How To Make An Apple Pie

First, cut 1/2 cup of butter into 1 1/2 cups of flour (you have to use real butter). When the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, add 1/4 cup of cold water. Form this into a ball, and roll it out, turning 1/4 turn after each pass with the rolling pin. When it's big enough, transfer to a pie dish and fancy up the edges. You can use a fork if you don't want to crimp them up like the photo.

P.S. My grandfather made that rolling pin for my mom when he had to cut down her favorite tree in the yard. It's probably 35 years old.
Next, peel, core and slice five Granny Smith apples. I like to overfill the pie. Five apples will cause some oven spill-over, but if you put the pie on a foil-lined cookie sheet, it will catch them. It's totally worth it. I only use Granny Smiths because they are awesome and make other apples look like chumps. In the same bowl you used for the pie dough, mix together 1 cup of sugar, 4 tablespoons of flour and about 2 teaspoons of cinnamon (I don't measure the cinnamon). Some people like to add nutmeg, but I don't like nutmeg, so it doesn't go in my pie. Mix this up really well. This will make a nice, thick apple-pie gravy, instead of a watery mess when it's baked. Put this mixture over your apples, mix them up, and then put them into the pie crust.

For the top, instead of a traditional crust, I like to make a crumb, strudel-like topping with pecans. I mix 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1/2 cup of flour and then blend in 4 tablespoons of butter with my fingers. When it's sufficiently blended, mix in about 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. Sprinkle this evenly over the pie top. If you want a traditional crust, double the pie dough recipe and divide it in two.

Put the pie on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 90 minutes. I tend to leave it in a long time, because I like the apples to be over done. Put a piece of foil loosely over the pie top to keep it from burning. Those pecans will burn with a quickness.