(post, Neil Nathanson)
My wife requested birthday pie instead of cake last week. I don't know what possessed me, but I decided to try to bake my own. There actually was an Apple Pie recipe on culinate right at the same time. I considered it, but decided making my own crust was too ambitious for a first effort. I ended up going with the premade crusts that you buy at the grocery. I searched the internet for a recipe that uses orange juice for the liquid because I remembered that being the "secret ingredient" both when I made pie in 7th grade chef shop and for my grandmother. The recipe I found called for cooking the filling in a sauce pot before filling the pie and baking. My biggest challenge was deciding how long to bake especially because I started rather late at night. The pie crust box had one suggestion and the recipe another. I tried to follow the recipe which called for a lower baking temperature, but it had no time, just bake until the crust is golden brown. Unfortunately, I was falling asleep and the crust still didn't look quite right. I knew that if I didn't pull it out, however, it would end up burnt as my eyes were closing. This turned out to be the right decision. The crust may have been a little al dente - but it was fine, and certainly better than burnt!