triple apple pie.
Posted: 11/17/2009 01:25 PM
Brittany Logsdon
I normally try to go against the grain when it comes to predictability, I’ve got a reputation as a Rubix Cube to maintain and I can’t go throwing a wrench in that by doing something conventional like…writing up an apple pie recipe just in time for Thanksgiving. Sure, bet you didn’t see that one coming. But sometimes it’s not so bad to go with the familiar; it can be especially reassuring in these crazy holiday hours where everyone is freaking out over Black Friday coupons and how long it takes to roast a turkey when really I don’t even like turkey. Please, I digress. We’re here to talk about pie, right? Right. .
Now in my family, we’ve started a little tradition we call Thanksgiving Throwdown. Basically, I have this sassypants uncle who is ultra-competitive and since I have no hope of bringing it on the playing field, I swap out cleats for a baking dish and attempt to hold my own behind the stove. So we each bring a dessert, choose five of our fifty family members at random to judge the festivities where I will of course reign victorious, and send him home with his tail between his legs. To the death!
Last year I made a sexed-up tart that was a grown up version of a Snickers bar, a sweet tart shell filled with gooey homemade caramel and toffee coated peanuts and swathed in dark chocolate ganache. I even hussied it up a bit with chocolate spirals and a swoosh of edible gold glitter. That’s right; I don’t play around when it comes to competition. I decided I needed to get the token apple pie out of my system so I can clear my head for more pressing issues… like how I can sidestep defeat in the coming weeks.
I always feel the need to improve upon what most people would already say is a good thing, but life isn’t perfect, and there is almost always a bit of headroom to nudge a recipe up a few notches. For this one, I swapped out the token Granny Smith apples for a mix of Honey Crisp, Braeburn and Granny Smiths (let’s not get too crazy). It was entirely too perfect, a bit sweet and a little tart with a slightly different texture in each bite. The all butter crust hugs those apple slices like a winter coat against the cold, assuming your coat is dusted with coarse sugar, of course, which, if you’re me, is not that farfetched of an idea.
All-Butter Pie Crust
From Smitten Kitchen
1 cup ice water
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks cold butter, cubed (I freeze mine the night before)
You could do this with a pastry blender, but I find my forearms lack the stamina to make it happen, so I use the food processor. Blitz together your dry ingredients for a moment or two, and then add the cubed butter. Give it a whirl in spurts, you want the mixture to look a bit sandy with pieces of butter the size of peas.
Down the tube, add 4 tablespoons of the ice water and pulse to combine, add more ice water a tablespoon at a time until it forms a ball. Turn it out onto a lightly floured countertop, roll to a ball, cut in half, and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Toss them in the deepfreeze for an hour or so, you'll only need half an hour if your butter was frozen.
Apple Pie
3 Granny Smith apples (medium)
1 large Honeycrisp apple
3 Braeburn apples (medium)
1 tablespoon juice and 1 teaspoon zest from 1 lemon
3/4 cups
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 egg white, beaten lightly
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Peel, corn and slice the apples into 1 inch pieces, toss with zest, juice, sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
Roll out first half of the pie dough into an 11 inch round. Lay it in the bottom the pie plate and then fill with apples. Top with second crust (about 10 inches around), seal the edges, brush the top with egg white and dust with coarse sugar, if desired.
Bake at 425 degree for 25 minutes then reduce the temperature to 375 for another 30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Pies and Tarts
|
