Grandma's homemade apple pie

Last weekend, I spent my Saturday learning how to make my favorite thing in the world: my grandma's homemade apple pie. Let me just start out by saying, my grandma makes THE BEST apple pie in the entire world. At 84 years old, she's had a lot of time to perfect the recipe. But the funny part? She doesn't actually have a recipe. Which is what I learned when I asked her to teach me how to make it.

"I never measure anything," she said, laughing as she tried to estimate how much salt or cinnamon to add to the bowl. "Just keep adding cinnamon until the color looks right."

Ummm... Grandma, how am I supposed to know when the color looks right?! I've only ever seen apple pie fully baked, covered with ice cream and on its way to my mouth.

Needless to say, we had some good laughs. My mom and sister came along, but this was my pie to bake. If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know I'm not so familiar with the kitchen. But this apple pie is my kryptonite, and I felt like it was time that I learn how to make it for myself. (Plus, I did add "bake a pie" to my fall bucket list, so it had to be done!)

The four of us had so much fun, laughing and talking and throwing ingredients in with grandma's estimated measurements. ("Bake it at 350 degrees for whatever.") We made the perfectly crisp and flaky homemade crust, peeled and sliced apples with the COOLEST APPLE TOOL EVER, and successfully made a mess of the kitchen.

This is what the holiday season is about: Spending the day baking and laughing and just being present with family. It's so easy to get lost in all the shopping and frenzied planning and the general hustle of Thanksgiving and Christmas, but it's so, so important to just remember that these times go by fast, and we have to stop and enjoy it. We have to make these memories now that will carry on with us for years.

I may not be Martha Stewart yet, but you can bet baking this pie will be a new tradition in my kitchen from now on. And every time I make it, I'll think about my grandma, and how she never had a recipe to follow — she just made it right every time. Someday I'll measure the salt in my hand instead of a teaspoon, just like she does. And when I take the pie out of the oven, I'll put my head right above it and listen for it to bubble and boil so I know it's done, because that's how she knew.

And now, because you seriously haven't experienced apple pie until you've had my grandma's, I'm going to share her recipe with you. And by her recipe, of course I mean the notes I made my sister take as my grandma walked me through it because, as I mentioned before, there is no formal recipe outside my grandma's head.

For the crust:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup lard (packed in) (My grandma swears lard is much healthier than Crisco)
5 tablespoons cold water

Pour flour and salt in a mixing bowl, add lard mix together until lard is fully mixed into the flour (it'll still be a bit powdery). Add water to mixture and use hands to pack it together into a ball. You may need a bit more water to make it stick, but don't use too much. Break the ball in half and set the other half aside. Roll out one half on a flour-covered surface, flipping it over twice to get flour evenly on both sides, until it is big enough to fill the pie plate. Put into pie plate and press it down into place, making sure to cover the edges completely and filling all holes.

For the apple filling:
7-9 Yellow Delicious apples (my grandpa's personal favorite — you can use others too, but the sweeter they are, the less sugar you need to add)
Large bowl of water with 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 + 1 tablespoon sugar (approximately)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
"Scant" 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Plenty of cinnamon (mix in until you have a nice brown coloring)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
5 slim slices of butter

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare apples by peeling, slicing and removing the cores. We used a tool that does all three at once, but you can also do it manually. Set sliced apples in a large bowl filled with water and lemon juice to keep them from turning brown while preparing the crust. Strain and rinse the apples when ready to make the filling. Add flour to thicken. Add sugar (use more if using Granny Smith or other tart apples), salt, nutmeg, ground cloves and cinnamon. Stir evenly throughout until the color is a medium-dark brown. Add lemon juice and mix again.

Place apple mixture in the pie crust. Place 5 thin slices of butter around the top of the apple filling for flavoring. Roll out the remaining half of dough the same as the first and cut several lines throughout it. Carefully place it on top of the pie filling and use your fingers to fold the edges together with the bottom crust, filling in any holes. Brush the extra crust off the sides and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.

Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes to brown the crust, then bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the filling starts to bubble out of the crust. (This is the part when Grandma takes it out of the oven and puts her head very close to listen for bubbling.)

Serve with vanilla bean ice cream and prepare to satisfy your tastebuds like never before. :)

P.S. Healthy fruit dip, no-bake peanut butter bars and the best pasta