Best Apple Pie

Marjorie Standish is like the Julia Child of Maine. She has authored over five books all focused on “cooking down east” with fresh seafood. A few years ago, a friend of ours who grew up in Maine introduced me to Marjorie Standish’s apple pie recipe. Apple pie is one of those things that is kind of good no matter what but when it is great it really can’t be beat. Here is Marjorie’s apple pie recipe, our favorite. She uses a technique that was completely new to me – pilling the sugar/spice mix directly on top of the sliced apples rather than tossing the apples in the dry ingredients before filling the pie pan. I don’t know why it works so well but it does – you gotta try it.

Best Apple Pie by Marjorie Standish

Makes 1 pie

Enough apples for a well filled pie, 5 to 8

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter

Preheat the oven to 425F. First, peel then slice the apples into thin slices. Fill the pastry lined pie plate with apples. Sprinkle all the remaining ingredients evenly over the apples. Dot the top of the filling with butter. Bake at 425F for 40 minutes then reduce the heat to 325F and make for another 20 minutes. Let cool then slice and enjoy.

PS. You can use any crust recipe you like but my favorite is…

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 sticks cold butter, cut into cubes

1/4 cup ice water

1 teaspoon salt

Pulse the flour, salt, and butter together in a food processor until the butter is the size of peas. With the motor running, stream in the ice water. Run the motor until the dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out on a floured counter top and shape into two 1-inch rounds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until baking time.