Home Sweet Home: The Perfect Apple Pie

But what is this?

Is Lorenita blogging again?

Yes, I know.  It's been a while.  But folks, let me tell you, Transatlantic moves are no joke.  It has been a crazy couple of months since we left South Africa.  The jet lag, the endless unpacking, the welcome homes, the malaise, the getting life back in order, the trying to find work, the birthdays, etc., etc., ad nauseum.

Oh, and then, just as I was beginning to get a little settled I decided -- like the crazy person I am -- to embark on this thing called National Novel Writing Month wherein you attempt to write 50,000 words in the month of November.  In my case, I took it on in the hope of trying to hush my very loud inner editor.  Also, I think I have a bit of a masochistic streak (but that's just par for the course as a writer.) Anyhoo, it's been a great challenge that I'm still in the midst of.  So when I'm done with that, I do promise to get some more posts up with more frequency.  I still have to show you those beautiful Addo elephants!  And I know that our friends in SA wanted to see what life is like here in Minnesota.  So there will be all that.

For now, I am going to gift you with 2 of my all-time favorite pie recipes -- just in time for Thanksgiving! 

This first one is the one I'm most proud of since I created it using ideas from 3 different recipes and makes the yummiest and most crispy-crust-apple-pie ever.  I'll post the second (a streamlined version of my Pumpkin Pie) soon.  For now, enjoy the appley goodness!

It really is easy and is the foolproof way of avoiding a soggy crust, but a word of caution:  read through the whole thing before you start as I have notes about the timing and filling in the crust section ...

FILLING
Ingredients:

• 8-9 medium apples, sliced medium-thick (the key here is to take the pie pan you'll be using and fill it with the raw apple slices. Fill it until it's almost overflowing because they'll cook down a lot.)
• 1/2 cup of sugar (raw is great)
• a bunch of shakes of cinnamon
• dots o' butter (about 1 Tablespoon total)

Here's what you want your raw apple slices to look in your pie tin, just about to overflow.

METHOD:

The method here is very important.

Put sugar in heavy pan with a little water. Cook till it caramelizes (keep a close eye on it and stir every couple of minutes, especially at the end). Add apples to caramel:

 Stir together quickly, add cinnamon to your liking (I shake a bunch in and taste -- probably about a teaspoon or so) and cook a few minutes till apples are soft (kinda "wilty" but not mushy):

Put apples in strainer (put a bowl underneath) and let them strain at least 5 minutes:

Collect all the strained juices:

See all that juice?  That's what would have made your crust soggy & puffy!

Take all those juices, put them back in the pan and cook down till it's almost a jelly.  Mix reduced juices ("jelly") back in with the apples:

Pour into prepared pie crust (raw), dot with butter, top with latticed crust (brushed with one beaten egg.)

Bake at apx. 350F/175C till golden on top. (About 30 - 40 minutes.)

CRUST:
(MAKES 1 CRUST -- THIS RECIPE IS EXCELLENT FOR ALL PIES)

• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 10 tablespoons of butter (141.75 grams)
• 2-5 Tablespoons of ice water
• one beaten egg

Mix sugar and salt into flour. Cut butter into flour.  Add just enough water to bind it together. At this point I usually make the filling, so I let the crust rest in the fridge. Then flour your surface and rolling pin (or old wine bottle like I had to do in South Africa!) very well and roll out your dough. If it breaks/cracks, no worries, it patches easily.  Fill and brush with beaten egg before baking for a nice, golden, shiny crust.

Note that for apple pie I make one and a half of this recipe -- I like a latticed crust because you see all the apple slices, plus it lets even more steam come out of the apples, once again, trying to avoid the dreaded soggy pie. So you need 1/2 the recipe to make a latticed crust. Or you could just double it to make a full top crust.

Here are the amounts for the 1 1/2 recipe:

• 1 7/8 cup all purpose flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons sugar
• scant 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 15 tablespoons of butter (141.75 grams)
• 3- 8 Tablespoons of ice water
• one beaten egg (you still just need one egg!)

 ENJOY !

P.S.:  A scoop of vanilla ice cream with this is heavenly!