The apple of my pie

Today, I have been thinking a lot about my Dad, who passed away in April after a long illness (take care of your liver, people). He loved to cook, although really, he loved for people to eat his cooking. He was a wizard with charcoal.
My father, however, hated cooked apples. It was probably for this reason that prior to going to college, I had never really tried apple pie, and despite an early love of baking, had certainly never made one. So when cooler fall air (finally) started pouring into my unairconditioned dorm, I decided I wanted to try to make one. The trouble was, of course, a communal kitchen (crusted with all sorts of unidentifiable things-including this God-awful dish one girl used to make that involved pasta alfredo and cans of tuna), and the fact that the only measuring device we seemed to be able to find consistently was a 1/3 cup measure. That, and the Internet was still in its infancy, so the days of finding a recipe in .2 seconds were still a couple of years away.

Ultimately, I made a crumb-topped apple pie that came out pretty well, and eventually, grew to have a bit of a fan base with family and friends. I have never, however, really managed to capture the precise measurements of it, probably because of that cursed 1/3 cup measure. So it is actually my intrepid sister-in-law you can thank for pinning me down in the kitchen, shadowing my construction of, and finally committing to printed word the recipe, although I understand that it was not without some trial-and-error. Here is the recipe, as she wrote it.

Crust

Refrigerated pie crust (Mommy: Shut up, all you pie crust elitists)

Filling

1 c sugar

5-6 Tbsp flour

¼-½ tsp nutmeg

1 bag Granny Smith apples

(Mommy: I guess I forgot to tell her that I also add cinnamon here. About a teaspoon, I guess? I always have to lick my finger, stick it in the filling, and taste it to see when it's okay. I know, gross, right? And a pinch of salt. It should look roughly like this:)

Topping

Leftover filling

Add sugar – up to 1 cup

Add flour – about 2 Tbsp

1-2 tsp cinnamon

3-4 Tbsp butter

1.       Put pie crust in pan

2.       Layer filling and apples, starting and ending with filling

3.       Place 2 Tbsp butter on top in small chunks (Mommy: I forget this step all the time)

4.     (Mommy: As the British would say, "rub" all of the topping ingredients together in a bowl with your fingers until the mixture forms crumbs roughly the size of peas.)  

Crumble topping all over pie - Important: Crumble with hands!! 

5.       Bake at 350 for 40-50 minutes

Although you will never master this pie until you can throw out the timer and just smell when it’s done.  Alas, I am not a master. (Mommy: Hmm. This is doubtful.)

Conclusion

I think one of things that makes this pie fun is that the normal "rules" of baking are kind of suspended. You don't have to weight out the grams of anything. You just stick a finger in, and if it tastes right, it probably is. The lesson to be learned from this pie, kind of like my Dad, is to trust yourself, and make do with what you have. Dad never did anything half-way, and never apologized for it, either. It doesn't matter if you get things perfect, it matters that you tried anyway knowing it might not turn out like you were expecting.

So give this recipe a whirl, and make it yours a little bit. Just don't make it with blueberries - I tried and it was wretched.