French Apple Pie

This is truly an aware-winning recipe. No really. I've actually won awards with this one! :) Okay...so maybe they were just church function contests...but hey, I still won first with this one several times. It is the best apple pie you will ever eat and will make you a favorite with your friends. Enjoy one of my family's favorites!

Ingredients for Crust:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I love King Arthur-It's just great flour! But any will do!)
1 TBSP sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups butter flavor shortening (like Crisco)
1 egg
1/2 TBSP white or apple cider vinegar
water

Directions: 
Mix flour, sugar, and salt with whisk until combined. Cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture is in pea-sized crumbles. In 1/2 c. measuring cup, mix egg with vinegar, then fill with water until cup is full. Pour over shortening mixture. With wooden spoon or spatula, stir just until blended (don't over-stir, or your dough will get tough).

Heavily flour a sheet of parchment paper then dump dough onto surface. Sprinkle enough dough on top to keep rolling pin from sticking. Roll to approximately 1/2" thickness. Baker's Trick: take your rolling pin and roll up the dough onto the pin (parchment paper and all). Unroll over-top of pie pan, parchment side up. Then peel off parchment and voila, you have the perfect pie crust! Just trim off any dough that hangs over the edge, fold under to create a smooth top, the press to create the pretty, wavy edge. Note: save dough scraps to make a pretty decorative shape for the top (to be added at a later date)

Ingredients for Pie Filling:
8 medium sized apples (McIntosh are the best! But others baking apples, like Gala or Fuji will also work)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
Optional: 1 tsp lemon juice to add tartness to apples

Directions:
Shave apples, then use your handy-dandy apple slicer to cut into wedges. Now take each individual wedge and cut into 3-4 smaller wedges. The thinner the better on these!

Put all your sliced apples in a large mixing bowl. Measure into bowl the sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. With a spatula, gently turn apples to coat in mixture.

Now pour apple mixture over prepared pie crust! This is where I start preheating my oven to 425 degrees.

Ingredients for Crumble Topping:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:
Mix all ingredients until you have pea-sized crumbles. Evenly coat entire pie with the mixture. Now you're ready to bake! Place pie in pre-heated 425 degree oven. Bake for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn oven down to 350 and bake for 50 minutes. During cooking, make a pretty decorative shape for the topper. I usually like to cut an apple shape, but if it's for another event, like Christmas, I'll make a holly leaf (pictured below), or another shape to fit the occasion. During the last 20 minutes of baking, place your topper on the center of the pie and place a crust shield over the edges to prevent burning. Once it's finished baking, let cool for 15-20 minutes, then serve. Enjoy!