Hipster Apple Pie, Complete With Pie Porn

One of my best friends on the planet, K, wanted to make apple pie. I got a touch carried away and sorta did it myself without thinking about it. I'm bad at teaching in person, and being hands-off in the kitchen. I'm sorry, again. >.< So enjoy some apple pie while I make myself some of the humble variety.

We based our recipe off of one K found on Allrecipes.com, but added our own flavors. We started by getting a pre-made frozen double pie crust, the 9in kind. We used Marie Calendar's. Sometimes I'm lazy, don't judge. Dock the bottom shell and blind bake it at 350 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes. This will keep it from  under-cooking, since our filling is rather liquid. Allow the other dough to thaw on the counter.

Peel, core, and slice 8 granny smith apples. We had six really ripe ones and a couple of green apples that we just barely ripe. It added to the texture of the overall pie. So, you can use whatever mixture of types you like. Once you've cut them up, put them in a bowl of water with lemon juice to keep them from browning.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a pan. Stir in 3 tbsp AP flour to form a paste. Cook on medium heat for one minute before adding 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and 1/2 cup packed brown sugar. Stir in 2 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, and 1 tsp Chai Spice Blend. That last one is a McCormick blend from the Gourmet Collection. If you don't have it or want to buy it, use 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (freshly ground off the nut is best), 1/2 tsp  ground ginger, and 1/2 tsp ground cardamom instead. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer until all the sugar is dissolved and it starts to thicken a bit.

Load up your pie pan with the apples (mounded slightly, as it'll drop in volume when it bakes) and cover with the brown sugar mixture. Now we move onto the lattice work.

By the time you've done all this, your second pie crust dough should be chill to the touch but pliable. Peel it off the pan and roll it out onto a floured surface. Make sure that it's even (with no dips so it bakes evenly), about 1/8 to 1/16th of an inch thick. I just eyeballed the distance across and cut strips about an inch wide. So, you'll need four lengths to start in the middle.

Cut four more slightly shorter lengths, and these will go on the edges. Weave them through each other, leaving each strip lightly on top. Whisk up an egg. The egg wash is like a glue to crimp the lattice to the edge of the crust. Dab a touch of the wash between the dough and push down gently, but firmly with a fork. Use the rest of the egg wash to coat the lattice and sprinkle with granulated sugar all on top.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and bake for 15 minutes. Without pulling out the pie, drop the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the apples are soft.

All these beautiful square photos provided by K and her Hipstamatic iPhone App