Mom and Apple Pie

One of my nephews called last night to ask if I would help him with his homework assignment. He asked me to send his Mom an e-mail tomorrow about a positive thing about my mother. So this is what I sent him:

My mother made apple pies. She said she hoped someday she would make an apple pie that the juice didn’t run over and make a mess on the floor of the oven but I think she was being overly critical of herself because her apple pies were the best. She used the apples from the trees in the back yard. She made the crust from scratch – rolling the dough out between pieces of waxed paper until they covered the surface of the pan. She’d peel one side of the wax paper off and flop the crust into the pan. Then she’d gently peel the other piece of wax paper off the crust. When the apples were inside and the sugar was added, she would meld the two piecrusts together by pressing a fork down along the rim of the pie plate. Some people flute the edges together but my Mom used a fork which leaves just the right amount of dough to the outer edge of a piece of apple pie. After slashing the top crust with a knife, she’d sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on the crust before baking it. While the pie baked, the apple juice would eventually seep up and overflow the pan. Many times she’s use a cookie sheet below the pie plate to catch the extra apple juice. Sometimes we would find an apple seed in our piece of pie. Mom said that meant it was a good pie because it was homemade. You don’t find apple seeds in pies you buy from the store.