Apple Pie Recipe

I use a general guideline when I make apple pie. I never write down what I end up doing or the results and I do have to admit always feeling a little uncomfortable guessing every time. Now I have to experiment so I can write down which way we all like it best. So this time I am did 10 apples (Golden Delicious) and 2 cups of previously frozen rhubarb. I put in 1 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1 well rounded tsp cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg. I cooked the filling on the stove until it was heated through and beginning to thicken. Then I poured it into the pie shell and topped it with approximately one tablespoon of butter cut into small chunks. I formed the top crust on and then dribbled it with milk and sprinkled it with white sugar. I baked it at 350 for 45 min. Follow up: I didn't get to taste this myself but hubby really liked it. He said it wasn't too tart.

For further experimenting, I made a second pie. This one was 12 Goldens, 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1 rounded teaspoon of cinnamon and 2 teaspoons of lemon juice.  I precooked the filling until the flour thickened and everything was hot and bubbly and then I cooked it for a few more minutes for good measure. I topped the filling with a approximately a tablespoon of butter chunks and then the top crust. I dribbled that with a tablespoon of milk and a tablespoon of white sugar. This pie also was baked at 350 for 45 min. Basically you need to bake it until the apples are tender enough to your liking. I poke it with a steak knife through the "x" I cut in the crust. Follow up: Hubby tasted this one too and said there were a few apple pieces that could have been cooked longer. I have since made it again. I cooked the apples on the stove for 20 min (timed from as soon as I turned the burner on to medium). I again baked it at 350 for 45 min. I am hoping the longer time on the stove will solve the crunchy apple problem.
Update: This pie was perfect. Yay :) Now I have a recipe I can follow and no more guessing.

This time making the pies I chopped up the apples in a way I really liked. I use my hand crank apple-peeler-slicer-corer with the corer loosened and moved out of the way so the apples only get peeled and not sliced and cored. (I think it slices the apples too thinly.) Once my apple was peeled I used a hand held corer to core them. Then I cut the two ends off and then cut the apple in half and used the corer to gouge out any seeds or seed husks out. Then I sliced them about a 1/4" thick from top to bottom and then one more cut crosswise finished my chopping. To keep the apples from turning brown I used this suggestion I found on Pinterest. Fill a large bowl with cold water. For every 4-6 cups of water add 1 tsp of salt. Just plop your apples in this mixture as you cut them. The salt water is mild enough that it doesn't change the flavor of your apples the way lemon juice does.