French Apple Pie from Amanda Urias

French Apple Pie
* This is a cross between Southern Living 2006 and Betty Crocker 1978 - the best of 2 generations! Plus I put in my own tips I've learned along the way cooking this one for a couple of years. Enjoy!

Best if you use a 9 or 10 inch pie plate

Bottom Crust:
Use your favorite recipe, buy one, or get Ruben to give you his recipe: this is the only part of the pie I don't do!

Filling:
6 medium sized apples (should yield roughly six cups when sliced) - use a firm, tart, cooking apple: mcintosh, gala, rome, fuji
1 lemon - juiced
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crumb Topping:
1/2 cup (1 stick) firm butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Roll your pastry to 1/8 inch thickness and place in pie plate - poke with fork and crimp the edges or design as you would like. Set aside.
3. Peel, core, and thinly slice your apples as uniformly as possible. Use a melon baller to easily core (Ruben tip). Stir sliced apples in a large bowl with lemon juice to keep from browning as you slice. Add a little lemon juice at a time so you have sufficient for all the apples.
4. In small bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg; spoon over apple mixture, stirring gently.
5. Spoon filling evenly into your pastry shell/ pie plate, including all the juice from the sugared apples. You can load it up a little high - it will reduce down a bit in the oven (Ruben taught me that one - and its true!).
6. Cut 1 stick butter into small cubes, mix by hand or with a pastry cutter with flour and brown sugar until crumbly. If it gets too soft or clumpy you can add a little extra flour, or stick the bowl in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to get firm again (thanks Lisa and Martha Stewart for that tip!).
7. Top pie with your Crumb Filling, covering the whole top.
8. Cover edge of pie with foil or pie crust shield to prevent excessive browning.
9. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350 and cook for another 50 minutes. Cover entire pie with foil during last 15 minutes.

Serve warm or hold in the fridge for later. Enjoy!!!