Peel apples, core them and slice into small chunks.

Melt the butter in a pot over medium and add the cinnamon.

Stir in the apples, sugar & 6 tablespoons water.

Cook, stirring every few minutes for only about 3-4 minutes (the apples will finish cooking in the pie so you don't want them too soft).

In a bowl, combine cornstarch and water.

Whisk in this slurry to the pot and cook another 2 minutes or until thick.

If the mixture is too thick and syrupy, add more water to thin out a bit.

Cool-can refrigerate for another day once cool.

Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, And sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and leaf lard. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan.

Fill with apple filling. Dot with diced butter.

Repeat with the top crust after filling.

Brush top with 1 egg plus a splash of half and half, then sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Cut 3 slits.

Bake at 400 on a pan (in case spills over) for 1 hour and 15 minutes.