For me, my October pie baking fest is like therapy. It’s always a good way to spend the day and work out frustrations, anger and sadness. The kind I am feeling these days because of the war and devastation in Israel.

It was difficult to find the kind of apples I like this year. Because there was an early frost, none of the orchards I usually go to had Rhode Island Greening apples, the best pie apples on earth. After some delays and some connections from someone who knew someone who knew someone else who knew someone who had an orchard in Rhode Island, I got a bushel of them!

I’m grateful and happy for that at least.

Here are some photos showing the steps to my pie baking: peel-core-slice; roll the dough; place the filling inside the bottom crust; cover the pies (one of mine had a streusel top); place second piece of rolled dough on top of fruit; add a dab or two of milk (makes the crust brown in spots) and bake.

Voila! PIE!

If you prefer a streusel top, look here.

Lily Vail’s (My Mom’s) Apple Pie

crust:

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon peel, optional

• 1/2 cup cold butter

• 1/3 cup cold vegetable shortening

• 1/4 cup cold milk, juice, water or melted ice cream, approximately (add more as needed)

• apple filling

To make the crust: Combine the flour, sugar, salt and lemon peel, if used, in a large bowl. Cut the butter and shortening into chunks and add the chunks to the flour mixture. Work the fat into the flour mixture until the ingredients resemble crumbs (use your hands, a pastry blender or the pulse feature of a food processor). Add the liquid, using only enough to gather pastry into a soft ball of dough (start with 1/4 cup). Cut the dough in half and flatten each half to make a disk shape. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it stand at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly flour a pastry board or clean work surface. With a rolling pin, roll one half of the dough on the floured surface into a circle about 1/8-inch thick, making sure the circle is larger than the pie pan by about 1 inch. Place the dough in a 9” or 10” pie pan. Pour the apple filling into the pastry-lined pan. Cut the butter into small pieces and place on top of the filling. Roll out the remaining dough and place it over the filling. Gently press the bottom and top crusts together along the flared edge of the pie pan. For a fluted rim, press your thumb and index finger against the outside of the rim, or crimp it with the tines of a fork or the blunt side of a knife. Cut steam vents in the top crust with the tip of a sharp knife or the tines of a fork. Bake the pie for about an hour or until golden brown.

Apple Filling:

3 pounds pie apples (Rhode Island Greenings, Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Northern Spy, Golden Delicious, Idared, Stayman, Winesap, Baldwin, Jonagold)

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon butter

Peel and core the apples then cut them into slices. Place the slices in a bowl. Add the 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and flour and toss the ingredients to coat the apple slices evenly.