Great tips, but what about good old Gravensteins? My favorite above all others for baking anything. Yes, the season is short because they are not good keepers, but there's a way around that. When they're available, I mix my pie filling pretty much as usual, line a pie dish with foil, and freeze till solid. Then wrap the filling in the foil and put into a freezer bag. Needs to be kept frozen until ready to bake, I have the crusts ready, slide into the dish, top with butter and upper crust, bake at 400 degrees about an hour. You'd never know it had been frozen, even for a year!

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