Grandma’s Apple Pie

Flour
Cinnamon
Crisco
Sugar
Allspice
Yeast

Rolling pin
Pie tin


She had been doing this for years. Kneading the dough with her baker’s hands, her most prized utensils. She could do this in her sleep. Slice the apples, sprinkle some lemon juice over them, “So they won’t turn brown she would say.” Peeling, coring, slicing, she would always pop one or two in her mouth, while preparing the filling. “Let the dough rest, and then you will see, how it rises.” Flouring the surface of the kitchen counter, her canvas, with swift movements of her hands, like snow falling. “Here, have some of this to play with,” she would say, “this is better than your Play-Doh.” Tirelessly, effortlessly, the criss-cross of the lattice pattern over the pie, sprinkled with a little sugar, she would, one after the other, create a masterpiece, the best apple pie I have ever tasted.



-Haydee Ann Basaraba Arroyo