Pastis Gascon (Crispy Apple Pie)

Pastis Gascon is apple pie’s French cousin, and this crown of golden pastry makes a beautiful centerpiece. It’s the meeting of three delicious things: apples, armagnac and phyllo pastry. And it’s all tied together with lots of butter. Instead of pie dough, sheets of phyllo are brushed generously with butter, scattered with sugar and loosely scrunched into the tin. The apples are piled into the center, then capped with more ruffled phyllo, building height and drama as it bakes. When it comes out the oven, it will be deeply golden and audibly crisp.