• Prepare one piece of pie dough by forming it into a pie pan. Set the prepared dough into the fridge.

Prep + Cook Apples:

• Add 1 TB coconut oil to a large heavy-bottomed pot or pan (enamel cast iron is perfect).

  Tip: Stainless steel cookware works too, but your apples will likely cook more quickly than the recipe indicates.
• Peel, core, and slice apples, adding to the pan with the coconut oil as you go.

  Add the sugar, lemon zest and juice, maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, and bourbon (if using). Stir apples to incorporate all the ingredients.
  
• Bring apples to a simmer over medium-low heat, and continue simmering for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender (but not falling apart).
  
• In a small bowl, whisk together the juice and cornstarch. Add cornstarch mixture to the apples, stirring constantly while adding. Bring apples back to a simmer, and continue to simmer about 2 minutes, until the sauce begins to thicken. Turn off the heat.
  

Prepare Pie:

• Remove the prepared pie dough from the fridge. Sprinkle pecans across the bottom of the dough (if using).
  
• Scoop the apples out of the pan and into the pie dough.

  Tip: Ideally, the pie pan will be completely full of apples (or mounded with apples). If your apples don't completely fill the pie pan (because your apples cooked down too much, your apples were small, or your pie pan is especially large), you can quickly fry a couple more apples in a little more coconut oil, and pile them onto the other cooked apples.
  
• Drizzle up to ½ cup of the cooking liquid over the apples (you might have leftover liquid).

  Tip: The amount of liquid left in the pan depends on how juicy the apples are. If you're using a stainless steel pan instead of enameled cast iron, you might have less juice left in the pan because it cooked off more quickly.
• Dot the apples with the remaining 1 TB of coconut oil (or drizzle the oil over if it melted).
• Preheat oven to 400°F.

Prepare Top Crust:

• Traditional apple pie topping:

  Top pie with remaining sheet of dough. Trim the dough to a ½" overhang (if needed), tuck the edges under the bottom pie dough, and crimp or seal. Cut 3-5 slits in the dough to allow steam to escape.

  Lattice topping:

  Cut remaining sheet of pie dough into strips (~1" wide, or smaller/larger as desired). Arrange half the strips in even parallel lines across the pie.

  Fold up every other strip at the mid-point of the pie. Next, place the longest remaining strip across the pie, perpendicular to the first strips, and just below where you folded. Fold down the strips.

  Fold up the alternating pieces of dough about 1" above the last piece of dough. Place another piece of dough, fold down the strips, and repeat until the pie is covered in a lattice pattern.

  Cut off over-hanging dough, and pinch the ends of the lattice into the bottom piece of dough.

  If desired, use a small cookie cutter to cut decorations in any remaining pie dough. Wet the bottom of any decorations with a drop of water, and gently press them onto the dough.
  
• Brush the dough with non-dairy milk, and sprinkle with sugar.

  Tip: If you used a lattice pie top, make sure to brush the milk over all the areas where the lattice strips connect with each other or the edge of the pie. Pay extra attention to brushing the milk over any decorations.

Bake the Pie:

• Bake the apple pie for 20 minutes at 400°F.
• Lower the temperature to 325°F, and bake another 30-40 minutes until the crust is gold

  Check on the pie 20 minutes after lowering the oven temperature, and loosely tent with foil if it's getting too dark.
• Allow pie to cool 30 minutes before serving.
  
• Make Ahead / Refrigerate:

  Loosely cover pie with foil, and store at room temperature up to 2 days, or in the fridge up to 5 days.

  Make Ahead + Freeze:

  Allow cooked pie to cool completely. Wrap it tightly and freeze. Use within 2 months. To reheat, reheat your oven to 350ºF. Cook for 15-20 minutes until warmed through.