Apple Pie in Apple Is a Simple Sweet Treat
Welcome back to Sunday Sus maintenance! At the time of this writing, it was 57 degrees, which means that autumn has finally arrived. In New England, that means our basements and porches will soon be filled with bushels and pecks of apples for the next three to four months, and is there a better use for them than pies?
Don’t worry – I don’t want you to make dozens of crusts or get into a discussion about glass, ceramic, and metal skillets. We’re not even going to use any pie dish this week. You see, the chicken pies last week got me thinking about a smaller scale. But alas, a bit of a setback: for some unknown reason, I don’t have a pie plate.
However, the lack of a pie plate is not an obstacle. With a little creativity, you can get this warm, sticky goodness in just an hour. And you probably already have most of the ingredients on hand.
Before we start, some of you may be thinking, ” Which apples should I use ?” I can immediately think of six common varieties in supermarkets and perhaps four more that appear during the fall baking season. You love baking apples: not only are the widely available Cortland and Granny Smith, but Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious or Braeburns will do if you can get your hands on them. Roasting apples are harder than cooking apples, so the filling will become harder after cooking. I settled on the delicious Golden filling with Granny Smith shells.
Baked apple and apple pies
Makes 4 pies
- 8 apples
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, ghee
- 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
- Any pie crust: store bought or scratched
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
Start by preheating the oven to 375 ℉ and filling an 8×8 baking dish with enough water to cover the bottom. Slice off the top of the apple you will be starting and, using a melon ball, grapefruit spoon, or looking at it until it gives in to your will, scoop out the inside of the apple, leaving about an inch around the side. You won’t be using the scooped-up pieces in this recipe, but they will make great applesauce, apple butter, or pancakes.
Yes, and a word to the wise: don’t take too much from your apple. I thought, “Gee, I could scoop out more and I have more room to fill!” WRONG. As I lay on the floor in a plank position , defeated by the late explosion of an overly softened apple, my girlfriend appeared, the savior of many ideas.
“What’s happened?” “My apple exploded.” “Is this the one you scored more from?” “Yes”. “Did you learn nothing from the dwarves of Moria who dug too greedy and too deep? “
Learn from my mistakes. Dig no more ways. Even the Arkenstone shouldn’t be spoiled by an apple.
Let’s go back to the countertop. Peel the second apple and cut into small cubes. Toss the diced apple with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour, then place in an empty appleshell. Then it’s time for the crust.
Roll out the pie crust to about a quarter of an inch thick. Now that you can use a glass or cookie cutter to cut out a circle and cover your pie with it … you are better than this. Let’s come up with a little lattice crust.
Using a pizza knife, cut the dough into ½ inch thick strips. Take a few strips from one side, these are the ones we will be braiding.
The best way to do this is to represent the stripes in terms of odd and even numbers. Fold each even-numbered strip down, followed by a weaving strip. Fold them back and fold the odd numbered strips down.
Find the center of your quick grate and use a glass or cookie cutter to cut out a circle that will fit your apple. Press the crust against the sides of the apple and place in a baking dish.
Whisk in egg, yolk and cream and lightly brush over each apple. Cover the tin with foil and bake for 25 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes. This will prevent the crust from browning too much, and the steam generated by the moisture escaping will help cook the apple shell.
Let the apples cool for 5-10 minutes and bury. As usual, I like to have a large piece of cheddar next to it. The tenderness of the filling will depend on the apple you use – Golden Delicious and Braeburns are more delicious than the softer Cortlands and Honeycrisps. After all, dear reader, there are good things in the kitchen . And it’s worth cooking.