Making Apple Pie and Thinking of You

Today I made traditional apple pie for Thanksgiving. It was the first pie I've made in a year or since last Christmas anyway. I like to make apple pie, and often make one or more for holidays. It is one of my favorite desserts at any time, but in recent years I buy them here for all except special occasions. (The apples for this pie did come from there, we bought a half-bushel.)

I use a Cutco peeler to pare the apples, and it was a gift from Millie. Apple pie is one of my "signature" dishes, and she gave me many utensils over the years, including decorative pie plates and an apple coring machine -- but none as useful as the Cutco peeler. Last time I made a pie, I was sending one of them down to Long Island. But not this year.

Last time I made a pie, Sophie begged for the apple peels, cores, and pieces of apple. She would even grab a whole apple out of the bag and eat it. I've had two dogs in my life, Sophie and Howie, who loved apples and spent the entire time I was baking waiting nearby, barking impatiently at times, cheating the compost. But not this year.

Bob and I came up with a poem to capture Sophie's love of pie:

Ode to Pie

Pie, Pie, Pie

Pie for dinner

Pie for lunch

Pie for breakfast

Pie for brunch

Pie in the morning

Pie at night

Pie when you're hungry

Pie when you're full

Pie for a snack

Pie for a meal

Pie, Pie, Pie

I always think of Mimmie when I bake for the holidays, and this year is no different. Is the pie perfect? Did the dough roll out just right? Are the apples just right?

You be the judge.

My recipe:

Crust

2 C flour

1 t salt

2/3 C butter

6 T water

Filling

7 cooking apples

1 scant C sugar

1 scamt t cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

2 T flour

2 T butter,

Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake ~50 minutes @ 400 degrees.