apple pie

This recipe is from Jan Darrow (who graciously allowed me to publish it here), if you are ever in Mt. Shasta, stop by the post office and let her know how much you like it. She says it's so much work for her to have garage sales because everyone expects a bake sale to go along with it. She is a great cook.

crust

• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1 1/2 t salt
• 4 1/2 t brown sugar
• 3/8 t baking powder
• 15T butter (almost 2 cubes. Don't you dare use margarine!)

Sift together dry ingredients, mix in 1/2 of butter with a pasty cutter, knife or fork until it looks like cornmeal. Add 2nd half of butter till it looks like peas. Add cold water 1T at a time until it holds. Roll out (don't overhand, the sheets of butter you see will be the flakiness of the crust later)

if you want to make the crust in advance and stick it the fridge for later (up to 3 days), that's good too.

Preheat the oven to 450°

filling

• 4-5 apples (a friend of mine suggested using different kinds, all of the crisp variety)
• 1/2 c white sugar
• 1/8 t salt
• 1 - 1 1/2 T cornstarch
• 1 1/2 t cinnamon
• 1/4 t nutmeg

Don't mix in the sugar until right before you are going to put it in the oven, sugar brings out the water in the apples and makes your pie runny.

Bake pie on the bottom rack of oven, creates better steaming

450° 10 minutes (I usually put foil on the edges of the pie for the first half of total baking time)

350° 30 minutes, or when you smell it and it looks the color you want.

Let cool for 1 hour before serving