Jimmy's Apple Pie

One of my coworkers looks forward to autumn all year. Why? A) because he's a hunter and B) Because he loves apple pie. He is an older bachelor, who has been divorced for a while. However, he says that no one can make apple pie as good as his ex wife.

Well, that was enough for me to start on the quest of making Jimmy's perfect apple pie. I wanted to make it perfect for him because he basically lives on frozen food and well, I'm a competitive cook. When I hear that someone makes the "best" of anything I have to try and make it better. It's just in my nature.

So after many attempts and many pie's in Jimmy's belly, I have finally perfected his apple pie. I got some critiques along the way and have now mastered his favorite apple pie (which is basically a dutch apple pie in case you're wondering) and am pleased to say that he has given it a score of 10/10.

Ingredients
Filling recipe adapted from a vague outline of ingredients by Jimmy's ex wife, and a little of my own tweaking. Topping recipe adapted from Ina Garten's apple crisp recipe.

1/2 recipe Pate Brisee for one pie

Filling
6-8 cups apples, peeled sliced and cored
1/2-3/4 cups sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
pinch allspice
2 tbsp. flour
juice of 1/2 lemon
Topping
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 pound cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 375. On a lightly floured surface, roll out pie dough and place in a pie dish. Trim edges if needed. Set aside. In a large bowl, toss together the apples, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and all spice. Spoon filling into crust lined pie dish and arrange apples so they fit neatly in the dish. It might seem like you have too many apples, but they will bake down.

To make the topping, combine the flour, sugars, salt, oatmeal, and cold butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture is crumbly and the butter is the size of peas. Scatter evenly over the apples.

Around the edges of the pie, fit pieces of aluminum foil over exposed crust. This will prevent your crust from burning. Place pie on a large baking sheet (to catch any apple that might bubble over) and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until filling starts to bubble. During the last 20 minutes of cooking, remove foil from crust edges and discard. The crust should then turn a golden brown color at the end of cook time.