Mile-High Apple Pie & Double Crust Pastry

This recipe came from my Mom's 1970s edition of Good Housekeeping. It's the perfect apple pie. I must confess, I haven't seen a pastry cloth since high school home economics, and I made mine without.

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• Double Crust Pastry

• 2  cups all-purpose flour
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 3⁄4 cup vegetable shortening
• 5 -6  tablespoons  ice cold water

• PIe

• 8  large cooking apples
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 3  tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1  dash salt
• 2  tablespoons butter
• 1⁄2 lemon
•  cream or  milk
•  coarse sugar

Directions

1. .Pastry: Combine flour and salt in large bowl and cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
2. Sprinkle ice water over mixture a tablespoon at a time and mix lightly with a fork, just until pastry holds together and leaves side of bowl clean.
3. Roll out, half at a time, on lightly floured pastry cloth wrapped around a wooden board, with a rolling pin covered with a floured pastry stocking, to a 12" round.
4. Loosen pastry from pastry cloth and wrap around rolling pin.
5. Transfer to a 9" pie plate.
6. Fill and bake, following individual recipe.
7. PIe: Pare, quarter, and core apples and cut into very thin slices (a food processor does this very quickly).
8. Combine sugar, flour, nutmeg, and salt in a small bowl.
9. Sprinkle part of the sugar mixture into the bottom of pastry.
10. Add sliced apples, sprinkling with sugar mixture and piling into a tower in center of pie plate.
11. Cut butter into tiny pieces and sprinkle over apples.
12. Squeeze lemon juice over apples.
13. Roll out remaining pastry to a 13" round on lightly floured pastry cloth or board and cut a 4 inch cross in the center of pastry.
14. Transfer pastry to top of apples, using rolling pin.
15. Open cross in center of pastry to make a hole.
16. Trim overhang to 1 inch; turn under and flute.
17. Roll out tiny pieces of pastry trims into ropes and shape into the letter A on side of pie.
18. Cut slits around top pastry for steam to escape.
19. Brush pastry with cream or milk and sprinkle with coarse or granulated sugar.
20. Place pie plate on a large cookie sheet.
21. Bake in 375 degree oven, covering pastry with aluminum foil if it darkens too quickly, 1 hour or until juice bubbles up.
22. Cool in pie plate on wire wrack.
23. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.