Category Archives: apple pie

Happy Thanksgiving to all who celebrate!

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By special invitation is my almond-crust-cranberry-curd tart.

Today is Thanksgiving in the USA . Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrating the harvest and other blessings of the past year. It is believed to be modeled on a 1621 harvest feast shared by the English colonists (Pilgrims) of Plymouth and the Wampanoag people.

For my whole life Thanksgiving centered around family and friends, old and new, sharing both a meal and each other. As a child Thanksgiving was held at our house and all our aunts, uncles and cousins would come for a huge mid-day meal. We had to finish early as our uncles had to go back to the farm to milk the cows. I had a lot of aunts and uncles and LOTS of cousins. Mostly I remember the pies, so many pies.

Since moving to California our son and daughter in law have hosted Thanksgiving and this year was no exception. There were over 20 people and enough food for 50.

I made an apple pie, an almond-crust-cranberry-curd tart (see below) and sweet potato dinner rolls. There were also two pumpkin pies and very little left when we were done.

Cranberry Curd Tart Almond Crust

INGREDIENTS
For the crust
• 99g (½ c) granulated sugar
• 113g (8 Tbl) unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ tsp table salt
• 1 tsp King Arthur Pure Vanilla Extract
• ½ tsp almond extract
• 180g (1½ c) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 72g (¾ c) almond flour or finely ground sliced or slivered almonds

For the cranberry curd
• 12 ounces cranberries (fresh or frozen)
• juice of one orange (~ ¼ c)
• 250g (1 ¼ c) sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 113g (½ c, 1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as TripleSec or Grand Marnier (optional)

For the Italian meringue
• 2 egg whites
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water

METHOD
Crust

  1. Mix butter with sugar then add salt then vanilla.
  2. Add egg and mix until incorporated. Stir in flour. Mix by hand like you are kneading bread until incorporated
  3. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 30 min
  4. Pre-heat oven to 350⁰F
  5. Butter tartl pans, or use non-stick pans
  6. Dock (prick holes in) bottom and sides of formed dough then refrigerate for 20 minutes
  7. Line tart pan with crumpled then smoothed parchment paper and fill with pastry weights.
  8. Paint edges of the tartlet with the egg wash.
  9. Bake in preheated oven 350⁰ F (175⁰ C) for 15 min. Remove pastry weights 5 minutes before the end of the bake.
  10. Immediately remove from pans and cool on a wire rack

    Cranberry Curd
  11. Heat the cranberries and orange juice in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until the cranberries split. Mix with an immersion blender then strain through a food mill or fine mesh sieve and discard the skins.
  12. Return the strained cranberry mixture to the saucepan and add the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, butter, vanilla, and orange liqueur (if using) to the pan and give everything a good stir. Heat gently over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and registers 170°F on an instant read thermometer (this usually takes about 8-9 minutes). Immediately strain (again) through a fine mesh sieve into a large measuring bowl and then pour into the prepared crust. (The curd can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week. You may need to bake it a few more minutes for the tart to set when baking from chilled)
  13. Bake (still at 350°F) until the curd is set (it should jiggle but not slosh), about 10 minutes. (Curd was jiggly after 20 more minutes baking.)
  14. Let cool at room temperature for about 1 hour, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill. You can serve this chilled or at room temperature.

    Italian meringue
  15. Add egg whites and cream of tartar to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Heat sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium high heat.
  16. When the sugar mixture registers about 220°F turn on the mixer and begin beating the egg whites on medium speed.
  17. When the sugar mixture registers 240°F remove from heat and carefully pour into the mixer over the egg whites. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat until the egg whites form stiff peaks.
  18. Transfer to a piping bag (or zip top bag) and pipe onto cooled tart as desired. If you want, torch the meringue with a kitchen torch. (But since it is cooked, this is totally optional).

As long as the oven was on and I had time to wait for doughs to chill etc, I also made a loaf of artisan bread.

Apple Pie, Again

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Sorry to be redundant, but I made PreppyKitchen’s amazing pie crust again. I filled the crust with some apple pie filling that I made a couple of weeks ago.

I did make PreppyKitchen’s pie crust last week and while delicious, it was tough. Hence, another try. I think I over worked the dough the last time as today the recipe resulted in a marvelous flaky, tender, delicious crust. I am now confident to bring an apple pie for Thanksgiving dinner.

Here are some of the comments from my QC Cadre:

  • Crust is excellent , very buttery !!
    Best crust we ever had !!
    Apple filling is to die for , perfect amount of cinnamon , apples —just right
    Thank you
  • Well, I don’t know anything about pie crust and I’m not sure what you’re looking for, but all I can say is to me that pie crust was just about perfect. The whole apple pie just delicious.
  • Absolute perfection! It was the perfect flakiness 😊
  • Some of the best pie crust I have ever tasted. Very flaky and light.
    Excellent
    👍❤️🥧

You Are The Apple Of My Eye

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Last month I made an amazing, flaky, delicious pie crust with PreppyKitchen’s recipe. QC and I then made the best chicken pot pie ever!

We are making an apple pie for Thanksgiving and wanted to try the crust again. Not everything went as smoothly as the first try. (I believe when mixing the dough in the food processor I did not add enough water.) The dough held together when testing it, but just barely. When I tried to form a cohesive ball on the counter it wouldn’t come together, I should have popped it back into the food processor and added another tablespoon or two, but like a golf shot where I notice the club face isn’t aligned correctly, I assume I can fix it on the downswing.

I also had issues making an aluminum foil pie ring. I cut three pieces of foil 3” wide and folded them around the edge of the pie crust. They wouldn’t stay on and I had to adjust them several times. Since then I saw how to cut a single large hole one piece of foil, to cover the edge and leave the center open.Next time.

After freezing the dough I wet my hands and gently kneaded the dough as little as possible to have it come together so I could roll it out. It worked, but I probably lost some of the flakiness.

(This pie is for internal consumption and review by the QC Cadre, not for Thanksgiving dinner. I can take the well deserved criticism.)

I used apple pie filling that I made and froze after visiting Apple Hill in September. I froze it in a plastic film lined pie plate so it would perfectly fit into the par-baked pie shell. Apparently, I used a different pie-plate today. The resultant pie looked good. I guess I fixed in on my downswing.

The pie was baked at 425F for 30 minutes. The edges were covered and the pie was baked an additional 20 minutes, until the internal temperature reached 195F.

Pie Crust – PreppyKitchen

INGREDIENTS
• 360g (3 c) all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbl sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 227g (1 c) cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
• 4 to 6 Tbl ice water

METHOD

  1. In the work bowl of a food processor, combine 1½ cups of flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse a few times to combine.
  2. Add half of the butter. Process until very crumbly and starting to ball up, about 30 seconds. Scatter in the remaining butter and the remaining 1½ cups of flour. Pulse 2 times just to distribute.
  3. Drizzle 4 tablespoons of ice water over the mixture. Pulse a few times. Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, as needed, and pulse once or twice after each addition. The mixture should easily stick together when squeezed, but not feel wet or dry.
  4. Transfer the dough onto the counter and form it into a ball. Cut the ball in half and press each half into a disc. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. (Don’t worry if the dough seems `dry. The flour will hydrate as it rests in the fridge.) The disks can also be frozen for a few months and thawed in the fridge overnight before using.

    To Blind or Par-Bake:
  5. If required, prepare the crust as directed in the recipe until it’s ready to use.
  6. Roll the pie crust into a 14-inch circle and line a pie-pan with the dough. Fold the ends under and crimp the edges as desired. Poke the bottom all over with the tines of a fork. Freeze for 30 minutes.
  7. Meanwhile, position an oven rack in the bottom third and preheat the oven to 425⁰F.
  8. Once the oven is hot, remove the pie from the freezer and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Line with a square of parchment paper. (I find it useful to crumple the parchment paper then smooth out. Repeating the crumple/smooth helps make the parchment paper more pliable.) Add enough dried beans or pie weights to fill the center.
  9. Bake for 20 minutes. Peek under the parchment by carefully lifting an edge. If the bottom of the crust is pooled with melted butter, cook for another 5 minutes. (It should still appear wet and underbaked.)
  10. Remove the pie crust from the oven. Carefully lift out the parchment paper and weights and set them aside to cool. At this point, your pie crust is par-baked and could be used in recipes that call for partially baking the crust before filling. (If a shiny crust is desired, you can brush the crust all over with egg wash.)

    To Blind Bake:
  11. Return the crust to the oven and continue baking until the bottom appears dry and begins to brown, about 10 more minutes.
  12. Let the pie crust cool completely before filling.

Freezing Apples for Apple Pie

INGREDIENTS

• 5 cups Apples peeled & sliced apples (amount may vary)
• 1 quart Water to prevent browning apples
• 2 teaspoon salt to prevent browning apples
• ½ cup Sugar for pie filling
• ½ teaspoon Cinnamon for pie filling
• 3 Tablespoons flour for pie filling
• 1 pinch salt for pie filling

METHOD

  1. Freezing Apples for Pie Filling
  2. Peel, core and slice apples into a salt water soak. About 2 teaspoon salt dissolved in 1 quart water. This will prevent browning apples.
  3. When all apples are sliced let them soak about 5 minutes and drain well.
  4. Place apples in your pie plate to be sure you have the right amount. Pack them in and mound them up. I like lots of apples in my apple pie!
  5. Remove these apples to a bowl, add sugar cinnamon mixture and mix to coat. ½ cup sugar, ½ tsp. cinnamon, 3 Tbsp flour, Dash of salt
  6. Lay an oversized piece of foil or plastic wrap in your pie plate. You want enough to wrap around all of the apple filling.
  7. Put the apples back into your lined pie plate. Include all the sugar mixture. Wrap the foil sides up and around the pie filling. If needed add another layer of foil or plastic wrap to be sure it is all covered.
  8. Place the pie plate and contents in the freezer and allow to freeze.
  9. When it is frozen take the wrapped pie filling out of the pie plate and place in freezer bag or wrap in freezer paper.
  10. Remove air, seal, and label. Put back in the freezer for later baking.