I use a mix of Courtland and Macintosh apples because they retain their shape and texture better.

Preheat oven to 375° and place a cookie sheet or tin foil with edges turned up on the bottom rack.

Roll out your pie crust for the bottom and place in a 9" pie plate. Let it drape over the edges so you can get a good seal later.

Peel, core and chop apples. The larger the chunks the more form the pie will have. I like to make mine 1-1.5" chunks. Thinner slices will give you a softer/musher texture. Put in a large bowl.

In a med bowl stir together sugar, flour

Sprinkle apples with lemon juice.

In a medium bowl combine sugar, flour, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Stir well to combine.

Add raisins to the sugar bowl and stir well.

Pour sugar and raisin mix over apples. Toss apples well to coat.

Put apple mixture in the prepared pie plate. Make the apples as snug as possible. Be sure to scrape out sugar from the bowl and add on top!

Roll out top pie crust. It needs to cover the whole pie! Place it on top and cut slits or designs in the top crust. Crimp the edges with a fork or your fingers. I like my fingers because it has a fluted look!

Brush the top crust with milk and sprinkle the extra sugar on top. If the holes seal over just re-cut them. You'll need these for the pie to vent.

You can cover the edges with foil to prevent over-browning.

Bake on middle rack 40 min and remove foil if used. Check every 10 min after. You're looking for a golden crust and juices bubbling out of the pie! Mmmmmm!

Cool on wire rack - 1.5 hours to serve warm pie or 2.5 hrs to serve cold.