RECIPE: Sky-High Apple Pie

Apple pie without the cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze! 

Apple pie is the workhorse of desserts and hands down the most popular pie amongst young and old folks alike. I strive to use only local fruit in all of my fruit pies and I’ve chosen apple pie in the wintertime because apples are a lovely fruit that store very well. At a time when most fruit is seasonally unavailable, apples are consistently well-priced and of great quality at a wonderful local spot, Indian Garden Farms, 15401 Trunk 3, Hebbville (@ig_farms).  Say hello to the resident sheep and goats on your way to the market!

Pie Filling

1135 grams local Cortland apples (sliced, cored and peeled)

30 grams butter

¼ tsp allspice

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

160 grams sugar or honey

20 grams unbleached all-purpose flour 

6 grams cornstarch

1 tbsp apple-cider vinegar

Melt your butter in a pot, toss the apples in and bring them to a sweat. Add in all dry ingredients and continue to sweat the apples until you see a slightly thickened sauce form. After that, remove from the heat and stir in the apple cider vinegar. We are not trying to fully cook the apples – only to soften them and get their juices to mix with the dry ingredients.

Pastry 

1089 grams unbleached all-purpose flour 

9 grams salt 

330 grams butter

330 grams shortening

350 ml ice-cold water

Seems like a lot of flour for one pie, eh? Well that’s because it is for more than one double crust pie. It is, in fact, a recipe that will produce eight single pie shells (or four double crust pies) weighing roughly 255-265 grams each. The gorgeous thing about pie pastry is that it is incredibly resilient and can be used in roughly 27,000 different ways. Make this larger pastry recipe, bake your double-crust apple pie, take the extra pastry and be the most prepared person you know by pre-portioning, wrapping and storing it in your freezer. Better yet, roll it out into a single pie shell, crimp the sides and freeze that shell — now you’re ready to rock and roll for your next quiche brunch or last minute gift of fresh-baked pie.  You are going to feel like a Martha Stewart hosting god/goddess when you can whip that badboy out of the freezer and create a masterpiece in no time. 

Toss all dry pie dough ingredients into your mixing bowl of choice, and  blend until the fats are no larger than a pea, but be wary not to overmix. Add your ice-cold water and mix just until homogenous, avoiding over mixing at all costs. Overmixing will wreak havoc on your flakiness. Use the same mentality as biscuits – the less you touch it, the better!

Roll out and place the bottom crust in a 10” pie tin, fill with your glamorous apple pie filling and top with another layer of dough. Feel free to go crazy with a fancy lattice, cookie-cutter design of a snowflake, or other seasonal decor as you please. There is no wrong way to top your apple pie. I normally brush the top with milk or egg wash (beaten egg mixed with a tiny splash of water) and then sprinkle generously with sugar.

Bake at 325° for roughly an hour. All ovens are different, but you want to see a slight bubble of filling and a golden crust. Voilà! You have yourself a delicious, local fruit pie! Serve with a sharp slice of cheddar or a generous scoop of locally made Get The Scoop vanilla ice cream (@juliensgetthescoop).

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