Is anything as American as Apple Pie?

Well, maybe baseball...

Until a few years ago, I didn't know that Pennsylvania was a large apple growing state.  My d.h. and I took a little trip in the Fall of 2010 from Philadelphia to Gettysburg (my first time to the battlefield) and made our way further west to Pine Grove Furnace State Park.  The Appalachian Trail Museum is located there, and if you're up for a hike, the trail runs through the park and you can walk along it for a while. 

Back to my point -- we drove through miles and miles of apple orchards between York, Pa., and the park, and workers were harvesting truckloads of apples.  I can't resist the urge this time of year to visit my local orchard and pick up a half-bushel of apples and make applesauce (which I freeze), but  I always set aside 7 or 8 apples for a fresh pie.  My d.h. loves Dutch Apple best, and so do I.   

Here's the recipe:  Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees. 
1)  One pie crust, unbaked, rolled out and placed in a deep dish 9" pie plate (You can make your own crust, but this year I used a Pillsbury refrigerated crust.)  Sprinkle about 1 tsp flour over the bottom of the crust.

I pinch the edges of the pie crust and press my finger into the ridge to make it look 'fluted.'

2)  Peel and slice 7 - 10 apples (depending on the size - enough to fill pie plate); place in a large bowl.
3)  In a small bowl, mix 1 cup sugar, 3 TBS flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1 TBS Minute (dry) Tapioca.  Pour over apples and stir gently to coat.  (The tapioca absorbs the juices as the apples bake.)
4)  Prepare crumb topping:  1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour and 3 TBS cold butter or margarine.  Use a pastry blender or two knives to cut the butter into the sugar and flour, until it resembles coarse crumbs. 
5)  Spoon apples into pie crust, heaping them high...they will shrink when they bake.  Sprinkle the crumb topping over the apples. 

A heaping pile of apples, before adding the crumb topping!

6)  Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.  Lower the temperature to 350 degrees, and bake for another 40 minutes. 
7)  Remove from oven and let cool.  You can it serve warm...it tastes especially good with vanilla ice cream!
Hint:  you may want to put a piece of foil on the oven rack beneath the pie...the apple juice may bubble up and spill, and the foil will keep the oven from getting messy.      

Yum!  I may have to make another!