I’VE never been to the Dahlia Bakery in Seattle, but I have the cookbook produced by Tom Douglas, the owner. The recipes are mostly versions of traditional American cakes, pies and cookies — and the ones I have tried are all very good.

The recipe for Hot Buttered Rum Apple Pie is especially good and it is a great option for Thanksgiving. You can find it online here. This is one of the best recipes I have ever made.

This recipe is definitely more work than ordinary apple pies. The apples are cooked ahead of time on top of the stove in two separate pans so it not only takes more time, it creates more dirty dishes. The crust calls for pastry flour and all-purpose flour. “Cake flour” is basically the same thing. If you use lard instead of the shortening called for in the recipe, the crust will be even better tasting, but this is already a very rich pie and it obviously will not be healthier to use lard.

Making pies can be frustrating. The recipe is often not an accurate guide to how much water you should use in the crust. The dough should be wet enough to come together throughout while remaining just on the verge of crumbling apart. It should not be so wet that it becomes a solid chunk. The flakiness depends on the right quantity of water and how much you handle the dough.

Don’t worry, it only takes about 30 years to become expert at it. The more you do it, the better you get.

By the way, you can make this pie without the final baking and put it in the freezer so that all you have to do on Thanksgiving is take it out and put it directly in the oven. I have found that freezing fruit pies ahead of time makes them even better. Make sure you wrap the pie in freezer paper so the pastry does not pick up odors in the freezer.

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