deliciously simple apple pie {recipe}

Ok, I have to be honest here. It's not even October 1st and I've already made this recipe 3 times.

It's amazing...and super easy.

We love apples at our house. The recipe calls for Braeburn & Granny Smith but we use whatever tart and sweet apples we have on hand.

The kids love watching me peel apples like this. They wait anxiously to see if I can do the whole apple in one coil. Sometimes I can & I get an applause. Sweet kids.

I just wish they'd eat the remnants.

Make sure when you're cutting the apples that you get them reaaaallly thin. I forgot that little detail once last winter and the apples were all crunchy. It wasn't great. And we had company that time. Bummer.

I've found that the easiest way to coat the apples with cinnamon & sugar is to toss everything in a large ziplock and shake, shake, shake!

Another trick that I've found is super easy is just melting the butter in the pie dish by putting it in the oven as it warms up to 350 degrees.

Once it's all melted, pour in your brown sugar and mix it all together.

Once it's decently mixed, pat it flat with a spoon or spatula.

I forgot to take a photo of the crust before it was placed inside the pie dish but I generally use a pre-made one from the store. You can get them gluten-free or just the regular kind, depending what store you look in. They should be in the freezer section.

Imani loves to help pour the prepared apples atop the crust. Love how serious she is.

My sweet helpers. We're all very pink today.

Next is the top. Again, I generally use pre-made dough but there are so many recipes out there if you'd like to attempt your own.

Sometimes I can't find rolled pie dough so I'll just put the same crust used on the bottom, onto the top as well {they're typically sold in two's anyway} but though it tastes fine, it doesn't look as pretty.

Martha Stewart would probably cringe, but I just fold and just kinda make the top fit in haphazardly. I like that it doesn't look perfect.

On one of the pies this time, I took out our tiny little cookie cutter leafs to made a design on top. It's the first time I've done it and think it looks so fun! And as long as you know how to press down a cookie cutter, you can do it too.

Or, ask a 4 year old. Betcha they'd be happy to help.

This is generally what I do on the top though. I just cut a criss-cross star shape to vent the pie as it cooks {super important, by the way. otherwise it'll just crack open itself}.

Ok yes, this is a terrible picture. And yes, I got some yolk in the egg white.

But have you ever tried taking a photo with your left hand while cracking an egg at the same time? And NOT dropped it IN said egg? Just sayin' it was hard.

Anyway, once the top of your pie is on and cut for the steam to release, brush egg white all over and sprinkle sugar on top. This helps the crust to become a touch crunchy on top & gives it that beautiful color and shine once cooked.

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