Spiked Autumn Leaf Apple Pie

• PIE FILLING:
• 6-8 cooking apples of your choice, cored , peeled, sliced
• Juice of a lemon, squeezed into a large bowl of water
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg, allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon each cardamom, mace, ginger
• 1 tablespoon butter, for dotting on pie
• 1/4 C flour
• 3 tablespoons apple brandy
• FOR THE CRUST:
• Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- to 10-inch pies
• 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2teaspoon sugar
• 1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
• 1/4 to 1/2 C ice water
• 1 egg yolk/ 1 tablespoon cold water

1. Prepare the pastry. In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds.
2. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
3. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator, and chill at least 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 350.
5. After dough has chilled, roll out bottom crust. Place in refrigerator on back of a cookie sheet until needed. Next roll out top crust to 1/4 inch thickness. Flour your leaf cookie cutters to aid in ease of dough removal. Cut about 20 leaves out of the dough. Place them on the back of a cookie sheet & place in refrigerator to chill.
6. While dough is chilling, cut apples & place in the large bowl of lemon water. When all apples have been sliced, drain them & put in a clean large bowl. Mix all other filling ingredients together with the apples, set aside.
7. Make an egg wash with the 1 yolk & cold water. Divide into 3 small cups. Add a couple drops of yellow food coloring to one cup. The next cup add a couple drops of yellow & red coloring, the last cup add a couple drops of red coloring. Stir. You may add one drop of green into one cup also, to have some of the leaves only partially in their fall regalia.
8. Place bottom crust in 8" pie plate, trim dough to edge of pie plate. Pour the apple filling into crust. Gather the dough around filling. Dot with butter. Now, working quickly, using a pastry brush apply egg wash to chilled dough leaves & scatter leaves atop pie filling. Make sure they overlap & adhere to one another, as well as the bottom crust. Bake until golden & apples are softening. About 40-45 minutes.

apples, bowl of water, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, each cardamom, butter, flour, apple brandy, crust, flour, salt, sugar, butter, water, egg

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/spiked-autumn-leaf-apple-pie-1210507 (may not work)