Pie is important

I like pie anytime, but particularly in the fall.  I have a new innovation for classic apple that I am sharing today:

One  recipe classic pie crust as follows (Joy of Cooking, my mother's 1961 edition) :

2 C flour
1 C cold butter, grated into the flour
3-5 T water, added  one T at a time, mixed a lot between additions.  Stop adding when you can press dough into a ball and it doesn't fall apart.

Sprinkle 1/3 cup flour on rolling surface,  roll dough to thickness of cardboard.  Fold in half, fold in quarters, unfold over pie pan.  Patch if necessary.  No big deal.  Repeat for top crust after you've made the filling:

Filling!

Slice 6-7 tart apples sliced and chopped into chunks or small bits-- if you like your pie mushy, chop finer, if you like it chunky, keep them big.  You'll figure it out.

Toss  apples with 1/2 cup brown sugar and...
2 T flour
1T powdered ginger*
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t ground clove
zest of one orange*

Put coated slices into bottom crust, sprinkle a tablespoon or two of orange juice over, and top with second crust.

Cook at 425 for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350, cook for 35 or 40 more minutes.  If your kids say the ginger is too spicy, top with vanilla ice cream and they will probably stop complaining.   Grown ups will love this.  All the spices can be varied according to taste, of course.

*This is the new innovation:  I stole the ginger/orange idea from my friend Sam, who makes better pie than I do.  I am getting over this, as I used to believe I was the queen of pie.  Sam uses ginger and orange in her strawberry rhubarb, so I assumed that she put it in all her pies, but when she tried mine she kindly acted all impressed.  I just applied her method to apple.  She deserves credit.  Thank you Sam.