Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust

 What's your favorite pie?  Mine is apple I think.  Although, I also really love chess pie.  And my mom makes this chocolate bourbon pecan pie that will make your knees weak.  Then there's pumpkin pie, which I didn't care for until recently but now wonder what in the world I was thinking.  And I quite like a peanut butter pie, the no-bake kind?  Oh -- COCONUT CREAM PIE!!!!!!  I also LOVE coconut cream pie, and lemon pie, and ooooooo, cherry pie in the summertime, and have you ever had a peach pie?  Oh, how I love pie in every way, shape, form, or flavor.  My favorite though -- favorite favorite -- is apple pie, with vanilla ice cream.

If you too like apple pie, could I get you to try this one next time?  Could I also get you to make your own crust?  I know, it's asking a lot, but wait until you have a free Saturday afternoon, pour yourself a glass of wine, and make a pie the way your grandma did.

The wine, you don't really need (my practice is to always recommend wine), because in reality homemade crust isn't as bad as it sounds.  If you're in possession of even the most basic food processor, you're golden.

And look, I'm not against semi-homemaking anything (Semi Homemade with Sandra Lee, though, is another story -- a bad one).  I believe Alton Brown when he says that there's no discernible difference between cake-mix cake and from-scratch cake because, well, he's a scientist.  And I do use pre-made pie crusts, especially the refrigerated roll-out kind, for something I'm going to take to the office on a Tuesday, or as the base of a cherry tart you might make on the fly and eat, in its entirety, by yourself, for dinner.  I've never done that, I'm just saying, it was would be convenient.

But for this pie, please, go on and make the cheddar crust.  The cheese, I like.  It's interesting and adds a little bit of savory to the already delicious sweet mix.  A homemade crust -- flaky, the result of tiny bits of unmixed butter -- does right by this pie.  And remember, wine is available by the gallon.

Recipe at MarthaStewart.com.