Another recipe request-best apple pie ever

One of my friends, C, wanted to make a homemade apple pie for her boyfriend J for Valentine's Day this week. She wanted some suggestions, as she had heard about this great apple pie from some restaurant in the Northeast. So I pulled out my books looking for her...I searched through Killer Pies, which has pies from great diners and cafes around the country, Pie (that's actually the name of the book) and my vast collection of Gooseberry Patch wonders, and nothing really floated her boat...until she heard my grandma's recipe.

This is the only recipe I have ever made for apple pie. I got it from my grandma probably about twelve years ago and she gave it to me over the phone. I wrote it down on an index card, and then rewrote it again this Christmas since the old one was starting to fade from use. I have literally made this pie about fifty times. It gets more requests than just about any dessert I have ever made over the years (not even my cheesecakes are requested as often) and has some funny stories that go with it, one particularly funny one (not funny at the time) from a Christmas long ago where my dad dumped my freshly baked apple pie on the floor. (Sorry, Dad....it fit the story to mention it.)

Here it is. Enjoy!

Grandma Mae's Apple Pie

six apples, peeled, cored and sliced **I prefer Fuji, but you could use any apple you want. Rome apples work well and if you want a pie not so sweet, Granny Smiths work well too.
two 9" pie crusts, either homemade or store bought
1/3 c all purpose flour
1 c sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
dash salt
dash nutmeg
3 Tbsp butter

Place pie crust in pie dish and fill up with apple slices until pie has reached desired height. Remove slices to a mixing bowl and add dry ingredients. Mix with hands until slices are coated. Spoon slices back into pie crust. Place pats of butter on top of apples. Place second pie crust on top of apples and seal edges. Flute with a fork and cut three vents in pie crust for steam. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes and then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

What I like about this pie: It is fantastic and comes out perfectly every time. Enough said.
What I dislike about this pie: Um, the time it requires to peel the apples?
Cool kitchen gadgets used: I have a special apple pie dish that was a gift years ago from my stepmom. I only use it for apple pies. It is my special apple pie dish. It is a dish by Marjolein Bastin (all you stitchers out there know her!) and the apples are beautiful.
Tastiness factor: This is just a great, great apple pie. It is the one dish that my father-in-law and my father request every holiday.

Erica's Tips: I strongly recommend placing a cookie sheet on the rack below the apple pie to catch drips unless you are just dying to use the clean cycle on your oven. You might have some juicy apples. Also, I recommend serving this pie with Breyer's Vanilla Bean ice cream. Yummy. The only variation I have made to this pie over the years was one Thanksgiving where I added brandy to the pie. I would not recommend that. If it ain't broke, why fix it? I suppose you could substitute brown sugar for the regular sugar and add nuts to the apples if you wanted to get crazy.