French apple pie

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare a pie crust(or use a refrigerated pie crust).
Slice your apples, I use an apple peeler/corer to make the job easy and even your kids can help!

The key to great apple pies is to use a mixture of apples not just one type. My favorite combination is Braeburn, McIntosh and Cortland apples. For this pie I used what we had on hand Granny Smith, Jonathan and Fuji. You want to make sure you have some that stay crisp and some that break down when cooking. Both of these combinations cover that.

In a medium sized bowl stir together sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. Add mixture to sliced apples and toss apples until coated evenly. Add the apples to the pastry lined pie pan.

Next make the crumb topping by cutting together the last three ingredients (flour, margarine and brown sugar) using a hand pastry blender or fork until crumbly.

Then sprinkle this crumb topping over the apples. Using 2 to 3 inch strips of foil cover the edge of the pan to prevent burning the crust. You will remove the foil for the last 10 minutes of baking. Bake for 40-50 minutes. If you find the topping is browning too quickly use foil to cover it during the last 10 minutes of baking.

When done let cool on a wire rack before serving.