I guess its been a few years since I was so acutely aware of the changing seasons from summer to fall – probably due to an extreme case of New York tunnel vision. And for those of you still afflicted by the psychological concrete blinders, just know that IT’S GORGEOUS OUT THERE! (if not a little chilly!)
Last week, I was whisked away into the amazing splendor that is an East Coast Fall by someone equally amazing to go apple picking north of the city.
We ended up with a ½ bushel (a.k.a. a whole lot!) of apples and one small Halloween pumpkin.
Barely making a dent in the pile of apples, we made two pies with the following pic crust recipe (from http://www.myhomecooking.net/apple-pie/):
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
6 Tbsp butter
6 Tbsp shortening
6 to 8 Tbsp ice water
In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients thoroughly then cut in the butter and shortening with a pastry blender. When it gets to a crumbly consistency, add the ice water sparingly – just enough to get it to stick together. (it seems the “drier”, more crumbly the dough is before you roll it out, the flakier the crust ends up being). Divide into two halves and roll both out – one will be the bottom crust: lay that in the pie plate first; the other will be the top crust.
I like a spicier pie filling. Try one with cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice:
(adapted from joyofbaking.com and allrecipes.com)
6 large peeled apples, sliced
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Mix dry ingredients with lemon juice and toss apples slices to coat. Pour apple mixture into pastry lined pie plate, cover with the top crust and bake at 400 degrees for 50 minutes. (for evenly browned edges, cover the edges in aluminum foil, removing after 35 minutes)
Enjoy with vanilla ice cream and slipper-clad friends!
. . .
On hearing about our apple adventure, my mom sent along two other great apple recipes perfectly portioned to share (only if you want to!):
Apple Recipes by Ronalyn:
Apple Slices
Crust:
2 cups flour
¾ cup shortening
½ tsp salt
2 egg yolks
½ cup milk
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Mix as for pie crust and chill well. (There may be more liquid than you needed; I mix the egg yolks, milk and lemon together and add to the flour/shortening mixture. Divide in half and roll thin (I usually do between wax paper as it is a very wet dough; I pick it up when it’s still on the waxed paper and flip it onto the pan). Place this half in 12×18 pan (e.g. cookie sheet; jelly roll pan or something similar. It helps to have sides on the pan).
Filling:
4 cups thinly sliced apples
¾ cup sugar
1 1/3 Tbsp flour
1 tsp cinnamon
Place the filling on the crust. Roll other half of crust and place over apples. Bring sides together and seal well with cold water. Slash top crust. You may want to put a pan under the cookie sheet in the oven as the crust may leak some apple juice. Bake in hot oven (400) for ½ hour or so (crust should be flaky). Drizzle with powdered sugar frosting if desired.
The following is from Sunset and I’ve made a couple time. A nice bar type concoction to share:
Mary’s Apple Cake
About 2 cups all purpose flour
1 ¼ cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp butter
¼ cup milk
1 large egg
4 cups peeled, cored and thinly sliced apples
1 tsp ground cinnamon
In a food processor or bowl, mix 2 c flour, ¼ c sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut the ¾ c butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture. Whirl or cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture has texture of fine crumbs. Beat milk and egg to blend. Pour into flour mixture and whirl or stir with fork just to evenly moisten. On a lightly floured board, knead dough briefly until it holds together. With floured hands, pat dough evenly over bottom of a 9×13 inch pan and press edges up sides to form a slight ridge. Place apple slices, overlapping slightly, in 3 rows down the length of the dough. In a food processor or bowl, whirl or rub with your fingers the remaining 2T butter, 1 c sugar and cinnamon until mixture has texture of fine crumbs. Sprinkle over apples. Bake in middle of 350 degree oven until cake is browned, about 40 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve warm or cold.
Thanks Mom!
