Well, fall has officially arrived and nothing says fall in New England more than a good old-fashioned apple pie. Local apples, a good, basic recipe, some quality vanilla ice cream and you will have a lot of happy campers!.

Now, I must tell you, as a child I often watched my mother pump out apple pies like she was making a grilled cheese. There would be a flurry of flour, mixing, rolling, peeling of apples, and poof…there was an incredible apple pie for dessert and the house smelled amazing. She made her own crust…I do not (I tried and just couldn’t master it!) and the speed with which she could put them together, to this day, astounds me. Coming from a very large family, one pie was definitely never enough so, multiple pies were always needed and they just appeared with so little effort or fanfare, very impressive.

INGREDIENTS
10-12 Cortland apples
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3 Tbs. butter, diced
zest of lemon
juice from 1 lemon wedge
one double pie crust
1 egg, beaten with 1 Tbs. water

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425°.
First, roll out one crust and put in the  pie plate.
Then, combine the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a small bowl. Next, peel and slice the apples. Place the apples in the bottom crust, sprinkle with the sugar mixture, dot with the diced butter, zest the lemon and squeeze a lemon wedge over the apples.

Top with second crust, cut slits to vent, brush with egg wash, and sprinkle the top with some natural, raw sugar.

Finally, cook at 425° for 15 minutes, reduce the temperature to 350° and cook for an additional 30-40 minutes or until bubbly and browned.

Serve warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and enjoy.