apples: from the branch to the oven in hours.

we are so lucky to live across the street from an orchard. it is small but throughout the late summer and fall, we really never buy apples or peaches anywhere but in our neighborhood. it is one of my favorite things about where we live. i love that apple picking is not a once-a-year outing for our family. when we need apples, we walk across the street and in as little as ten minutes we can be home with a half peck. 

this past monday we picked apples all together for what may be the last time this year. we got some of every kind with the intention of making a pie when we got home.

at home, we got everything out on the kitchen table and worked together on the pie. bee cut up the cold butter, sampling the "butter juice" until we put an end to that. D peeled, sliced and spiced the apples (cinnamon, sugar, a little flour and some pumpkin pie spice). i ran around doing everything else.
once the crust dough was made, bee and i rolled it out. she got tired and started on some "scrap soup".
we made a crumb top so that we could make two pies and because we like it better. for the topping i just mixed together a half of a stick of melted butter, about a cup and a half of oats, a few tablespoons of sugar, a few tablespoons of maple syrup and cinnamon.

with the little bit of extra dough, i made cinnamon sticks, which are just basically just sticks of dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar.
the pies came out beautiful and were even better last night when we ate one with good friends, good beer and some delicious sage cheddar. i had never heard of cheddar with apple pie until i met D's family. now i am of the opinion that it is THE BEST way to eat apple pie.