My dad is an amazing cook/baker. He's very innovative & loves to figure out recipes from scratch--I could never do this. Over the Christmas break, I had him walk me through his famous Apple Pie recipe. I thought of the idea to make this happen when I passed by some lucious apples at the farmer's market here in Philly. So, I rounded some up & took them with me to Ohio to turn "these here apples to make some good ol' pie."

I took a lot of visual documentation (aka: photographs) of each step, so I warn you this is a long post, but it will hopefully be helpful if you're interested in trying a new, homemade apple pie recipe. Because, if you're like me, you need visuals over words & descriptions to help you through each step when reading a recipe.

Warning #2: you may drool at some point during this post.

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First things first, start with the insides (we'll get to the pie crust later):

You need:

-About 14 Medium apples, or 6-7 Large apples. Phily makes "large apples," apparently, so we stuck with 7.

-Juice or 2 Lemons

-1 Cup of Sugar + more for sprinkling later

-2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon

-3 Tablespoons of Chilled, Unsalted Butter

-1 Large Egg Yolk

1. Rinse the apples, & peel the skin off of each one (this is probably one of the most time-consuming steps if you have a lot of apples).

2. Sprinkle a little bit of lemon juice overtop of apples to prevent discoloration.

3. Cut each apple in quarters, then thinly slice each quarter as seen below. Place these slices into a large bowl as you go along so you can mix the ingredients thereafter.

4. Next is the sweet part (no pun intended). Add 1 Cup of Sugar to the finished pile of sliced apples. Just completely dump it on like snow.

5. Then, add 2 Teaspoons of Cinnamon. Mmmm.

6. Next is the fun part: take the pile of apples, snow..I mean, sugar, & cinnamon with your hands & mix them all together. This is a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. If you lick your fingers afterwards, please wash your hands before proceeding. Please, & Thank You.

Set this pile of sweet everything's to the side, & proceed to the Pie Crust! You will feel so accomplished if you make the pie crust from scratch (I'm sure my dad does).

Pie Crust:

You will need:

-2 1/2 Cups of Flour

-1 Teaspoon of Salt

-2 Sticks (1 Cup) Unsalted Butter (Cold & Cut into Small Pieces)

-1/4 Cup of Ice Water (More if Needed)

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1. First, in bowl, combine 2 1/2 Cups of Flour & 1 Teaspoon of Salt. Sift together.

2. Add all butter pieces to the mixture. Mix & mold with your hands until the size of the crumbs are about 1/2".

3. Add Ice Water until the texture of the dough is crumbly & just holds together.

Note: Dough should not be wet or sticky. If it is too crumbly, add 1 Tablespoon of water each time until it's right consistency.

4. Make 2 molded blocks out of the dough & set aside.

5. Roll out (Ludacris?) one of the dough blocks to make the bottom layer of the pie crust. Use as girly of a rolling pin as you'd like. ♥

Trick: Use rolling pin to assist in rolling the dough perfectly over the pie pan.

Also, be sure to trim the edge of the pie dough about an inch away from the pan.

6. Remember those apples you sliced & poured sweetness all over? Yes, those. Take those & strategically place them inside the bottom portion of the pie crust. Make sense? Here, take a look below: 

Hang on, let's take a break. Let's look at the shiny, juicy, sweet, scrumptious, mouth-watering pile of greatness:

Okay, break's over. Refer to above image for carrying with the next steps.

7. As if this pile of greatness couldn't look any greater, what do we do? Add butter, of course! Now it's a pile of Grandness! Add just 3 slices of stick butter.

8. Next, roll out the other dough block for the top portion of the pie crust. Once it's flattened & ready, create your own design for the "peep holes." 

Trick: Same as above; use the rolling pin as an aide to roll perfectly overtop the pie.

Next? Are we done, yet? No really, the next step is to:

9. Trim the top portion of the pie dough an inch from the pan, then

10. Fold & Pinch the edges of the pie dough together to make these cute little rounded, frilly edges. 

Last step: 

11. Whisk egg yolk & 2 Tablespoons of Water & use a brush to glaze over the top of the pie dough. 

12. Sprinkle some sugar overtop of the egg + water glaze.

13. Set this entire, carrier of grandness pan on a baking sheet, & stick her in the oven at 450 degrees for 15-20 minutes (or until golden). Then, lower to 350 degrees & let bake for 45-50 minutes (or until golden brown). 

There. It. IS! Is your mouth watering, yet? If you read through all of this, I thank you--it is a long one, but necessary to describe this homemade creation. I hope when you try this yourself it's as good as you imagined!

There is one more step, however. It's an important one--one that may be the reason you make this in the first place. Ready? 

14. Grab a bowl of vanilla bean ice cream. You can't have apple pie without vanilla bean ice cream, can you?

Enjoy this recipe! It was fun learning from my dad how to do this--just a few more steps toward the direction of becoming a cook myself!

Who knows? Maybe you can make this for your sweet pie..I mean, pea!