Social Kitchen

As you may recall, the last time we went apple picking, I went a little overboard.  I get that it’s hard not to.  You drive 2 hours out of the way just to pick apples, you start picking them, and you just..can’t..stop.  This year, I swore that we would control ourselves.  Let’s enjoy the nice day!  Let’s sip on some apple cider!  Let’s just grab a few apples to munch on while we’re at the farm!  This, my friends, is what we came back with:

I mean, you honestly give up on the idea of controlling yourself as soon as you get to the farm.  You look at all the varieties of apples and just get giddy!  As you fill your bags and buckets, you start thinking about the amount of apples you’ll need for apple butter.  Then you think that putting some homemade applesauce in cakes is not a bad idea.  And then you imagine the apple cake that you will use the applesauce in.  …All recipes forthcoming.

For the time being, I went with the classic.  Juicy, sweet, spiced apples in an almondy, buttery crust.  I haven’t had apple pie in a while, and I’m now thinking that I may just use the rest of the apples to just keep making more.  Or maybe I’ll just go back to the farm.

Apple Pie (adapted from Simply Recipes)

For Crust:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1/2 cup almond flour, or finely ground almonds
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, chilled in freezer for at least 15 minutes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 tbsp. ice cold water

For Filling:

• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 pounds apples, peeled and cored, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Crust: Place all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Roughly mix to incorporate.  Distribute the butter evenly into the dry ingredients and mix together with two forks, rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is the size of peas.  Drizzle the water over the dough and quickly fold together until a dough forms together.  If it still seems too dry, add another tablespoon of water.  Quickly form into a ball, and split in half to form 2 discs.  Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for about an hour.

For Filling: Mix together the apples, sugars, spices, flour, lemon juice, and vanilla, until everything is well combined, and every piece of apple is coated.  Set aside.

Arrange an oven rack to the bottom third of oven.  Preheat oven to 375.  Take both discs of dough out of the oven.  Using a floured surface and floured rolling pin, carefully roll out one disc to about an 11 or 12 inch circle.  Carefully lift into pie pan and press down on bottom and sides of pan.

Fill the bottom crust with pie filling, spreading evenly.  Roll out second disc of crust, to the same size as first.  Gently lay on top of filling, crimping the edges of the pan.  Cut slits on top pit crust, allowing the steam to escape.

Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.  Turn the oven down to 350, and bake for another 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes, until the top crust is golden brown.  Let pie cool for 3-4 hours before cutting into it.

This entry was posted on October 4, 2012 at 9:08 am and is filed under Uncategorized.