Once upon a time— okay, it was the early 1980s—there were two best friends. It was me and Christine, a girl who befriended me when I was an incoming sophomore to a large high school in Colorado Springs, where I spent two years living with my mother. It was a far cry from rural upstate New York, where we only had two schools— K-6, and the other one that combined junior and senior high. This school had three or four large buildings for 10-12, and I was sure I’d get lost and would never learn the names of all my classmates. Christine was new at the school, too, given that she transferred from a Catholic school. At first glance, we could not have been more different. She was raised in a nuclear family with a healthy support system and I had, well, none of that. Still, we found enough in common that we became fast friends. I’m talking, the kind of friend who gets to sign an entire page of your yearbook!

Life took us in different directions after our two years of inseparableness. I returned to my dad’s in upstate New York for my senior year and then moved south in my 20s, where I pursued my dream of being on the radio. Christine was swept off her feet by the guy who is still her husband, and they welcomed three children, moving to Texas in the process. It was before the internet and even cell phones, and staying in touch proved challenging. We had fun catching up on the occasions that we reconnected, but with little in common, the occasions were fewer and farther between.

And then out of nowhere last December, I started getting emails from the Classmates site, claiming someone I went to school with “wanted an update on my life.” Truth is, I never followed up after my initial early signup to the site, and I don’t even know my password to log in; social media has never been my thing. Anyway, there was only one friend that I could imagine might want to be in touch with me from that school, and it got me curious. A few Google clicks later, I had Christine’s phone number (only, it turned out to be her daughter’s), and after a few text exchanges and FaceTime calls, she booked a flight to visit me in North Carolina! No, she had not been messaging me, and she also had been receiving random messages from Classmates, but at least the company’s dubious marketing effort catalyzed our finding each other again.

Christine and I had a grand time reminiscing through my old yearbooks and pondering whatever happened to this classmate and that teacher. We filled in the gaps of each others’ lives during the time gone by— her move to Texas and back, some scary health situations, my rebound to happiness after divorce— and we had one very poignant moment, during a video call with her parents, when I tearfully thanked them for the positive impact they had so long ago on a lonely teenage girl who desperately needed to see what family could look like. Yes, it was a special four and a half days, and we have vowed to not lose touch again.

Somewhere amid all of that catching up was a lot of really good food. We enjoyed a meal at one of my favorite local restaurants, Les fired up the smoker with a brisket and a whole side of salmon, and we checked out the Greek Festival for authentic gyros and honey-drenched loukoumades. I whipped up some key lime pie martinis and homemade pizzas, indulged her request for fresh seafood, and we visited a local winery. And Christine indulged me, too, by sharing her tips for making a delicious sweetheart of a pie—something I’m not very good at myself.

I’ve made no secret on Comfort du Jour of my lack of confidence in the pastry department. Yes, I can whip up a round-braided sourdough challah, no problem, but I’m still tiptoeing my way into making cakes, and the notion of mastering flaky pastry dough (or even biscuits, for that matter) has always felt just out of reach for me. Christine, on the other hand, had been texting me pictures of mouthwatering pies and pastries she makes on the regular, and well, I had plenty of questions.

We could not make her favorite kind of pie— sour cherry is her blue ribbon best— because I don’t have a cherry tree in the backyard, as she does. But we found some shiny Granny Smith apples, and I thought it would be perfect for sharing as we head toward July 4th. We served up each mile high slice with a scoop of my reduced-guilt vanilla ice cream!

Christine did all the pie work here, and my job was to pay attention and take pictures. I took lots of mental notes as she worked on this masterpiece, but still forgot a few of the important details. Luckily, she was generous to share her exact crust recipe by text as I wrote this, and I’ve included it below in a printable format.

As for my lessons that day, I discovered three important takeaways for perfect pastry dough. First, I apparently need to start watching the Great British Baking Show, which is where Christine has honed her knowledge that led to her own baking skills. I’ve bookmarked it on Netflix for future binge watching. 🙂

Second, I need to follow a simple rule of thumb for tender, flaky pie crust, and that rule is “more fat, not more water.” For real, this is probably one of the ways I’ve gone astray, as I tend to just add more water when the dough doesn’t come together easily. Christine says a little extra butter (and frozen, at that) worked into the flour is what produces the flaky, delicate layers I long to achieve. Finally, I need to not be afraid to practice, because it’s the only way I will gain confidence to make a good pie. I know she’s right, of course.

That brings me to my final lesson in successful pie making, which is don’t skimp on the filling— another mistake I now know I have made. Christine used six ginormous apples in this pie, and it wasn’t even deep dish! With so much filling, and given where our friendship began, I named it Mile High Apple Pie. Enjoy!

Mile High Apple Pie

• Servings: 8 generous pieces
• Prep Time: 45 minutes, plus chilling of dough
• Cook Time: About 1 hour
• Difficulty: Easy, if you're Christine
• Print

My bestie from high school walked me through how to make a good, flaky pie crust! Three most important lessons; use frozen butter, chill the dough and practice, practice, practice!

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 sticks frozen, unsalted butter
• 5 Tablespoons ice water

Planning ahead is important for successful pastry dough. It should be chilled at least 30 minutes, but preferably longer, before filling and baking.

Directions

1. Whisk the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Grate butter over flour through the large holes on a box grater. Rub in with fingertips until small pea-size clumps form. Add 5 tablespoons of water and mix lightly with fork until dough holds together when small pieces are pressed between fingertips, adding more water by teaspoonful if dough is dry.
2. Gather dough together; divide into 2 pieces. Form each piece into ball, then flatten into disks and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes, but you can do this up to 2 days in advance.

Remove chilled dough from fridge a few minutes before rolling out. Get the filling mixed up first, then roll the dough.

Ingredients

• 6 large, Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced thin
• Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
• About 2/3 cup sugar (more if you like it sweet, I suppose)
• 2 tablespoons flour, to toss and coat the apple slices
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (she added this at my request, because I love it with apples)
• 4 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F, with rack slightly lower than center position.
2. Toss apple slices with lemon juice to prevent browning. Add sugar, flour, cinnamon and cardamom to the apples and fold to coat until no visible flour remains.
3. Roll out the first disk of pie dough into a large circle and place it in a 9-inch pie plate. Transfer the apple filling to the pie plate. Cut butter into cubes and arrange the cubes all over the apple filling. Roll out the second dough disk, cutting a shape in the center as a steam vent (if you happen to have a tiny heart-shaped cookie cutter, use that). Roll the top dough around the rolling pin for easy roll-on transfer to the top of the pie. Trim and crimp the top and bottom edges to seal together. If you have extra dough, cut more heart shapes and place them around the edges of the pie.
4. Brush the whole pie crust with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake for about one hour, until pastry is golden brown all over and filling is visibly bubbly through the steam vent.