Perfect pie

“Every pie is different,” says Creemore resident Linda Cockton.

She should know. Every year she bakes 75 to 100 pies.

Apple, strawberry, wild blueberry, raspberry, lemon meringue, butter pecan. It doesn’t matter what kind – she simply loves to bake pies.

“It’s just a nice, old-fashioned country thing to do,” she explains.

Cockton, a former judge at the annual Creemore Apple Pie Contest, has been baking pies since she was about 10 years old.

But she says she still hasn’t reached perfection.

“Every time you make a pie, it’s something new,” she says.

Every fall, Cockton bakes about 30 apple pies using combinations of her favourite kinds of apples.

“This time of year I choose MacIntosh because they break down into nice apple sauce in the pie. Cortlands and MacIntoshes go nicely together, too,” she says.

“But my favourite for winter is Northern Spy because it has such a nice flavour.”

Everyone has their own traditions for baking apple pie – including Cockton.

Her recipe involves adding butter and cinnamon to the pie. She also suggests mixing white and brown sugars together.

To make the “fiddly” pie crust, Cockton uses only cold ingredients and avoids handling the pastry too much.

Then, she bakes the pie in steps: first in a very hot oven for 20 minutes, before gradually lowering the temperature over time.

But the real secret to a great pie? According to Cockton, “make it fresh and serve it still warm.”