, flour, salt and spice. Add apples, close and shake to coat well. Set aside.
3. In a 9-inch pie plate, place one crust evenly over the plate and press into plate. Add coated apples and drizzle melted butter over them. Cut second crust into strips and weave a lattice top. Crimp edges and place in preheated oven.
4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes until crust is flaky and golden brown. Remove from oven and rest for 10 minutes before serving with ice cream, if desired.
 

* Cooking Notes

For testing purposes, I used Pillsbury ® Refrigerated Pie Crusts. If you don’t have apple pie spice, substitute 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon allspice

Backstory

What’s a more American dessert than apple pie? And what’s more American than a college cook-off between guys and girls? I can’t think of a thing.
My daughters came home from school with this recipe, which was the big winner at a cooking contest among their friends at East Carolina University. Torre Grills, a junior from Charlotte, N.C., won top honors for her amazing Apple Pie. And when I sampled a slice, I had to have the recipe.
I can’t seem to help myself, making even a winning recipe it as “desperate-cook friendly” as possible so I substituted apple pie spice, which is one of my favorite dessert spice blends. But Torre uses 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. You can, too, and even throw in a dash of allspice, if you want. I also like my apples thinly sliced, instead of chunks but either will work just fine, as well.
Really the only slightly difficult thing about this pie is the lattice top, but even that can be “desper-ized.” Simply roll out the second crust. Slice it into 3/4-inch strips. Take every other strip and lay them over the apples, about 1/2 inch apart. Alternate weaving the remaining strips, one at a time until the lattice work is finished. Think those woven pot holders we did as kids. Crimp the edges and then it’s ready to bake.