Get out a standard 9” pie plate. Do not grease it.

To the bowl of a food processor fitted with an S-blade, add the flour, salt and granulated sugar. Pulse a few times.

Turn it to the lowest speed and dump in the butter. Process just until you have pea-sized bits of butter. Don’t overprocess! Stop pulsing.

Evenly drizzle the vanilla extract and apple cider vinegar over the top.

Turn on the lowest speed and pour in 3 tablespoons of water. Process very briefly until it looks like it’s coming together. It’ll look shaggy and not like a uniform ball. Pinch some together. If it stays together without being crumbly, it’s ready. If you think it needs a bit more water (it almost certainly will), add more water, 1-2 teaspoons at a time. If you think you can form a disc with it without it falling completely apart into a thousand crumbs, that’s another clue it’s ready.

Refrigerate for at least 45 minutes and up to 2 days.

Very lightly flour a piece of parchment paper and place the unwrapped dough on there. Sprinkle a tiny bit of flour over the top of the dough.

Place the plastic wrap or another piece of parchment paper on top of the dough and roll it out so that it’s about ½” wider than the top of your pie plate.

Remove the piece of plastic wrap or parchment covering the pie crust, place the pie pan on top of the dough, and then flip over the dough and pan. Press the dough down around the edges at the bottom of the pan and then remove the piece of parchment paper.

Trim the dough, if needed, and crimp the edges. The dough should go all the way up the edges and be crimped along the rim, like in the GF pecan pie.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap so that ice crystals from the freezer don’t fall in. Place in the freezer (not the fridge!) for 45 minutes. When there are 15 minutes left on the clock, preheat the oven to 400 °F (205 °C). Place a baking sheet on the baking rack that will fit your pie.

Line the crust with a piece of parchment paper and then fill with pie weights/ beans. A lot of sites say you need to fill them all the way to the top of the pan, but I just did the bottom, and it was fine.

Carefully place the pan on the now very hot baking sheet and bake for 20-23 minutes or just until you see the tops of the crimped edges starting to very lightly brown.

Remove the pan from the oven. Remove the parchment paper and weights and bake the crust for another 5-7 minutes or until the bottom of the crust is dry and starting to brown. You can now turn off the oven and turn it on again in 15 minutes, or just keep it running.

Remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely - about 30 minutes. After about 15 minutes of cooling, start preparing the filling and turn the oven to 325 °F (163 °C).

In a medium mixing bowl, stir together all the filling ingredients except the apples. Set aside.

Peel, core and either halve or quarter your apples. It’ll depend on how big they are. Then score the tops of the apples, lengthwise, being careful not to cut all the way through the apples, which would make slices. Place the apples, scored side up, in two concentric circles (so an outer and inner circle).

Pour the filling over the top. Be sure not to pour it on or over the sides of the crust.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the middle is set and doesn’t appear raw.

Place on a wire rack to cool completely, about 1 to 2 hours. After 20 minutes of cooling, stir the apricot jam and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until well combined. Use a fine mesh sieve to get rid of any lumps, if necessary. Brush over the apples.

After it’s completely cooled, place in the fridge for 2 hours to firm up more, allowing for a cleaner slice.

Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.