Sharon's Perfect Apple Pie.

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Sharon's Perfect Apple Pie from Jenn:

9 cups sliced apples

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

2 T lemon juice

3 T flour

Pie pastry for 9 inch, 2 crust pie

1 T butter

Put apples in a bowl with sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, salt and lemon juice. Mix well. Let sit at room temperature overnight or 8-12 hours. When ready to bake:

Preheat oven to 425.

Roll out pastry for bottom crust and place in pie pan. Using a slotted spoon, place apples in crust, mounding slightly above top of pie tin. Add 3 T flour to juices remaining in bowl and mix well. Pour over apples in pie pan.

Dot apples with butter (optional) and place top crust over. Make slits in top crust for air to escape. Sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Place pie on rack in lower third of oven. Bake 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake another 45-60 minutes, or until apples are tender when pierced with a fork in the center of pie.

Place on a rack to cool. Makes one 9 inch pie.

Basic Pie Pastry (in a Cuisinart)

Makes 3 9-inch pie shells (or 2 pie shells and some pie crust cookies)

2 2/3 cups flour

2 sticks very cold unsalted butter cut into 1 inch pieces

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup ice water

Use metal blade to process flour, butter and salt until mixture is like coarse meal, about 8 seconds. Add ice water and pulse until dough begins to clump together. Do not let it form a ball. Divide dough into 3 equal parts and put each in a plastic food storage bag. Work through each bag to press dough together into a ball, then flatten into a disc.

Refrigerate dough at least 1 hour.

Roll each disc of dough on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Press into place in pie pan. Trim dough, leaving 1 inch overlap beyond edge of pan. Fill pie crust and continue as instructed for recipe. For a pre-baked crust, bake 12 minutes at 400.