Mile-High Apple Pie & Double Crust Pastry - cooking recipe

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

Preparation

.Pastry: Combine flour and salt in large bowl and cut in shortening with pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.
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.
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.
Loosen pastry from pastry cloth and wrap around rolling pin.
Transfer to a 9\" pie plate.
Fill and bake, following individual recipe.
PIe: Pare, quarter, and core apples and cut into very thin slices (a food processor does this very quickly).
Combine sugar, flour, nutmeg, and salt in a small bowl.
Sprinkle part of the sugar mixture into the bottom of pastry.
Add sliced apples, sprinkling with sugar mixture and piling into a tower in center of pie plate.
Cut butter into tiny pieces and sprinkle over apples.
Squeeze lemon juice over apples.
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.
Transfer pastry to top of apples, using rolling pin.
Open cross in center of pastry to make a hole.
Trim overhang to 1 inch; turn under and flute.
Roll out tiny pieces of pastry trims into ropes and shape into the letter A on side of pie.
Cut slits around top pastry for steam to escape.
Brush pastry with cream or milk and sprinkle with coarse or granulated sugar.
Place pie plate on a large cookie sheet.
Bake in 375 degree oven, covering pastry with aluminum foil if it darkens too quickly, 1 hour or until juice bubbles up.
Cool in pie plate on wire wrack.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.