Apple Pie IV

"Cooking the apple slices before putting them into the shell assures that you will not have "crispy apples" but instead of putting the apples in a pot to cook I put them into a large frying pan with th..." See moree sugar and a little water (1/4 c.) and simmered until almost cooked through. I added a bit of corn starch to thicken--about 4 tsp.after they were simmered. Put everything into the shell, sprinkled with cinnamon and a tiny bit of mace. My family loved this. It is best to use firm apples so they don't get mushy."

"I liked the idea of cooking the apples, but didn't see how this would turn out to be a juicy pie and it didn't. I added 1/4 cup butter and it tasted okay, but it still wasn't my favorite...." See more"

"Precooking the apples allows you to get the crust to fit the pie! It also allows you to adjust the sugar/spices to fit the sweetness of the apples you use. The only disadvantage is that it is very eas..." See morey to overcook the apples. I find cooking apples by 'number' a bit strange as it depends on size of apples. I used about 8 cups of sliced apples for a 9" pie, 1/4 cup butter and 1/3 cup sugar (my apples were sweet) It could have used another 1/2 t of cinnamon and 1/4 t of nutmeg in my opinion. I also thickened the apples with 2T of rice flour (dissolved in about 1/4c water) and stirred into the apples at the end of precooking period. I want to experiment a bit more and try precooking the bottom crust, at least partially, to help prevent the 'soggy' and/or 'undercooked' bottom crust problem sometimes encountered--but that must wait for another day."