(Mostly) From-Scratch Apple Pie

I'm pretty sure the person who coined the phrase "easy as pie" never actually made pie. Or, maybe he or she meant as "easy as EATING pie." Nevertheless, we had some bruised apples that I didn't want to waste and thus tried my hand at pie-making. I'm pleased to say that it turned out great. I also don't think it's a stretch to say that if I can do it, literally anyone can do it. I've promised myself that I'm going to bake it again in the fall. 

Here is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

• 6 Granny Smith apples, peeled and thinly sliced (This part takes the most time, so have some good background tunes on.)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1 premade pie crusts

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Dice up all of those apples.

3. Mix together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon zest.

4. Line one crust in a 9-inch pie pan. Layer 1/3 of the apples into the pie crust. Sprinkle with sugar mixture and repeat layering until all ingredients are used.

5. Drizzle lemon juice and melted butter over the top of the pie. (I was very liberal with the lemon juice. I love lemon.)

6. Place second pie crust on top of the filling. Flute the edges and cut vents in the top crust. I used a pizza cutter to create strips and attempted a lattice weave. I had no idea what I was doing and so took forever. It would be wise to find a YouTube video that demonstrates how to do that BEFORE the pie is in the oven. Just saying.

7. Bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. Then drop the oven temperature to 350 degrees F for the remaining 20 to 30 minutes. Hope you love it!

*The original recipe is from All Recipes. Lately, I've been using their app the most when finding new recipes.