Ingredients:

Filling:

2 ½ pounds green apples (about 6, cored, quartered and peeled) or another hard apple (e.g., Honeycrisp, Cortland)

2 tablespoons lemon juice

½ teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

1 cup granulated sugar

1 ¼ teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

3 tablespoons cornstarch blended with ¼ cup water

Topping:

¾ cup dark brown sugar

¾ cup flour

¾ cup chopped walnuts

½ cup (1 stick) melted butter

Pastry:

2 Cups Flour

2/3 Cup Crisco

8-9 Tablespoons Water

Pinch Salt

Instructions:

Pastry. Note, if you don’t want to make pastry, buy a pre-made pastry shell. In a bowl add flour and dash of salt. Fold in Crisco using a fork and blend until most of the lumps have gone away. Add water and mix with fork. Form into ball using hands. Spread flour onto board and roll pastry to desired thickness. Using Crisco or butter, grease a pie plate then lightly dust with flour. Remove excess flour from plate. Place pastry over plate to form shell. Put in refrigerator to cool until oven is heated. Cook at 400 degrees on top shelf until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Once cooked, let cool.

Filling. Place apples in large pot. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon rind in small bowl, sprinkle over apples. Bring to boiling over moderate heat (do not overcook apples, a little firm is better). Adjust heat so mixture bubbles gently. Stir occasionally, cook until moist juices given up by apples, about 10 minutes.

Reduce heat to low. When apples stop bubbling, quickly pour corn starch paste over, mix in. Then cook stirring just until mixture turns very thick and clears. About 2 minutes.

Topping. Mix sugar, flour and nuts in small bowl. Add melted butter. Toss with fork until crumbly.

Assembly of Pie. Spoon apple pie filling into baked shell, mounding in the center. Crumble topping thickly over the apples, mounding in the center (do not pack down). Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until filling bubbles and topping is crisp.